Armstrong Craven

Armstrong Craven is a global recruitment company with offices in the UK, Switzerland and Singapore. Its clients are some of the world’s most influential and respected businesses, undergoing transformational change.

Specialising in talent insight, pipelining and mapping, the company’s priority is to identify and recruit high-demand, specialised talent.

Background

As a growing business with an international footprint, Armstrong Craven needed a cloud-based telephony system that could guarantee flexibility and scalability, was future-proof and stable, and incorporated the latest technologies; products that would be simple to install and even more simple to manage. It also needed to reduce costs associated with expensive international communications.

Internally, the key objectives were to provide users with better-quality services in terms of call tracking, missed calls and recording facilities. The business also wanted to retain the same telephone numbers, providing the same platform across two UK sites, a Singapore site and potential new locations. The IT department specified full accessibility to the NFON portal to manage day-to-day user and telephony issues. They also needed access to a fast track/escalation to log 3rd line support calls and a resolution in swift timescales.

From a commercial perspective, its objective was to secure the best rates for international calls, as 90% of its outbound calls were outside the UK. Armstrong Craven wanted more than just a suite of products. It understood our services and the way we work, and wanted to build a long-term working relationship so that it could continually explore new and emerging technologies on an ongoing basis.

The Solution

Chess’ services included a comprehensive consultancy programme, a working demonstration, proof of concept and implementation.

We installed Cloud PBX for all the company’s users across all its offices. We also provided Cloud-based conferencing services with a global local number for each member of staff as well as selected clients.

The Outcome

Chess spent three weeks working in-house with Armstrong Craven, installing a range of products and devices including handsets, softphones and mobile apps. Chess also fully trained all the company’s IT staff on how to use the new platform. Chess began working with Armstrong Craven at the tail end of 2016 and completed the project in July 2017 — a rapid turnaround for a business with global locations.
The new conferencing system has saved the company tens of thousands of pounds per annum.

"Our staff have welcomed the new systems with great enthusiasm. As we have configured the system more to our bespoke requirements for call flows for our working practices, our reporting tools report an improvement in business efficiency of around 50%. In terms of costs, we are saving between 25% and 30% per calendar month, principally through Chess’ negotiation of our international call rates."

Paul Finch, IT Manager, Armstrong Craven