Trucking firm brings on unified communications to save money

Interstate trucking company Boyd Bros. Transportation was losing experienced freight agents because it couldn't support home workers, nevertheless replacing the firm's 20-year-old phone system brought unified communications features that let it hang on to these veteran employees and save money together.

Avaya Aura unified communication platform

With an Avaya Aura unified communication platform, the company can but route calls to agents' homes so they don't have to commute to the company headquarters to be part of its contact center, says Elaine Maund, vice president Information Systems for the company.

The agents work in groups that are assigned to geographical zones, with phone hunt groups set up to route calls to open agents within groups. With separate Avaya PBX (Private -Automatic- Branch Exchange)s in two of the company's locations and no way to integrate the hunt groups, agents were bound to a particular PBX (Private -Automatic- Branch Exchange), Maund says.

The company headquarters

With Aura installed at the company headquarters, incoming calls to an agent's work number can be routed to their homes over the Internet using Avaya agents on home PCs and cell phones.

Managing the phone system and changes in phone assignments is much simpler with the IP phone system than it was with the old TDM PBXs, Maund says, cutting time spent managing by 80 per cent.

The company switched over from its old phone system one Thursday night afterwards work in January and was up and running when employees came to work the at once day. "There was no service interruption," she says.