03 | 2013

ADELAIDE | AUCKLAND | BRISBANE | CANBERRA | MELBOURNE | PERTH | SYDNEY

AGL leverages NSC’s technical expertise

Stryker Efficiency Skyrockets

VTMB improves service to members

welcomeAlready this year we have seen some significant changes within the industry, along with noticeable external trends, which are not only having a significant impact on our product and service offering, but also internally within NSC Group.

In late December we announced a series of senior appointments and movements within the organisation and as I embark on my new role as Managing Director, I’m looking forward to taking on the challenges and opportunities that this role will bring.

Serving as General Manager for the last five years, I have had the opportunity to meet with many of our existing customers. Over the coming months I am looking forward to meeting and building on those relationships.

In December we also announced the appointment of Col Rennie who joined our team as Head of Services having amassed over two decades of experience in the industry across a variety of organisations. We are all delighted to have him on board and in the last two months he has already made a significant contribution to the organisation as we strive to cement our position as an innovator in the Australian and New Zealand markets and set NSC Group apart in this sector. We expect Col’s appointment will help us continue driving improvements in our customer service across both our project and support teams.

As we focus on the future, we are noticing an interesting contrast in business with many embracing a positive outlook as Australia emerges from the GFC

02/ converge 03/2013

And while I didn’t want to start the New Year with a cliché, everyone in

business knows the importance of being able to ‘strike while the iron is hot’. Thankfully, one of the strengths of NSC Group has always been an ability to adapt and work quickly to deliver outstanding results. Whether that is individualising our services to address a client’s needs, or upgrading our infrastructure to incorporate the latest technological advancements, our ability and dedication to providing industry leading services has always been a fundamental part of this organisation’s offering.

This legacy has continued over the last quarter, with businesses across a variety of industries looking for the newest hosted contact services to be delivered in a cost effective manner. This increased demand has meant that NSC Group has worked hard to develop our solution to meet customer’s needs.

Delivering Breeze within this timeframe is by no means a small task – and I would like to say a huge congratulations to Wade Coady and his team for the effort they have put in to make this solution a reality in such a tight timeframe. Proposals are already starting to go out to market, and we expect to be offering this new solution to a range of clients very soon.

So welcome back to everyone and here’s to a very exciting 2013. There are some big deals that I am looking forward to sharing with everyone in the coming months, and I’m sure NSC Group’s work with these clients will further cement us as a leader in the field.

Craig NeilExecutive Chairman

while also keeping budgets tight. Interestingly, this is a particularly noticeable trend across many public sector organisations. We are increasingly working with Government organisations and in 2012 were successful in winning a large number of contracts for local councils and state departments across Victoria and New South Wales.

Earlier this month NSC presented at the FutureGov conference in Perth and discussed how we can assist public sector organisations to make the most of their available budgets and save on existing costs, without the need to spend a lot of money on installing infrastructure.

The primary trends we are expecting to see throughout 2013 are:

Increased Mobility: Australia has undoubtedly become the home for mobility and 2013 will see customer’s love affair with smartphones and tablets continue to grow, and likely grow at an even faster pace. Last year saw a 45% increase in smartphone ownership within the Australian market and this growing mobility is having a distinct impact on how and where customers want to engage with businesses. What we expect to see in 2013 amongst organisations which do not already have an integrated communications infrastructure is an active desire to invest in this area, which incorporates all mediums, from phones to call centres, emails and social media

Teleworking: National Teleworking Week was a big success in 2012 in terms of highlighting the growth in this phenomenon and the ease with which organisations can interact with employees regardless of where they are located. However teleworking and remote working can be difficult to manage if companies do not learn how to communicate effectively with employees whether they are office

based or not. To remain productive in 2013 companies should invest in an integrated and unified internal communications program, to harness and maximise the full potential of their workforce

At NSC Group we also expect to see the continued importance and growth of PCI DSS compliance, which is something we are increasingly working with organisations on as part of their payment processing and acceptance platforms. We believe one of the other trends to watch out for in 2013 is the requirement for fully hosted cloud models which is increasingly becoming the norm for many organisations in the USA. With the Australian market 12-18 months behind the USA, we do envisage this to be an increasing requirement for our potential and existing clients in the latter half of the year.

Within the first quarterly edition of the NSC newsletter, there are several case studies outlining the products and services we have delivered for a selection of our longest serving clients – including AGL, RSM Bird Cameron and Victoria Teachers Mutual Bank. We also discuss in some detail our work with local government departments and councils over the last 12 months. If you feel that there are any areas where the NSC team may be able to assist you or your business, please do contact us.

