Wes Beighley, CIO, O.F. Mossberg & Sons Inc.

Our Case:

For the last 99 years, O.F. Mossberg & Sons, the oldest family-owned firearms manufacturer in the United States, has grown into a household name as the leader in introducing important design breakthroughs in the industry. But our growth had overwhelmed its communications system, and the company needed something new. We had a blend of customers that required several flavors of communication options as we focused on the internet movement but needed to make sure we continued to support our legacy customers.

Challenges:

We were on a legacy phone system that left us in silos unable to scale or easily collaborate globally. It also couldn’t capture data that we needed to generate reports that would help us make informed business decisions. We needed that kind of flexibility to grow the brand. We have multiple locations, a large sales force in the field and when there were seasonal demand spikes during hunting season or summer season or Black Friday and holiday season, we found ourselves unable to support our customers the way that we needed to.

Choosing the Right Solution:

The sales force and customer service were number 1 on our list.

With the internet trend we were able to find the right balance with our customers to create the best experience no matter what channel of communication was used

We needed a solution offering the needed functionality to perform our best with sales, customer service, and reporting. We have a big sales team in the field in each state and needed to support them with the kind of tools that allow them to be anyplace at any time to take phone calls and record sales orders. Lastly, from a financial and technology standpoint, we wanted something that would allow us to stay within our budget and not wind up giving us any surprises. Also, it had to map with our overall long-term strategy when it came to long-term maintenance, return on investment and total cost of ownership standpoint.

The Solution:

We make decisions based upon data that is in front of us. With the reporting options and other functionality that Avaya brings to the table, we’re now able to capture more information, learn more about our customers, and provide them with solutions for their specific needs. That’s big. In the end, it helps us further cultivate lifetime customer relationships which, obviously translates to helping our bottom line. Also, when it comes to the firearms industry, we have generations of customers who may want to be private about what they’re purchasing and prefer to have a live conversation versus going through the website. So, when they are talking with a live person, it gives them more of a friendly conversation and peace of mind about their privacy. In the end, they’re more willing to call back or do more business and make more purchases.

Budget & Timeline:

The previous phone system lasted us 20 plus years, so the expectations were the same from the business owners as we moved to a new solution.

With Avaya we were able to choose a solution that has the flexibility and scalability to give us many years of service along with an ROI within 2 years. Ongoing maintenance was another big opportunity for long turn savings. We chose a solution that gives us the needed support but doesn’t break the bank and impact the turn around time on the ROI.

One of the moments I always remember is the phone call while on travel I got from one of our executives asking, “How fast can we implement an end to end communication system.” With that said I knew we needed to pick a solution that not only is robust and reliable but can be implemented and supported quickly. Three months later following the normal RFP process we were live with a new communication system which exceeded expectations.

The Outcome: (Efficiencies, Cost Reduction, Collaboration, Data Driven Culture)

With Avaya we were able to increase efficiencies, reduce costs and create a centralized collaboration tool globally. We were able to install the Avaya tool on all devices to allow employees to work from anywhere as if they were sitting in the same room. This functionality made sure there were no excuses for delaying a conversation to close out an opportunity. These tools also reduced time to resolution by 50percent with our customer support by allowing us to manage and control seasonal spikes. We used the Avaya dashboard which we broadcasted right in front of the support team capturing the much-needed data. This data allowed us to assess trends to allow agile adjustments in workforce and support models to meet the customer demand. With the internet trend we were able to find the right balance with our customers to create the best experience no matter what channel of communication was used. This is where we get the biggest bang on our brand on delivering world class service.

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