Case Study: Helical Technology

Established in 1962, Helical Technology is an automative component manufacturer and began its business with the production of high-performance springs. Operating from a well-equipped plant in the North West of England, Helical Technology provides machining and toolmaking services on-site, complete with in-house inspection and testing facilities. The company employs 100 people and plans to open a new site in China in 2003.

The Application

Helical Technology needed to upgrade their existing telephone system to accommodate expansion plans. Their existing analogue system was no longer cost effective and had reached its maximum capacity. Under the previous system, every time a new employee joined the company or moved location, new switches, cabling and telephone points had to be installed costing approximately £100 a time.

The Solution

The company decided that an ISDN based phone system was required and approached Bristol based Westfalen, a specialist IP-PBX distributor to enquire more about an IP-based telephony solution from Swyx Communications that they believed could work with their existing infrastructure. Running on CAT 5 network cabling and 100 Mb switches, with PCs running Windows 2000 operating systems, Helical trialled the Swyxware solution and found it met all its requirements - scalability, ease of implementation and cost-efficiency.

Feature & special Benefits

Not only has Helical been able to support more users, they are now taking advantage of the additional features that an IP based system provides over traditional PBX products. For instance the extensive call routing features means that calls can be directed quickly and easily dependent on location.

This gives employees complete freedom of movement enabling users to log on to any PC anywhere on site and receive calls. It is even possible for incoming calls to be re-directed via the switchboard to a mobile phone.

Other benefits include a voicemail feature which has enhanced customer service delivery, so the company now never misses an important call. The on-board graphical script editor enables them to re-route calls according to their preference, with the facility to play a pre-recorded message to selected callers. This can all be configured from the desktop. The beauty of the Swyx system in a manufacturing environment is the true mobility that it offers, so that employees are not tied to answering calls from a specific workplace. This has proved particularly valuble for the company's secretary, who is using an 'Auto-Attendant' feature developed using SwyxWare's extended call routing features. When activated, this feature has been designed so that incoming calls are automated, giving the caller a range of departmental options in which to be transferred. This means that the reception does not have to be permanently manned, allowing the secretary to undertake other duties and increase overall productivity. Many employees are also using the SwyxFax feature that enables them to send and receive faxes directly to and from their desktop.

Future

The company have upgraded the solution to version 4.0 with the aim of incorporating remote teleworking. This will be particularly beneficial for employees, allowing them the flexibility of home-working, connected by Sywx over a VPN. Helical also plans to roll out IP telephony to its site in China when it opens next year, providing considerable cost-savings in international calls.