I look forward to working with you all throughout 2013.

Best wishes,

Trevor BoalManaging Director, NSC Group

03/2013 converge /03

... to the first NSC Newsletter for 2013

As one of the largest gas and electricity retailers in Australia, AGL

has historically managed its customer contact centre and telephony system

internally. However when the organisation’s customer base reached

three million in 2007, the company took the decision to outsource the management and maintenance of the telephony and voice recording

infrastructure and associated systems to a third party provider.

AGL leverages NSC’s technical expertise

The primary reason behind this decision was to allow the AGL management team time to remain focused on the overarching business objectives, while also allowing the wider AGL team to access higher levels of technical expertise without having to develop a wider and more expensive in-house function.

The team at NSC Group presented AGL with the various options available back, with the organisation opting for a managed service with a range of packaged solutions and consulting support to meet AGL’s needs as the energy retailer continued to increase its customer base over time.

A five year contract was signed back in 2007, with this being extended for another three years in 2012. Under this agreement NSC has responsibility for supporting a range of communications functionality to an agreed service level of 99.5% every month.

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03/2013 converge /05

The team at NSC set about providing AGL with a range of support services including:

The creation of a virtual (Avaya) telephony environment throughout the organisation’s offices in every state and nominated Business Process Outsourcers (in Australia, India and the Philippines)

The integration of SAP into the telephony environment for softphone and screen-pop functionality

The integration of Microsoft OCS into the telephony environment for unified communications, including presence and click-to-call functionality

Desktop faxing Payment Card industry (PCI) compliant technologies,

to allow AGL’s customers to pay over the phone or online safely and securely

Improvement and unification of Messaging and voicemail

The development of a bulk customised SMS services for broadcasting to customers

Due to the volume of customer contact that AGL receives from its substantial client base, the team at NSC invested a significant amount of time and resources developing a range of contact-centre specific solutions, including:

Interactive voice response and self-service applications

Automated call distribution Call recording and quality monitoring (NICE)

Reporting and analytics Access to the IPC Turrets trading system for energy

traders SIP trunking Monitoring and management reporting to ensure

that workforce optimisation levels were maximised

A core component of this partnership is the provision to AGL employees, regardless of their location across Australia, of technical support from local NSC technicians, no matter what time of day or night.

The arrangement with NSC Group allows the team at AGL to focus on the core components of the business, while also offering first class customer and employee services. In many ways the most substantial benefit to AGL has been the shedding of a range of responsibilities – including the difficult and onerous task of hiring and managing employees with in-demand technical skills.

Craig Harrison, ISG Business Relationship Manager for AGL believes the arrangement has been very successful.

“The arrangement that we have with NSC has worked very effectively. We have consistently found NSC Group to be very open in all their dealings with us. They have a very collaborative approach and are genuinely interested in understanding AGL’s business and managing our communications systems to support it.”

Without the burden of needing to hire staff to assist with a very specific set of in-demand technical skills, AGL has the opportunity to focus on increasing its customer base, growing and enhancing its service offering and promoting its products to potential customers.

“NSC Group is large enough to be able to attract and retain a good-sized pool of technical people, so we are confident that our requirements will always be met. Indeed, we’ve found that NSC employs some very impressive minds. AGL doesn’t require such high levels of technical expertise on a full-time basis, but our managed-service contract with NSC means we are able to tap into those resources as and when we need them,” adds Harrison.

The management team at AGL continue to be impressed with the level and quality of service that they receive from NSC Group, which resulted in the contract extension in 2012. Concluding on the overall relationship and benefits that AGL receives, Harrison concludes:

“In summary, I would say that we have a genuine partnership with NSC. Their team work alongside our own people as if they too have ‘skin in the game’. They’re flexible, unbureaucratic and consistently rise to whatever challenges we throw at them.”

NSC Shout” Networking event, Sydney and Melbourne

06/ converge 03/2013

Following the success of earlier Business Collaboration Summits in Sydney, NSC Group is pleased to again host this exciting event in 2013.

July 24 will see the 3rd Business Collaboration Summit held at the brand new opulant Doltone House property, Hyde Park .

Paul Budde, Managing Director of Paul Budde Communication Pty Limited will facilitate proceedings, bringing with him a wealth of knowledge and skills from his experience in the telecommunications, video and digital media, social media and multimedia markets.

NSC Group wants to stay connected with you by offering

readers the chance to win an iPad mini.

To be in with a chance to win all you have to do is connect with

the NSC Group Linkedin company profile and Twitter account in

the month of March to go into the draw.

The winner will be announced 1st April, 2013

an iPad mini!

