Avon

At a glance

The issue:
Long wait times to get through to the call centre and the IVR solution had very basic features.

The project:
A single voice solution from Maintel that maintains a consistent infrastructure across multiple markets and was appropriate for representatives of all levels of technical ability.

The outcome:
Greater uptime, improved ability to capture orders, and allowed AVONWorldwide to maintain consistent levels of infrastructure region-wide.

The Background

Maintel has been AVONWorldwide’s trusted partner for voice services for several years. In 2018, AVONWorldwide engaged Maintel to consolidate disparate Central European IVR self service solutions in addition to a platform wide upgrade of software to ensure manufacturer support.

This resulted in the creation of one dynamic manageable solution hosted in the UK for 30+ countries across EMEA.

The Challenge

AVONWorldwide wanted to make it easier for its employees and sales representatives to do business with them by using a simpler and leaner approach. They realised that they couldn’t grow as a company based on where they were before.

Maintel was contracted to develop an Avaya AEP based IVR solution using their own in-house software development team, that provided an improved self-service account portal for AVONWorldwide’s representatives.

At that time, AVONWorldwide representatives had trouble with placing orders, they had long wait times to get through to the call centre and the IVR solution had very basic features. As a result, employees were using workaround communications tools such as Facebook Messenger, What’s App and Skype.

AVONWorldwide also realised that a lot of people joined the company as a representative but didn’t stay for very long, or representatives who were registered became ‘dormant’.

AVONWorldwide was also dealing with various legacy solutions which had worked well for decades. However, the company couldn’t improve the experience using these older solutions. AVONWorldwide realised that they needed a new solution in order to grow as a business and to compete with the likes of Amazon.

The overhaul of the communications system was part of a company-wide digital transformation strategy and modernisation journey for the business as a whole.

The Solution

Maintel, as an innovative supplier, focused on creating a solution that maintained a consistent infrastructure across multiple markets and was appropriate for representatives of all levels of technical ability. Countries can still make adaptations to reflect the nuances of local business culture, but the core framework and messaging remains constant throughout.

The single voice solution from Maintel, which was originally consolidated within an AVONWorldwide data centre, was transitioned to Maintel’s ICON platform.

As well as enabling IVR, it streamlines the call centres, provides recording, voice over IP telephony (Avaya and Microsoft Teams) and allows offices to communicate across the AVONWorldwide backbone, as well as allowing for future global growth and consolidation.

What are the benefits?

Maintel successfully support AVONWorldwide throughout the project until its completion. All the outcomes the company originally sought were achieved namely:

• Each country is presented in their native language with some countries optionally offering alternative languages where a diverse population resides.
• Call centre uptime has been improved and it is now easier for AVONWorldwide’s sales representatives to do business with them
• Maintel wrapped the IVR solution with a centralised set of volume and IVR statistic reports from the EP reporting feature. This enables AVONWorldwide to monitor the usage and AVONWorldwide representative behaviour inside the IVR.
• Each country can adapt the use of the features, personalise and upgrade it according to their needs. It enables voice over IP phone calls and allows offices to communicate across the backbone.
• The Maintel team standardised development to reduce initial costs and adapted the solution on a market-by-market basis
• AVONWorldwide can manage and present their current marketing promotions and campaigns messages through an administration portal interface.​​​​​