People in Plastic, Panasonic KX-NS700 case study

Challenge

A non-upgradable legacy communications system that could not cope with an expanding business, with locations across Australia spanning multiple time zones.

Solution

Panasonic KX-NS700 Smart Hybrid PBX system with IP telephones deployed across multiple branches, allowing better communication between internal staff whilst contributing to the organisations strong commitment to customer service.

Our customers like the fact that they can call and talk to someone straight away. We can all assist each customer no matter where they are based, no matter where they are located.
People in Plastic Staff

People in Plastic

Founded in 1977, People in Plastic have been supplying customers with over 800 plastic products such as bottles, baskets bins, tubs, containers, and wheeled bins for more than 40 years. Products are available across a number of store locations or online, with warehouses based in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth. People in Plastic prides itself on supplying merchandise tailored to meet exact customers specifications in the most friendly manner possible.

The challenge presented by People in Plastic was twofold: first a legacy system was in place that could neither be effectively upgraded nor keep up with their ongoing business needs, and secondly could not cope with an expanding business with locations across the vast Australian heartland and across three time zones.

A major issue was that staff were not only required to work at a number of remote sites, but also many staff were deployed in warehouses where they needed to pick up calls from suppliers and customers. For a company with a strong commitment to customer service, missed calls were not an option and a workable solution was at the top of their priority list.

As a first step, Phone Systems Brisbane recommended and installed the Panasonic KX-NS700 smart hybrid PBX system – a solution ideal for small and medium-sized businesses. A deciding factor was that the smart hybrid system had ample capability to handle legacy and IP ports, and allows users to expand from 6 to 288 extensions by simply adding expansion units. The KX-NS700 can also handle single line, digital, DECT, IP and analogue inputs.

The call centre function supports full customer service by providing live status monitoring, enabling activity report generation and allowing automatic conversation recording. Together with the KX-NS700, 3 types of full-function Panasonic handsets were adopted. The KX-NT553 was an obvious first choice, and 33 units were added to the system. Rounding out the system were 18 x KX-NT386 handsets and 1 x KX-NT406 handset. Finally, their base unit range inside and outside of warehouse areas was extended by a single wireless DECT repeater, the KX-A406, which is compatible with wideband audio and can handle up to 4 calls simultaneously.

Customer service now better than ever

The makeover of People in Plastic’s communication system brought immediate benefits from day one. People in Plastic have a fundamental commitment to customer service as its key business proposition, and keeping in line with this commitment, they always have an employee pick up the phone during business hours. With the new system they can now assist every customer no matter where they are located. This is especially important for a company that has locations across the vast Australian continent and in three different time zones.

Customers are not the only ones benefitting from this new, advanced communications system. Increased capabilities make life a lot easier for the staff as well. Staff in one warehouse can pick up calls in another warehouse so customer inquiries can be quickly addressed and no calls are lost. Increased call traffic as a result of the expanding business operations can be handled efficiently and in a cost-effective manner.

From a management perspective, the upgrade has been beneficial for a number of reasons:

100% reliability provided by Panasonic equipment.
The ease of transition to the new system.
A feature rich environment created by the new system that includes voice mailbox, call routing, group forwarding and full cordless capability.
The ease of internal calls and the ability to have discussions with staff in all locations across Australia.

The satisfaction experienced with the Panasonic solution by all concerned at People in Plastic – customers, staff and management, translates into a cost down and profit up environment that keeps everyone smiling.