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Swim England sharpens agility with flexible communications

3

contact centers enabled within 12 weeks

1,000

direct numbers ported

35%

savings achieved

Founded in 1869, Swim England is the national governing body for swimming in England, leading the way in education, training, and research, as well as inspiring generations of Olympic athletes.

"If I could sum up 8x8 in one word, it would be 'intuitive'."
Kalpesh Parmar
Head of IT, Swim England

The Challenge: Legacy system proves inflexible

Swim England operated three call centers, which handled enquiries related to awards, teacher training, and membership. Agents used an on-premise legacy ISDN platform that had proved reliable, but was set to become end-of-life in 2025.

As the charity's IT team started thinking about a replacement solution, the Covid-19 pandemic hit, disrupting plans. Suddenly, the inflexibility of the old system became painfully apparent.

As staff switched to working from home, calls needed to be diverted to their mobile phones. But some employees had always been office-based and only had landline numbers. Typically, people were having to return calls using their personal mobiles.

"When the pandemic arrived, it was clear we had to make a 180-degree turn — and head towards a cloud solution much sooner than we had expected," says Kalpesh Parmar, Head of IT at Swim England.

The Solution: Work from anywhere

Parmar worked closely with colleagues from the three contact centers to define their needs — and then shortlist suitable vendors.

Ultimately, Swim England chose 8x8, based on the functionality and ease-of-use of its technology. The decision also meant the charity could continue to work closely with its existing IT specialist, and 8x8 partner, Cranberry Communications.

Within 12 weeks, the new 8x8 eXperience Communications Platform went live, equipping the three contact centers with voice, video, chat and content-sharing capabilities. Swim England also empowered 80 staff with the 8x8 Work app for mobile phones, tablets, and computers. This enables employees to work from anywhere, taking calls from the public and collaborating easily with colleagues, all via the same app.

Even if staff use their own mobile phones, the 8x8 app hides their personal numbers. Members of the public can simply dial the Swim England numbers they've always used — and the calls connect seamlessly.

With 1,000 direct dial numbers of its own, the charity could have faced expensive porting costs and complexity. But the process was handled quickly and cost-effectively by 8x8. "All the numbers were transferred across without costing a small fortune," says Parmar.

The Benefits: Major cost savings

Swim England now has the added flexibility and productivity it needs to thrive in the modern age — with an agile workforce that uses state-of-the-art cloud communications.

8x8 plaform is easy to manage by the IT team and it includes self-service capabilities. "Before, people would ask the IT team to make system changes for them, but now they can just log in and sort it themselves in moments," says Parmar.

Another major benefit has been cost savings. Switching to 8x8 has lowered monthly platform operating costs by 35%. What's more, the charity no longer needs to provision mobile phones or pay the expensive monthly contract costs for 30 users.

Over coming months, Swim England is ramping up staff numbers —and 8x8 platform is helping new hires to hit the ground running. "We can send them quick tutorial videos from 8x8, but in most cases they don't need any help at all," explains Parmar. "The app is so easy for them to pick up straight away. If I could sum up 8x8 in one word, it would be 'intuitive'."

The Benefits: Major cost savings

Swim England now has the added flexibility and productivity it needs to thrive in the modern age — with an agile workforce that uses state-of-the-art cloud communications.

8x8 plaform is easy to manage by the IT team and it includes self-service capabilities. "Before, people would ask the IT team to make system changes for them, but now they can just log in and sort it themselves in moments," says Parmar.

Another major benefit has been cost savings. Switching to 8x8 has lowered monthly platform operating costs by 35%. What's more, the charity no longer needs to provision mobile phones or pay the expensive monthly contract costs for 30 users.

Over coming months, Swim England is ramping up staff numbers —and 8x8 platform is helping new hires to hit the ground running. "We can send them quick tutorial videos from 8x8, but in most cases they don't need any help at all," explains Parmar. "The app is so easy for them to pick up straight away. If I could sum up 8x8 in one word, it would be 'intuitive'."

The Benefits: Major cost savings

Swim England now has the added flexibility and productivity it needs to thrive in the modern age — with an agile workforce that uses state-of-the-art cloud communications.

8x8 plaform is easy to manage by the IT team and it includes self-service capabilities. "Before, people would ask the IT team to make system changes for them, but now they can just log in and sort it themselves in moments," says Parmar.

Another major benefit has been cost savings. Switching to 8x8 has lowered monthly platform operating costs by 35%. What's more, the charity no longer needs to provision mobile phones or pay the expensive monthly contract costs for 30 users.

Over coming months, Swim England is ramping up staff numbers —and 8x8 platform is helping new hires to hit the ground running. "We can send them quick tutorial videos from 8x8, but in most cases they don't need any help at all," explains Parmar. "The app is so easy for them to pick up straight away. If I could sum up 8x8 in one word, it would be 'intuitive'."

The Benefits: Major cost savings

Swim England now has the added flexibility and productivity it needs to thrive in the modern age — with an agile workforce that uses state-of-the-art cloud communications.

8x8 plaform is easy to manage by the IT team and it includes self-service capabilities. "Before, people would ask the IT team to make system changes for them, but now they can just log in and sort it themselves in moments," says Parmar.

Another major benefit has been cost savings. Switching to 8x8 has lowered monthly platform operating costs by 35%. What's more, the charity no longer needs to provision mobile phones or pay the expensive monthly contract costs for 30 users.

Over coming months, Swim England is ramping up staff numbers —and 8x8 platform is helping new hires to hit the ground running. "We can send them quick tutorial videos from 8x8, but in most cases they don't need any help at all," explains Parmar. "The app is so easy for them to pick up straight away. If I could sum up 8x8 in one word, it would be 'intuitive'."

Customer:
Swim England
Industry:
  • Public Sector - UK
    Travel & Hospitality
    Civic and Social Organizations
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