Automotive suppliers growing with IP telephony

Automotive component manufacturer Helical Technology, in Lancashire, says it’s getting the looked-for cost savings and improved flexibility from replacing its analogue phone system with voice over IP (VoIP) telephony. It made the decision to change when it needed to get greater capacity, not least because of expanding operations this year, including setting up an office in China. David Alcock, IT manager for Helical, says the firm decided to take advantage of the benefits of data and voice convergence and is already seeing “considerable savings”, particularly on its international calls. Alcock: “The system is highly flexible and has enabled us to make significant cost-savings as well as time in managing incoming calls.” Its system was provided by IP Swyx Communications. Helical is running the 50 user Swyxware solution on CAT 5 network cabling and 100Mb switches, with PCs running on a Windows 2000 operating system. Prior to installation, the firm’s system trial proved that scalability, ease of implementation and cost-efficiency were there to be had. Ralf Ebbinghaus, vice president of sales and marketing at Swyx, says: “This is a significant sale for us as we have brought new world technology to a very traditional business arena. Ebbinghaus: “It clearly demonstrates how this technology can be adopted by almost any business… The beauty of the system in this kind of environment is that it provides true mobility for employees throughout the plant, enabling them to hot desk or even work remotely from home via a VPN (virtual private network). Perhaps more importantly though staff are always available, and the company never misses a call.” Alcock: “We would highly recommend the system to any company that is considering expanding, or is looking for a new telephone system.”