E Aldridge
Case Study

Provider: Centrix

E Aldridge has been one of the UK’s leading suppliers of security products to the locksmith and architectural ironmonger, builder’s merchant and installer trades for almost 60 years. Ted Aldridge founded the company in 1945 when he purchased a retail shop at 5 Friend Street, London, trading as a retail locksmith. The business has been built on providing a high-end service to its varied customer base.

The challenge

Today, Aldridge offers over 14,000 product lines from its two branches in London and Manchester. The company’s range includes not only traditional locksmith and architectural ironmongery, but up-to-the-minute access control products and its own comprehensive Asec range.

At Aldridge’s sites in London and Manchester, Centrix, the telecoms reseller, was selected in 2005 via a competitive tender to evaluate Aldridge’s telecoms requirements and recommend a solution.

Situation analysis
In late 2004, Aldridge recognised that its existing telecommunications infrastructure was insufficient to meet the demands of the business. The system was ageing and incapable of managing the expected growth in traffic over the coming years. However, Aldridge’s management team also realised that they had limited experience of telecoms at Board-level. As such, it was imperative that the chosen supplier could work in partnership with Aldridge to provide consultation and advice as well as just selling the company a solution.

Patrick Jokhan, Aldridge’s Finance Director notes:
“Centrix was part of our second round of supplier meetings, and we were instantly impressed. They read between the lines of our brief and were able to give us the information and insight we needed at each stage of the process.”

The biggest headache for Aldridge was the high volume of calls bouncing back and forward between Manchester and London. The company was running two disparate call centres in the two locations. The fact that the centres were not linked together and that the availability of agents to take calls was not being checked prior to calls being transferred meant that a high volume of customer calls were not being answered quickly enough and in some cases were being lost altogether.

The solution 
Centrix’s situation analysis of the Aldridge set-up flagged up this as the most significant challenge to address. Centrix installed two IP systems in the call centres which would effectively operate as a single entity. As a result, the call centre now functions as a unified entity, which has had an immediate impact on customer service. Callers now dial a single non-geographic number, which is then routed based on the SDC area that the customer is calling from. The call centre then provides a selection of options to the caller, with the number of calls in progress at each location being taking in to account prior to the call being routed to either London or Manchester. Management reporting has improved significantly as a result. In addition, Centrix reevaluated the staffing levels at each of the call centre locations, and suggested adjustments which would ensure that each call centre was appropriately manned to operate at maximum efficiency.
 
In terms of technology, Centrix installed AVAYA 8500 systems at both locations, underpinned by the G650 chassis. The Manchester site is also based on survivable remote process, so in normal operation is under the control of the main site, but can also function on a standalone basis if the link between the two call centres is broken for any reason. Centrix also replaced Aldridge’s ageing data network with a state-of-the-art installation by Extreme.
 
Finally, Centrix removed the existing data network (based on leased lines) and installed an MPLS network link operating between the three locations of London, Manchester and Milton Keynes, which is where the company’s data centre is based. Internet access is now via the MPLS core which has significantly improved the security of the network.

The project’s planning stage ran through until early 2006, with the project being rolled out from 2006 through to the go-live date of March 2007.

Patrick Jokhan, continues:
“There were a number of benefits for us in terms of the solution proposed by Centrix. For one thing, we were able to strip out all of our old, outmoded telecoms systems, which were proving very expensive to maintain and run. The new system has really improved our working practices as well – the productivity in the call centres is up and it’s much easier for us as the management team to monitor performance levels, and solve issues in real-time. In effect, Centrix has brought our telecoms systems into the 21st century, which is a great compliment to them.

“As a business which prides itself on customer service, the changes to the way we can interact with our customers as a result of the new call centre system are really important to us. Now customers can get in touch with us when they need to, and informal feedback from our client base has been very positive.”

Ian Calder, Centrix’s Commercial Director, notes:
“The project at Aldridge was an interesting challenge for us. The management team wanted to maintain the feeling of a business that really understood its customers and provided a personal service, while also modernising its infrastructure and reporting methods. The challenge was to make sure we could solve the key issues of the project while ensuring that the image of the family-owned traditional business was not harmed by the technology we put in.”

Patrick Jokhan concludes:
“Centrix managed to deliver the solution we needed without ever making us feel as if we were experiencing a ‘hard sell’. We really had confidence in the team and the solution they proposed – and they delivered on their promises. We’d have no hesitation in recommending them to others.”

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About Centrix
Based in Winchfield, Hampshire and Central London Centrix deliver converged voice, data and IP solutions to European businesses.

Through partnerships with global companies such as Avaya, C&W, and Braxtel and as a service provider for BT Wholesale, we have the resource, knowledge, and inhouse expertise, to design a tailored solution coupled with our bespoke installation, training and maintenance service.

From relatively simple ISDN-based PBXs to IP-based corporate networks, our knowledge in the convergence of voice and data puts us in the unique position of being able to discuss, design and implement the solution from the initial planning to the on-going support after the installation.

Contact
Ian Calder ian.calder@centrix-uk.com (Centrix)
Mark Houlding mark@rostrumpr.com (PR)

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