Replacing Old Phone System with Zultys UC Solution Drives Huge Productivity Gains
“The MXIE has been such a tremendous asset to our organization. I have a hard time remembering phone numbers and now I never have to. With just a few mouse movements, I’m able to call other employees or numbers in my address book. Zultys fit within our budget and offers what we feel is a superior product to other VoIP systems.”
Lorena Seidenberger
Director of Finance and Systems Development Fischer & Wieser
Profile
- Two Fredericksburg, TX locations
- Rural environment
- Travelling sales team
- Growing company
The Customer
Fischer & Wieser Specialty Foods, Inc. is a privately held company that sells pantry essentials coast to coast and internationally. Fischer & Wieser produces more than a hundred quality items, motivated by the mission to produce quality products that move people to share the taste with others.
The company’s flagship product, the award-winning Original Roasted Raspberry Chipotle Sauce®, helped put the family business on the specialty foods map. Through its national marketing campaign, the company was one of the first to put a chipotle pepper product on the shopping lists of home chefs from coast to coast. Fischer & Wieser, which has two locations in Fredericksburg, Texas, is still owned and operated by members of the Fischer and Wieser families, 40 years after its inception.
The Challenge
Since garnering the national spotlight for its Original Roasted Raspberry Chipotle Sauce, Fischer & Wieser has experienced tremendous business growth. With all of its success came an increased demand and stress on its aging phone system including more calls, staffing and travel.
“Our old phone system was piecemealed together over several years,” says Lorena Seidenberger, director of finance and systems development at Fischer & Wieser. “We started having difficulties finding both parts and service, not to mention the headache that came when employees shuffled offices – we had to call network support every time.”
Outdated hardware was not the company’s only problem. Fischer & Wieser was operating with one incoming phone number for each of their two locations. There were no direct lines to employees and no ability to transfer calls between locations. Every call that came into headquarters had to be routed through the receptionist. Callers were even asked to hang up and dial the retail phone number. Not only did this frustrate customers and project a lack of customer service, it also offered salespeople no easy way to forward calls or check messages from the road.
The Solution
After careful evaluation, Fischer & Wieser selected the Zultys IP PBX with Unified Communications (UC) product line.
“Zultys provided a solution that we felt was superior to other VoIP systems in the marketplace and it was within our budget,” stated Seidenberger.“We find the Zultys hardware, software and accompanying Help Documents very user-friendly. The software screens walk each employee through the setup process in order to tailor MXIE to fit his or her needs.”She added, “With MXIE, users can see if an individual (in the office or working from home) is at their computer, is on the phone or wishes not to be disturbed. The call forwarding feature makes it possible to forward both a single line and a group of numbers, which has been especially helpful when the sales team is on the road.”
Instant messaging has been put to good use in Fischer & Wieser’s shipping department. Rather than tying up phone lines, leaving lengthy voicemails or adding to the pile of e-mails, the shipping department can now flash a quick instant message on the screen of an employee, notifying them that a package has arrived.
“The MXIE has been such a tremendous asset to our organization,” said Seidenberger.
The Impact
Great customer service is expected from a small, family-owned company. Busy signals and unanswered calls leave an unpleasant taste in customers’ mouths.
Fischer & Wieser, known for fabulous taste, has been able to radically improve the way calls are handled since implementing its new Zultys system.
Connecting the office locations together has made it possible for employees to make meetings wherever they are located and it has eliminated employees from having to physically man a co-worker’s phone trying desperately to answer every call that comes into that department.
Call groups allow anyone in the company to easily log in and receive other employee/department calls right at their own desk. Customers are unaware of any difference and business efficiency is increased behind-the-scenes.
Linking the phones with the computers has also changed the way everyone at Fischer & Wieser works, from the receptionist to the sales team. The Zultys IP Phone System allows the receptionist to transfer incoming calls with a simple drag of the mouse. Once that call is transferred, the conversation can be recorded for future review.
Voicemails can also be e-mailed and archived with the customers file. Even with all the bells and whistles, some of the most basic features are often the most utilized and produce the greatest results.