One club sandwich to go!
We return to the town of Gintelberg once more, this time hungry and in search of a takeaway. Plus, a side order of enterprise telecoms services, as we explore how ‘real’ businesses benefit from Gintel’s Cloud PBX, delivered, in this case, by an MVNO.
When hunger strikes in Gintelberg, it’s time to order lunch – and for many businesses in the town, the destination of choice is run by chef and entrepreneur Kari Owtt. Kari’s eponymous business – Takk Owtt - caters to both walk-in customers and a growing number of business clients that request daily deliveries, as well as an enticing range of hot food.
Serving Gintelberg’s growing array of small- and medium-sized enterprises has been a boon to the bottom line: repeat businesses from customers who appreciate - even count on - the quality and timeliness of the service to satisfy employees and clients alike.
The companies also represent a high-pressure aspect of the takeaway’s trade (a large volume of orders in a compressed timeframe that have to be handled quickly and accurately). Online ordering is the norm, and last-minute orders can be handled up until 11.00am for same-day delivery within the town.
The question on Kari’s mind is how his business keeps up with opportunities. And he knows the answer to this question lies not only in the kitchen but also with the restaurant’s communications infrastructure – which is based on a Cloud-based mobile PBX. It’s this as well as the pots and pans that Kari relies on to deliver not just food but great customer service.
The telecoms infrastructure
In terms of that infrastructure, the set-up is as follows. There is a main number –once a fixed line, but now a virtual geographic number. This is linked to the mobile numbers of the team members, so customers can dial the familiar fixed number that they have used for years, but the calls are now routed by the Cloud PBX to the mobile devices of the Takk Owt team.
Kari signed up for seven mobile subscriptions, and six of these also have Cloud PBX subscriptions. They just use basic mobiles, as there’s no need for a smartphone in this case – they can also be shared by employees when members of the team are on holiday or off sick, or when a temporary member of staff fills in gaps.
With the Cloud PBX, there are two basic options – callers can either speak to the general order team (with calls being routed according to a hunting algorithm) or they can speak to the business account team. There is also an order hotline for business account holders who need same-day delivery, but this is only in operation from 0700 – 1100. All calls to any of the numbers outside these hours go to voicemail.
The Takk Owtt team has seven members with two always engaged in production. During busy periods, temporary staff may help out, if additional front-of-house roles are required. One of the seven team member makes the local deliveries (usually by e-bike) – so is not an agent within the telecom’s infrastructure (the other six are), but he can be reached by the other members of the team, if and when necessary.
There are always four users available to handle calls. Rules control how often any one user has to answer the phone, so as not to overload team members and to ensure fair distribution of calls. And, the uses can set their availability, so if they take a quick break, they won’t be bothered by any calls either.
So, when a customer rings in, the call will be forwarded to an available agent who hasn’t just taken a call. In busy periods, Karis expands the team – during the run-up to Christmas, for example. At these times, he can also add their personal mobile numbers to the hunt groups, so they can also answer calls. When they leave, these numbers are deleted.
This means they can also help out and handle enquiries in the shop while working through the Christmas break from college, for example, while Kari doesn’t need to add new permanent subscriptions to his account.
After closure (1600), all calls to the general line go to voicemail – and the voicemails are forwarded to the owner and one other agent for action.
The Cloud PBX is vital!
Imagine Kari’s business without an adequate enterprise telecoms infrastructure. Things simply wouldn’t work. In fact, if you asked Kari for his keys to success, he’d tell you:
- The fresh, high-quality ingredients he uses in the kitchen, and
- His Cloud PBX and mobile subscriptions
Subscription to the service, in fact, corresponded with Takk Owtt taking off. It allowed both inbound and outbound calls to be handled via a variety of distribution options which, after trying several different variations, Kari was able to optimise.
The Cloud PBX is provider to Kari (and thousands of other small business owners) by an MVNO. Each member of the team is given a work device during opening hours, so they can act as agents.
In fact, when he thinks back to the legacy infrastructure he used when he started his takeaway, Karis summarises his progress like this; “no more communications lapses; just let the club sandwich do the talking”.
Talk to Gintel
If you want to deliver solutions like this, which solve real problems for eager business customers, Gintel can help. We help mobile service providers take the necessary steps, choose the right solution – and win in the SME market.
