Dartington Crystal
Dartington Crystal
Since 1967, Dartington Crystal has become a household name for producing beautifully hand crafted glassware using only the finest natural materials. Today, Dartington Crystal continues to provide elegant simple designs in crystal and glass and remain the only crystal brand still producing in the UK. Based in North Devon, the 130 staff strong company won exclusive rights to make crystal products to mark the London 2012 Olympic Games including glasses, vases, paperweights, bowls and picture frames.
With a chance to supply Olympic sponsors and suppliers, Dartington Crystal selected IP Group to supply the telephony solution for their Head Office communications.
For many years, Dartington Crystal had persevered with old technology including BT’s original form of ISDN, namely DASS2. Knowing that DASS2 had restrictions, Dartington Crystal invited various companies to quote for new products with the thought that ISDN30e with a new telephone system would be a suitable replacement for an aging platform. When IP Group first made contact with Dartington Crystal, IT Manager Elaine Beresford had seen enough potential telecoms suppliers and did not need any further assistance. That was until Voice over IP Ltd explained the unique benefits of their private VoIP MPLS network, i-Line, in conjunction with the market leading Avaya IP Office 500 telephone system.
Introducing i-Line for Dartington Crystal resulted in considerable cost savings, minimised telephone line contention and provided a true business continuity plan for the business, whilst increasing the total number of lines by one! The Avaya IP Office 500 telephone system was chosen to cater for the business processes that Dartington Crystal required. Using PC Software, all staff using analogue telephones (the majority of users) were able to gain all the business benefits of an IP or digital telephone without the expense of changing any hardware. “This has proved to be fantastic and very easy to use” said Finance Director, Philip Hill.
The Reception position was also greatly enhanced by removing the cumbersome operator station in favour of a PC based operator’s console. Full visibility of staff status and improved call handling has now dramatically increased customer service. Voice over IP Ltd also supplied the network services ensuring that line rentals and call charges were reduced. Following a recent account management visit, IP Group were able to further reduce these rates ensuring that Dartington Crystal remain in line with the latest reductions in price whilst continuing to be made aware of the latest developments with the product.
