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GOODWILL MICHIANA REDUCES BUDGETED COMMUNICATIONS SPEND BY 25% WITH AVAYA CLOUD OFFICE
Goodwill is a household name with over 4,200 retail stores nationwide, but the 120+ year-old nonprofit is so much more than its shops and donation centers.
Did you know that sales from Goodwill retail stores fund community services like helping first time parents by pairing them with nurses, providing adults the opportunity to earn a high school diploma, career and technical training, as well as workforce development services – all at no cost?
Goodwill believes in the power of work and their mission to empower people to achieve their most abundant life. In 2023, over 17,000 people were served by Goodwill Industries of Michiana throughout Northern Indiana, Southwest Michigan, and Southeast Chicago.
Reduced telecom spending
Locations
People served in 2023
Challenge
- Finding a solution to leverage past investments without the need to "rip and replace".
- Needed a centralized, flexible, system that could be customized to deliver bespoke experiences based on different user needs.
- A solution that is scalable they can easily add locations and expand due to growth.
- With smaller IT team, needed professional services to assist with assessment and readiness.
Value Created
- Choosing continued work with Avaya leveraged existing investments.
- Ability to integrate 3rd party systems bring new locations online seamlessly.
- Preparation and readiness through engagement with ACES.
- Additional revenue streams realized with innovations and partnerships.
The Situation: A Complex Move to Corporate Cloud Communications
Goodwill Michiana consists of 40+ entities including retail stores, education buildings, administrative buildings, and other essential community sites. In mid 2020, when a global pandemic swept the nation and governments cracked down on in-person gatherings, VP of Technology Otto Schlatter was tasked with transitioning Goodwill Michiana’s analog on-premises phone systems to a single, optimized cloud-based system that could meet the comprehensive needs of the business end-to-end.
Moving to the cloud was essential for business continuity and modernization, but the totality of the company’s needs – retail employees, nurses on staff, educational instructors, tax preparers, career coaches, warehouse employees and more, all geographically dispersed – felt daunting.
- The company needed a centralized, flexible, cloud-based system that could be customized to deliver bespoke experiences based on different user needs (for example, nurses wanting to use their personal mobile devices but needing secure fax for HIPPA regulations and compliance).
- The solution had to be scalable so Schlatter’s team could easily add locations and expand as Goodwill Michiana grows.
- The company did not want to do a rip and replace, so the solution needed to be able to integrate with existing technologies (for example, warehouse paying systems such as Bogen). Choosing their own journey toward modernization was imperative.
Schlatter had more vendor options than he knew what to do with (keep in mind, at this time during the pandemic a new cloud solution was popping up nearly every day). The company needed a rock-solid solution it could trust. As a long-time customer using Avaya IP Office, Schlatter says, “We knew we could build on Goodwill Michiana’s foundation with Avaya to centralize the company’s communications, optimize the employee experience, and drive innovation without business disruption.”
Avaya joined forces with a long-time trusted Avaya Business Partner who worked closely with Schlatter's team to successfully move the company to Avaya’s award-winning cloud phone system, Avaya Cloud Office.
“Avaya and its partner helped us reduce our budgeted annual telecom spending by 25%, providing a more accurate picture for financial planning.”
VP of Technology
The Solution: Communications in the Cloud at the Customer’s Pace, Boosted by Expert Professional Services
This trifecta initiative delivered everything Goodwill Michiana needed in its new cloud phone system, from more basic features like call forwarding, Do Not Disturb, and auto attendants (IVRs) for retail stores to more specialized capabilities and integrations. We’ve already mentioned the company’s nursing staff needing a deeper level of personalization, let’s look at their Workforce Development Services staff as another.
These employees went from working fully in-office to working two, three, or as many as five days a week at home during the pandemic and needed a high degree of system flexibility. With Avaya, the team can access their cloud phone system whenever and however they want, be it the web-based Avaya Cloud Office app, the Avaya Cloud Office app on their mobile device, or Avaya Cloud Office in their web browser depending on their circumstances, needs, and level of comfortability with technology.
Avaya’s industry-leading partner ecosystem also made the company’s integration needs a breeze, ensuring no interruption to services and availability. Plus, the solution provides Schlatter’s team with a single pane of glass view into Goodwill Michiana’s entire communications landscape so they can easily provision the system, add new users, and make changes to improve operations and fast-track modernization.
For example, Goodwill Michiana recently partnered with ReSupply, a national donation hauling and pickup company to expand their donation geography. Goodwill Michiana’s VP of Sales wanted the ability for a customer to call a retail store and navigate through an IVR for this purpose. In this way the auto attendant would initiate, “If you want to schedule a pickup, press “1.” This would seamlessly route to another IVR: “If you want standard pickup, press “1.” “If you want priority pickup, press “2.” This was not possible with their disparate systems and adds great value as an additional service but also improves the customer experience.
The team was able to go into the Avaya Cloud Office system and program this in a snap. So fast, in fact, that the vendor personally reached out to Schlatter to commend him on how quickly and efficiently they were able to implement the IVR across the organization.
Goodwill Michiana also enlisted the help of Avaya’s Customer Experience Services (ACES) team to ensure their network was 100% ready for cloudbased communications. The company had to be sure that phone calls were as reliable and clear as traditional phone services. Working closely with Avaya’s ACES team they were able to swiftly conduct assessments and make the right network adjustments.
Only with Avaya and its partners could Goodwill Michiana continue to build on its strong foundation and long-term relationship to optimize Communications costs and fuel business performance with complete control over their move to cloud modernization – the ultimate win-win-win.
Outcome: Mobility, Modernization, and a 25% Reduction in Budgeted Communications Spend
“Avaya and its partner helped us reduce our budgeted annual Communications spending by 25%, providing a more accurate picture for financial planning,” says Schlatter.
There’s also been a boost in employee productivity and satisfaction, to the point that Schlatter has seen a noticeable drop in the number of people using their desk phones in lieu of Avaya Cloud Office as an easier cloudbased alternative. Plus, his IT team is working far more efficiently. Overall, they’ve countless hours each month by not having to manually maintain physical hardware and travel to sites for service repairs.
Looking to the future, Avaya Cloud Office opens a host of new options to Goodwill Michiana. For example, as more employees potentially work remotely, some store locations may be able to consolidate floor space that will open new retail space for increased revenue streams such as specialized “boutique” shopping experiences.
Only with Avaya and its partners could Goodwill Michiana continue to build on its strong foundation and long-term relationship to optimize Communications costs and fuel business performance with complete control over their move to cloud modernization – the ultimate win-win-win.
About Goodwill Industries of Michiana
Goodwill believes in the power of work to empower people to achieve their most abundant life.
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