Harcourts Blue Realty

Based in the fast-growing eastern suburbs of Brisbane, Australia, Harcourts Blue Realty enjoys a high level of customer satisfaction — almost 99 percent of clients report they would definitely use the realtors for repeat business. To maintain this leadership position, the popular three-branch real estate and property management business needs effective communications that can help ensure clients receive maximum support and advice.

“The big issue was that we had no insight into what was happening with our calls. We realized that we were wasting money with staff calling each other within the branches using the traditional telephone, but we had no way of knowing how, where and what to rein in. This was having a severe impact on our ability to plan for growth.”
- Gerry Gorry, Customer Service Manager, Harcourts Blue Realty.

As the company continued its expansion, Harcourts Blue Realty was becoming increasingly frustrated with high costs and the inability of the Panasonic system to scale going forward. The lack of a unified phone system across the company’s three branches had promoted a silo mentality, where staff did not feel connected and part of a team. Harcourts needed reduce costs and provide sales and support staff with a resource to help them be more productive. The system also needed to be easy to manage and use, efficient to deploy, and highly scalable.

“ShoreTel’s easy-to-use features are particularly important for real estate people who are not traditionally tech savvy. Because of this ease of use, we noticed an immediate lift in administrator productivity.”
- Gerry Gorry, Customer Service Manager, Harcourts Blue Realty.

Harcourts Blue Realty deployed a ShoreTel Unified Communications (UC) system consisting of ShoreTel 40 and 90 BRI Voice Switches, as well as 61 ShoreTel IP Phones. Three ShoreTel branch office solutions — DVS licenses, site licenses, and a server — were included in the deployment to help maximize the efficiency of the call center and reception desk. Having client contact information within reach enables sales staff to serve customers more quickly, and walk-ins at the branches are accommodated with a “hotline” feature connecting them directly to the Property Management Service. Other benefits include:

• Advanced mobility options increase the ability of employees who spend a large part of their working day outside the office to connect with clients.
• Enhanced productivity with a built-in suite of versatile, real-time tools that put flexible features, telephony and IM control, and collaboration services at employees’ fingertips.
• Advanced cost-saving features, such as least cost routing, achieve an estimated 30 percent savings on calls and system management costs.
• ShoreTel Director’s Web-based tools allow Harcourts Blue Realty to add and move users quickly, at little or no cost.

“The highly flexible ShoreTel deployment started to provide an investment return from day one. Our sales people found the ShoreTel Call Manager feature a genuine resource that helped them make their business day more productive.”
- Gerry Gorry, Customer Service Manager, Harcourts Blue Realty.