British Waterways

With half the British population living within five miles of a canal or river, British Waterways is the public corporation that cares for the 2,200-mile network of canals and rivers in England, Scotland and Wales.

Business Challenge

British Waterways’ Northwich region was struggling to handle the volume of calls they were receiving. Volumes varied dramatically, with around 1,100 calls in a quiet month, increasing to 2,600 in a busy month. Hiring more staff was not cost effective, and the specific nature of the calls meant temps were out of the question. Julie Sharman, General Manager at British Waterways comments:

“The public expect us to handle their enquiries promptly and effectively”. “We suspected that we weren’t capturing all inbound calls, but hiring more staff seemed a costly and inefficient solution to the problem.”

Solution Deployed

British Waterways’ Northwich region approached Moneypenny for help and following a consultation period, was offered a four week trial that included the support of two dedicated Moneypenny Receptionists, Sian and Laura. Julie concludes:

“Having Moneypenny to handle all calls has been a great success. In addition to no longer having to worry about missing calls, the solution has also freed up valuable floor space, as our in-house switchboard operators are now used in a different capacity. Thanks to Moneypenny, these same benefits have since been achieved by 8 other regions.”

Fisher Meredith

Fisher Meredith is an award-winning law firm that offers a high quality and personal service to a range of individuals and organisations. Operating out of offices in central London, the company has particular expertise in the fields of litigation, property and private client work.

Business Challenge

The management team at Fisher Meredith was concerned that its two reception staff were being stretched during peak times and that customer service suffered whenever they were required to handle high call volumes as well as greet clients in person.Sally Boyce, HR manager at Fisher Meredith comments:

“We were concerned that service levels were falling during busy periods. We needed a solution that would help us capture all inbound calls and give our front of house staff the ability to concentrate on other matters such as clients visiting the offices.”

Solution Deployed

Having approached an alternative supplier early in 2009, Moneypenny’s endorsement by The Law Society gave Fisher Meredith the confidence to trial the service in September 2009, engaging them to handle “overflow” calls as and when required.

Sally concludes:
“Just a few days into our trial, we soon realised the quality of the service. Not only were all our calls being handled promptly and professionally by Moneypenny Receptionist Vicky and her team, but the solution also gave our in-house reception team the flexibility and support required to deliver a first class service to visiting clients.”

Impax Asset Management Group

With a track record for delivering excellent returns across private equity and hedge fund strategies, Impax’s reputation as a leading investment manager requires the company to provide world-class levels of service at all times.

Business Challenge

Impax employs over 40 team members at its office in central London. When the company reviewed the crisis management policy in place for its telephone systems, the decision was taken to approach Moneypenny to discuss how their phones could be handled in the case of a telecommunications failure. Darren Johnson, operations director of Impax, comments:

“Ensuring we have an effective crisis management policy in place for our telephone system is a key part of our wider business continuity plan. We were keen to establish whether Moneypenny could respond immediately in the event of a disaster. They reassured us this would always be the case.”

Solution Deployed

Moneypenny’s business continuity package – providing a flexible solution with fully briefed virtual receptionists on hand to answer all incoming calls in the event of an emergency. Messages are either taken and forwarded immediately via email or SMS, or calls connected through to appropriate mobiles. Call handling instructions are all agreed in advance and all relevant data e.g. staff names, contact numbers collected to ensure a seamless transfer whenever required.

Moneypenny handled 61 calls for the company in March 2010, when a BT fault caused all incoming telephone lines to fail between the hours of 11am and 3pm. Having Moneypenny set up and on hand to take calls meant that:

• Normal service to clients was not interrupted
• Business critical activity continued
• Staff were able to get in touch easily
• All activity during downtime was fully audited