Replacing ISDN with cloud-based 3CX across five UK sites and 150+ staff.

The client

A family-run UK manufacturer of windows and doors, founded in the mid-1980s, supplying the commercial and trade market. The business operates from five UK sites with more than 150 staff. System Force IT has supported the business for over a decade, originally through server hosting services, then expanding across all telecommunications and IT including laptops, conferencing equipment, broadband, wireless and email security.

The solution

Following a working demonstration at System Force IT’s Gloucester offices, the recommendation was a cloud-hosted 3CX VoIP deployment, with the business taking an annual licence model that allowed extensions to be added on demand.

Technical detail

• Platform: 3CX VoIP, cloud-hosted, integrated with the existing IT estate.
• Endpoints: mixed estate of desk handsets, headsets with laptops, and softphones; the 3CX app deployed to every staff mobile and laptop.
• Inter-site dialling: VoIP-to-VoIP calls between sites and home workers are free of per-minute cost.
• Video conferencing: built-in 3CX video used routinely by senior management. A recent example saw the chairman conferenced into a meeting with 12 staff dialled in from six different locations.
• Licensing: annual licence with unlimited extensions, removing the per-extension hardware-card costs of the previous platform.
• Continuity: when COVID-19 hit, the same digital platform let receptionists answer the main line from home with laptops and headsets without service interruption.

Client feedback

“3CX has completely revolutionised our communications, making it easier to speak to those we contact regularly, and opening up new lines of communication with staff that we may not have had before. I would say it has undoubtedly improved internal relations and productivity, as people from the warehouse to the boardroom can now communicate quickly and easily via the 3CX app on their mobile, desk phone or laptop.”

“The video conferencing system has been extremely useful to us, particularly to our senior management team. It is a far better use of everyone’s time to meet in this way and, of course, better for the environment, not having staff driving hundreds of miles to attend a single meeting.”

“As with any new system, there can be teething problems. When I called their support line at 3am one morning, they were there, immediately, helping us to resolve the problem. After so many years, we trust the System Force team implicitly.”

– IT Manager, UK windows and doors manufacturer (5 sites, 150+ staff)