Bringing it all togetherIT • communications • support

The right foundations forbetter customer service

National guidelines

Relocating its headquarterspresented a great opportunityfor Shoreline HousingPartnership. Steve Neul, Headof IT at Shoreline, recalls: “Themove meant we could updateour communicationsinfrastructure. We particularlywanted to create a contactcentre for improved enquiryhandling and betterintegrated customer service.”

In fact, Shoreline had littlemore than ordinary telephoneextensions. This made it verydifficult for the company tomeet national guidelines oncall handling efficiency, orprovide a seamless service toits tenants.

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Shoreline Housing Partnership

“We favoured anintegrated solution from asingle supplier, with thecapacity to support ourbusiness in the future.”

Steve NeulHead of IT

Shoreline Housing Partnership

January 2009

About Shoreline Housing Partnership Shoreline Housing Partnership is a registeredsocial landlord that manages around 8,200homes in North East Lincolnshire. In fact,North East Lincolnshire Council once ran all ofits homes. This was before the tenants votedto transfer the management of their homesto a non-profit-making organisation,separate from the council.

Total solutionShoreline approached its BT Local Business team.“We favoured an integrated solution from a singlesupplier, with the capacity to support our business inthe future,” says Steve Neul. The comprehensive BTsolution includes the contact centre, a wide areanetwork, an office communication system, internet

access, telephone lines, and 250 HP desktopcomputers. A finance arrangement helpedminimise up-front expenditure, while a BT OnePlandiscounted calling package provides Shoreline withattractive call rates.

Implementation went without a hitch, followingwhich BT conducted a series of failover tests todemonstrate the system’s resilience. Steve Neulobserves: “Our experience of the BT SouthYorkshire and Humber Local Business has beenfantastic. The support throughout has beensecond-to-none, and the BT technicians are alwaysvery professional.”

Enhanced experienceThe new communication system has transformedShoreline’s call answering, with up to 60 per cent of callersable to dial the people they require directly. Meanwhile,better management information is enabling the contactcentre to closely match demand. The result is that over 90per cent of around 2,000 calls every week are now beinganswered within five rings. The customer experience is alsomuch enhanced because agents can now deal withenquiries about a wide range of topics on a single call.

BT has helped Shoreline save money too. “With BT we havereduced the cost of our calls and lines by at least 25 percent,” concludes Steve Neul, “and there is the potential formore savings and service enhancements to come.” Thecompany is planning to talk to BT about possible mobileservices integration, enhanced online access for customers,and the use of voice recognition systems.

Bringing it all togetherIT • communications • support

The services described in this publication are subject to availability and may be modified from time to time. Services and equipment are provided subject to British Telecommunications plc’srespective standard conditions of contract. Nothing in this publication forms any part of any contract.© British Telecommunications plc 2008 Registered office: 81 Newgate Street, London EC1A 7AJ Registered in England No. 1800000. BT and the connected world logo areregistered trademarks of British Telecommunications plc. Designed by Design Directions Limited. January 2009.

About the BT solutionA Cisco IP-based Unified CommunicationsManager linked to an IPFX contact centreapplication – all provided and supportedby BT iNet – handles voicecommunications for Shoreline’s offices.Ninety BT ISDN digital lines provideconnectivity to the public network fromtwo separate locations for enhancedbusiness continuity.

The wide area network comprisestriangulated 100Mbps leased line Ethernetlinks serving all three Shoreline offices,

plus an MPLS (multi-protocol labelswitching) connection to Shoreline’sseparate 24-hour emergency centre.Internet access is via BTnet Premium –BT’s flagship uncontended service –supplemented by broadband services toenable network access for managers atselected sheltered housing schemes. BTLynx supplied the HP hardware andconfigured the PCs with a bespoke imagesupplied by Shoreline.

“Our experience of the BT South Yorkshire and Humber Local Business has beenfantastic. The support throughout has been second-to-none, and the BTtechnicians are always very professional.”

Steve NeulHead of IT

Shoreline Housing Partnership

“With BT we havereduced the cost of our calls and lines by at least 25 per cent, andthere is the potential formore savings andservice enhancementsto come.”

Steve NeulHead of IT

Shoreline Housing Partnership