Glasswells

Glasswells, a home furnishing business with five sites, were originally operating their communications systems as individual sites with each essentially adrift from the others. For telephony, three of the sites were each using their own on-site PBX, meaning there was little integration within the telephone systems across different sites and making it extremely difficult to diagnose and resolve issues. The two smaller sites were using Public Service Telephone Network (PSTN) voice connectivity which, due to the planned PSTN switch off in 2025, Glasswells were made aware this was not an ideal long-term telephony solution.

With regards to data, head office was utilising a 100Mb leased line, which was under strain. All other sites were also struggling with increased demand on their data connectivity. The two larger sites were using Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) connectivity and the two smaller sites were using only standard retail FTTC. With high levels of data traffic, Glasswells needed more stability and less fluctuation over the speeds they were receiving.

BSAS sought to revamp the data portfolio for the business, which included upgrading the existing leased line at head office to a 200/1Gb and installing 100Mb leased lines at the two larger outlying sites. Each leased line was complemented by an uncontended FTTC connection to provide resiliency. The two smaller sites were provided with uncontended FTTC connectivity. The stronger data infrastructure meant BSAS could deliver an exemplary cloud-based 3CX/SIP telephony solution that covered the entire company. This brought uniformity across all sites, allowing all Glasswells branches to operate as one.

Along with the obvious benefits of more stable and reliable data connectivity and all telephony operating as one, Glasswells have found several additional benefits.

Though not an initial requirement, Glasswells have since found a significant benefit in being able to include their delivery drivers within the telephone system without having to provide their mobile numbers, by using the 3CX mobile app. They can now communicate with customers through the Glasswells phone system, which improves security for the business as calls can be monitored and recorded where necessary. They also have the ability to dial internally from their ‘office’ extension, increasing the ease of contacting colleagues.

Moving to a cloud-telephony solution has removed the reliance on physical on-site hardware creating more space on site and has also allowed making system amendments (e.g. setting up a new extension), diagnosing and resolving any issues that arise to become significantly easier. Previously, should a telephony issue arise, Glasswells would have needed an engineer to attend site to diagnose the issue, which could potentially be a lengthy process to resolution. Now Glasswells simply raise a ticket with BSAS Telecoms support department, who can remotely log in to their system and quickly review the system to find and correct the issue. This process is significantly easier for Glasswells and means issues get resolved significantly faster.