Warn Industries

Founded in 1948 and acquired by Dover Corp. in 2003, Warn Industries is a manufacturer of accessories and equipment for four-wheel drive and all-terrain vehicles. Warn has 410 employees spread across two Oregon locations, a technical facility in Livonia, MI, and 12 salespeople in the field. The bulk of the calls to Warn’s contact center are from dealers and distributors, although consumers call in search of retail outlets, needing help with a product they’ve purchased, or for assistance in deciding what to buy.

“Our users range from very technologically savvy to very low tech, and include people who have been here for decades and don’t like change.”
— Toni Mekkers, Telecommunications Analyst, Warn Industries.

Although Warn’s IT team had long been interested in moving to VoIP, budget cuts deferred upgrading to a new system. As a result, the company’s facilities were saddled with separate phone systems that weren’t just antiquated, but expensive to maintain and configure. And because the facilities were on different systems, there was no way to balance voice traffic across the two, or for the receptionists at each location to cover for each other. Push finally came to shove with management’s decision to move the contact center from one facility to another. Beyond seeking to consolidate their two separate phone and voicemail systems into one, Warn also sought a contact center system that allowed for skills-based routing and better reporting.

“Calls sometimes went to the wrong agents, and had to be transferred when the agents couldn’t answer the questions.”
— Matt Bailey, Contact Center Manager, Warn Industries.

A phased integration began with installation of the new ShoreTel system in Warn’s Milwaukie, OR site, and within two weeks all of the company’s Oregon employees were on one voice network. With system management streamlined into one Web-based interface, IT staff now no longer need to run between facilities to fix two different phone systems, or to make moves, adds, and changes. The success of the ShoreTel solution is turning Warn into something of a VoIP trailblazer inside Dover Corp, with other subsidiaries expressing interest in moving to a converged platform. Other benefits include:

• Significant cost savings with the elimination of outside support vendors at $145 per hour. Savings increase with system administration streamlined into one easy-to-use, Web-based interface.
• Next-generation contact center features include real-time reporting. Easy-to-configure skills-based routing connects callers quickly to the right agent for their needs.
• The system is simple to master, and offers end-users greater call control, increased mobility, and their choice of device. They can access the same tools from their desktop PCs, phones, or mobile devices.
• Adding the Detroit location to the company’s ShoreTel system will save some $800 per month in toll charges.
• Six-way conference calling reduces the company’s $1,500 monthly average conference call bill.
• Employees who work at both facilities once had had two different phone numbers and voicemail accounts. Now phone numbers are attached to people, not to phone lines, ensuring that calls are routed to wherever they log in.

“ShoreTel was also the easiest to implement, and gave us total control.”
— Toni Mekkers, Telecommunications Analyst, Warn Industries.