Derby City Council’s Microsoft Teams contact center implementation journey wasn’t easy. They faced a common challenge: their existing contact center wasn't integrated with their communication platform, creating inefficiencies for both staff and citizens. Budget limitations, outdated technology, and a sudden shift to remote work during the pandemic added further pressure, compounding the existing issues and highlighting the need for a robust, integrated solution.
Derby City Council's journey to a streamlined MS Teams contact center is a valuable case study. In this Tech Talks Podcast episode, we delve into their experience and explore how they overcame challenges to achieve:
Join us as we chat with: Kathie Anderson, IT Change Manager at Derby City Council, Karl Smith, Solutions Architect at LoopUp and Oli Lifely, Head of Sales at Luware. Hosted by Tom Arbuthnot from Empowering.Cloud.
This episode is packed with valuable insights and practical considerations to help you streamline your own MS Teams contact center implementation. Learn how MS Teams can transform your contact center and unlock new levels of efficiency and citizen engagement.
Discover Derby City Council's journey to a modern, efficient contact center with MS Teams.
Migrating from a traditional PBX system to a modern, cloud-based solution like Microsoft Teams wasn't without its hurdles for Derby City Council. Their initial, rapid deployment of Skype for Business ultimately revealed the limitations of their legacy system and led them to explore the full potential of Microsoft Teams, leveraging their existing E5 licenses.
Derby City Council understood the importance of a well-defined strategy throughout the transition process. Here are the key areas they focused on:
They focused on several elements during the transition and MS Teams contact center implementation process: user experience, budget, system optimization and scalability, technical expertise, integration needs, and compliance requirements.
Partnering with LoopUp, they explored fully migrating to MS Teams phone. Consolidating onto one platform instead of multiple systems offered significant advantages.
Their prior contact center solutions weren’t flexible. Simple scripting changes required external help, causing delays. They needed administrative control, intuitive supervisor operation, front- and back-office integration, and reliable call recording.
Luware Nimbus, with its diverse contact center integrations, offered a compelling feature set that aligned perfectly with Derby City Council's objectives.
Here's a closer look at how specific features addressed their needs:
| Contact Center Feature | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Customisable system | Adapts to the unique needs of different departments and individual users |
| Flexible call recording | Easily captures calls for specific needs, ensuring compliance and quality assurance. |
| Chatbot integration | Automates initial and routine inquiries, freeing up staff time for complex issues. |
| MS Teams presence status integration | Improves staff communication and collaboration by showing presence status within Teams, reducing disruptions and saving time. |
| Secure SaaS model | Protects sensitive citizen data and reduces IT overhead, crucial for long-term success. |
Luware's secure SaaS data model offered essential data protection benefits. Additionally, chatbots named Darcy (Derby City Council) and Ali (Derby Homes) were deployed as the first point of contact, significantly reducing the volume of basic inquiries and allowing staff to focus on complex issues.
Shifting to a Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) solution like Luware Nimbus addressed Derby City Council's budgetary and time constraints. This model minimized the IT burden without compromising service delivery.
Finally, seeing colleagues' Teams presence status provided another key benefit. Staff could avoid interrupting those already engaged in other tasks, saving time and optimizing overall workflow. The move to Microsoft Teams has empowered Derby City Council's contact center staff with the flexibility and functionality needed for a successful hybrid work environment.
Even the most successful projects encounter challenges, and Derby City Council's digital transformation was no exception. During the migration to full Microsoft Teams telephony, they identified limitations within their existing SBC infrastructure.
Licensing constraints, combined with limited hardware bandwidth, led to call capacity issues, particularly during peak periods like annual tax reminder campaigns. These bottlenecks threatened citizen access to essential services, preventing those with urgent needs from reaching the Council.
Working closely with Derby City Council and our partner LoopUp, we leveraged Microsoft cloud scaling to distribute peak loads across multiple tenants. This strategic approach effectively eliminated bottlenecks, ensuring uninterrupted access to critical services during peak usage. This solution has provided reliable operations throughout the Microsoft Teams contact center implementation lifecycle and continues to do so, demonstrating our commitment to providing the best possible contact center solution.
The implementation of Luware Nimbus with Microsoft Teams, combined with the migration from their legacy PBX system, has resulted in a significant positive impact for Derby City Council and its constituents across 95 locations.
One of the most significant improvements has been in their ability to react quickly to changing needs.
Managers now have the tools to optimize contact center workflows with seamless integration between head office and agents, regardless of location. Callers benefit from improved access and visibility into staff availability, enhanced by their distributed workforce.
Staff morale has also improved due to increased work flexibility, while supervisors can efficiently allocate resources based on workload and availability.
Power BI dashboards empower the Council's teams to self-monitor call quality and productivity, optimizing resource allocation and maximizing efficiency. This ensures every team member can leverage the available tools effectively.
Enhanced data access facilitates deeper performance analysis, allowing for assessment of individual interactions and broader trends through real-time Power BI reporting. This is crucial for managing peak loads during major projects. By leveraging integrations like Teams Graph APIs and utilizing Power Platform tools for insights, supervisors and other stakeholders gain valuable business intelligence about individual contacts and larger usage patterns, driving continuous improvements throughout the Microsoft Teams contact center implementation lifecycle.
While a full MS Teams contact center implementation with Luware Nimbus wasn't Derby City Council's initial plan, it has proven to be a transformative decision for them. Working in partnership with LoopUp, we provided a solution that enabled enhanced and skill-based routing options, providing seamless integration for their external customer service needs. The simple Teams client interface we implemented simplifies routing configuration and facilitates internal chat for connected contact.
This transformation is perhaps best captured in Kathie's own words:
For other public sector organizations, we encourage you to consider the broader possibilities of a Microsoft Teams contact center implementation, rather than focusing on potential obstacles. Embrace the opportunity to enhance citizen services through digital transformation and modernization of your Microsoft Teams phone infrastructure, including user phone and cloud voice needs.
With Microsoft Certified SBCs and Operator Connect capabilities in place for your cloud communication setup, and by leveraging Cloud Communication APIs, including Graph APIs and communication APIs, there is significant potential to expand upon existing solutions.
We believe that a successful omnichannel contact center implementation relies on a strong ecosystem of expertise. We recommend partnering with experienced integration specialists and vendors like our partner LoopUp and other subject-matter experts alongside a proven contact center platform like Luware Nimbus to achieve the best possible results for your unique needs.
We are confident that we can guide you to similar success. Let's discuss your specific needs and how Luware Nimbus can help you achieve your goals. Book a call to start the conversation.