Renault South Africa recently partnered with KSS for the upgrade of the group's legacy PABX-based infrastructure to Cisco's IP Communications platform, as well Cisco's Call Centre solution, in order to improve efficiency, and ultimately, its service delivery to the South African marketplace.
Implemented at the Renault head office in Bruma, Johannesburg, which features 110 users, the system had to adhere to the requirements set by Renault globally, which has a worldwide partnership with Cisco and partners in its respective countries of presence. In South Africa, KSS was chosen as the preferred partner for the Renault South Africa implementation.
Renault's previous legacy system was almost six-years-old and not digitised, which meant users could not, for example, log in remotely, and therefore benefit from the advantages that come from working in a mobile environment.
Additionally, the company wanted to drive down international calls by utilising an IP-based platform and, therefore, the costs benefits of VOIP (voice over IP).
The solution
"Our previous system was outdated and we felt it had started to impact our efficiency. As a result we took the decision to upgrade our system to Cisco IP communications platform that would firstly align us with our global peers, and secondly, enable us to improve our own operations and resultant service delivery," comments Billy van Zyl, General Manager: Information Systems/Information Technology at Renault South Africa.
"Due to Renault's global partnership with Cisco, the process was straightforward in choosing the right solution. However, we did require a Cisco partner that could provide us with the products as well as the expertise and value-add to ensure project success. We, therefore, decided to choose KSS, as we felt the organisation met these requirements."
"Renault has an entrenched partnership with Cisco, which is why it was so important that we met these stringent standards set by the organisation worldwide. We endeavoured to approach the project with professionalism expected from Cisco's partners," says Corne Sassenberg, Senior Account Manager at KSS.
In addition to implementing the Cisco IP communications platform Unified Communications Manager, KSS also rolled out Cisco's Call Centre solution, IP Contact Centre Express, which, for example, offers automatic call distribution (ACD), interactive voice response (IVR), and computer telephony integration (CTI) on a single platform.
The benefits
Renault now benefits from a communications platform that, for one, allows the local organisation to make VOIP calls to its head office in France or other offices around the world. This not only drives down international call costs, but also ensures the South African team can communicate with their overseas peers on demand.
Additionally, Renault employees can log in remotely to the infrastructure when, for example, visiting dealerships, allowing to easily gain access to important information that accelerates decision-making and turnaround time.
The new infrastructure also complements Renault's manufacturing efforts, which saw the locally built Renault Sandero being launched in March 2009.
"With the infrastructure upgrade we are driving our commitment to the South African marketplace that, for example, sees us investing heavily in the production of locally-manufactured vehicles," concludes Van Zyl.
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