GAPCorp has signed up EMW — the convergence experts, to install Avaya Distributed IP Contact Centre technology in five of its branches across the GCC region. This will enable GapCorp to have a full fledged team of call centre agents at each of these branches, which will increase the company’s operational efficiency as well as service quality that it delivers to its customers.
Khaled Moussa – Group Chief Technical Officer, GapCorp comments, “With an expansive operation across the Middle East and a growing base of prestigious clients, we need to equip all our branches with the latest call centre and IP telephony technology in order to provide timely and personalized assistance and service 24/7, 365 days a year. We also need a system that makes our internal communications efficient and at the same time is cost effective. EMW as an implementation partner has the right combination of necessary experts from the voice, data and application fields, which reassures us that the project will be successful and will achieve the required objectives. We had a previous implementation experience with them and they proved that they deliver their commitment and do not oversell their service like lots of vendors in the region”.
Phase One of the implementation will see 5 branches, out of a total of 15 across the MENA region, which currently operate traditional non-IP based PABX telephony systems, be connected via Avaya gateways to the sophisticated Avaya IP phone Communication Manager 5 server located at the Head Office. Unifying and integrating the processes between the branches and head office will allow branches access to the Microsoft Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and other important business applications installed in the head office. In order to protect sensitive data, the network connections will be secured using Juniper Networks’ Secure Services Gateways (SSG).
Serjios EL-Hage, CEO at EMW Middle East, says, “We are happy to renew the business relationship that we shared with GAPCorp. Our selection as implementers for this latest project is indication of the level of expertise and satisfaction that we have been able to deliver to GAPCorp in the past. We hope to extend this relationship to future projects as well”.
GAPCorp services all the high profile automotive dealerships in and around the region like Mercedes Benz, Land Rover, Jaguar, BMW, Ford, Porsche and a number of others, besides selling and developing a complete range of extended warranty programs and insurance services for the millennium customer. As customer confidence is of absolute importance in the business, all GAPCorp’s extended warranties are insured by first-class insurers. Most mechanical breakdowns occur after the manufacturer's warranty has expired and with the rising costs of automotive repairs, the purchase of an automobile Extended Warranty Service Contract reduces risks and heavy financial automotive repair costs. The implementation of the new Avaya solution will benefit customers as it will lead to quicker filing and settlement of claims.
Commenting on future IT infrastructure plans, Moussa said, “Our intention a few years from now would be to move from a distributed call centre model to hosting consolidated call centres for each large region. This would dramatically reduce the running costs of our call centres and at the same time extend our customer reach”.
