Trader Joe's is a popular specialty grocery store with some interesting if not downright exotic foods. They aren't "big" yet, but they are growing pretty fast with several locations, including one just 2 miles from where I work in Norwalk and another one just 5 miles away in Danbury. I get flyers from them all the time in the mail even though I've never shopped there.
A PR person sent me a case study brief on Trader Joe's problems with their current telephone system and how they migrated to VoIP. I thought it might be interesting to share. I was too busy to get the full case study and she didn't state the exact system they installed, but I assume it's a Cisco IP telephony system. (just learned it's not Cisco) Still worth a read though...
I am writing you today to offer a case study for Internet Telephony regarding the Trader Joe's store and its deployment of IP telephony, VoIp and other convergenced technologies for TJ's call center. This migration to IP telephony & VoIP helped this retail store rapidly deploy 87 stores nationwide, while reducing communication costs. For example, the IVR save Trader Joe's $50,000 per year, alone.
My client and Cisco Premiere reseller, SOS (www.team-sos.com) helped Trader Joe with this installation.
Project:
Several years ago, Trader Joe's faced problems with its business telephony system. It had no corporate standard for its telephone systems; each store managed the selection of the telephone system and the vendor; and support for the phones system was the responsibility of the Enterprise Communication team, but they could not be effective managing so many different systems.
Also, to improve the customer experience, Trader Joe's also needed to address its Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, which directs callers to stores near them.
Trader Joe's was on an aggressive growth path, opening dozens more stores per year. They needed to slash business telephony-related costs, and that meant having a standard for their telephone systems nationwide. Trader Joe's required a vendor who could knowledgeably develop the standard and be a single point of contact for both complete, "low voltage" solutions for each new store and complete post-installation support 24x7 anywhere in the United States.
Solution
By analyzing all the low voltage costs that were hidden throughout new store construction costs, and developing a repeatable "rapid deployment" model, SOS has been able to assist Trader Joe's in reducing its initial purchase costs and ongoing maintenance cost.
In the first phase of its solution, SOS provided a custom business digital phone system with a unified messaging system. It also guided Trader Joe's in implementing standards for managing the system.
In the second phase, SOS developed a standard product, deployment, and support methodology for communications at all stores, and worked closely with the management team to gain Executive Management sponsorship for the new standard.
In the third phase, SOS guided Trader Joe's to use VOIP to connected the corporate offices so they could reduce communications cost and share telephone, conferencing and faxing resources. In a fourth phase, SOS helped Trader Joe's lower costs and improve customer service by replacing its Interactive Voice Response system (IVR) that directs callers to stores near them.
Trader Joe's headquarters is now the hub for centralized, simplified help desk support and inter-store communications. That means Trader Joe's can now open stores more quickly and provides nationwide 24x7 support for existing stores. The IVR that SOS brought in is designed to save Trader Joe's $50,000 per year, alone. And, unified messaging lets executives and staff receive business voicemail, business faxes, pages, and more to desktop computer and mobile devices - empowering them to be more effective in internal and customer communications.
SOS began working with Trader Joe's in 1997, and continues to manage the company's nationwide business telephony system and provide enterprise-wide network maintenance and support.
About SOS
SOS, the leading provider of integrated advanced communications solutions for midsize and small businesses, supplies voice, data, and telephony management services that enable organizations to simplify communications, enhance productivity, and leverage real-time business intelligence. Often deployed over a single Internet Protocol platform, SOS's solutions bridge the gap between legacy phone/data services and sophisticated telephony systems.
SOS's ability to execute flexible and dynamic solutions around a common management process and to address the complete communications business challenge, which enable enterprises to positively impact the bottom line of each of their business units, reduce costs, and deliver improved service to their end users.
SOS is headquartered in Rocklin, California with sales offices in the northwest. For more information, visit the Company's website at www.team-sos.com or call 1.888-336-7671.]]>