NSC Group Linkedin

NSC Group Twitter

WIN

HOLD THE DATE!

Upcoming event calendar

28

Calendar of events:

ATA & NICE – What You Do With Technology That Counts, Sydney

ATA multi-channel contact centre walk through at Allianz, Brisbane

LinkedIn – “NSC Shout” Networking event, Sydney and Melbourne

APRIL

3

11

24

MARCH

LinkedIn – “NSC Shout” Networking event, Sydney and Melbourne

If you’d like more information or to register for these events please contact Belinda Moore, Marketing Manager, phone +61 2 9856 4303 or email belinda_moore@nsc.net.au

MAY

30

03/2013 converge /07

Offer extended until 1st May!

08/ converge 03/2013

Headset news

With soft phone being deployed more and more, what needs to be considered is that “headsets and devices” are becoming more & more important!

Here are a few ideas and new products to consider when looking at you Unified Communications deployment.

Mobile Conference phones This is one of the best we have seen. Plantronics Calisto 620 Speaker phone

Plantronics’ leading-edge technology means noise cancellation, wideband PC audio and 360-degree microphone pickup. The portable Calisto 620, (in its own high-quality travel case) is an ideal size to throw in your carry-on. It’s the premium conference-call device that you have on your terms, wherever, whenever, and however you work.

Unified Communications: What’s new and exciting!

BLUETOOTH at its best! Not your ordinary bluetooth device, the Plantronics Legend. Commercial grade with charging base. Access your “contacts” folder and announces the call!

USB CamerasNeed a web camera for your conference calls? Microsoft quality LIFE CAM for Business!

Enquire about U/C devices or wish to discuss? Click here

Exclusive offer from NSC!

* Offer valid for APV 63 EHS only – ie: restricted to use with Avaya 1608, 1616, 2410, 4630, 5410, 6416D+M, 6424D+M, 9620,9630, 9640, 9650 and 9670 handsets. Valid to1st May 2013 or Whilst stocks last

FREE Electronic Hook Switch (EHS) APV 63 * only and On Line Indicator (OLI) with every purchase of 10+ Plantronics Savi 740 Headset Units.

For all your device & headset needs please contact Client Services on 1300 366 304 or email: Client_Services@nsc.net.au

SAVING OF OVER

$145(Based on combined

RRP incl. GST)

03/2013 converge /09

Breeze is a first of its kind CaaS model, developed in direct response to customer demand. First launched to market in 2011, Breeze is believed to be the only option for businesses that do not want to trade the growth potential of their organisations against maintaining up to date business systems as it allows customers a level of flexibility.

What is Breeze and how does it work?

Breeze is a fail safe way of combining and delivering products, services and technologies that are best suited to each business

Based on an outsource model wherein the ownership, operation and maintenance of the business telecommunications systems is offset to a service provider, instead of placing an additional onus on the business

The team at NSC work with customers to decide what kind of system, the number of users, type of devices, applications and services it wants

It effectively and efficiently reduces the capital expenditure associated with the up keep and maintenance of owning infrastructure

Because Breeze is delivered through one contract, with one company, there are no complex bundles or third party finance contracts

As such we recognise that the next requirement from the market will be for a fully hosted model - we expect this to be available to all existing and potential clients mid to late 2013

BREEZEFreedom to get on with business

Is the burdon of delivering, managing and supporting complex communications

systems impacting your strategic objectives?NSC Group, Australia’s leading communications integrator now brings you Breeze. A simple,

easy and cost effective way to provide Unified Communications and Contact Centre services within your business.For more information email info@nsc.net.au

BreezeCommunications-as-a-Service (CaaS)

10/ converge 03/2013

VTMB engaged NSC Group to help develop a communication infrastructure which not only identified new opportunities, but also improved service to members

With over 85,000 members and more than $1.5 billion in assets, Victoria Teachers wanted to build on their customer base and acclaimed record of customer service and engaged NSC Group to undertake a strategic review of the current technology and processes within its contact centre to improve service and meet future challenges.

“We field almost 18,000 phone calls per month in our contact centre,” Executive Manager – Sales & Service, Rosemary Boissezon said. “Another 70,000 calls are handled by the self-service functions of our interactive voice-response system. In the future, we expect members will increasingly choose email and text to communicate with us, so we need to ensure that we are effectively managing an array of communication channels.”

VTMB undertook a series of workshops conducted by NSC Group to evaluate our people, processes and technology. Every aspect of the bank’s contact centre was reviewed, from recruitment, training and remuneration of staff, workforce optimisation, quality management and organisation structure through to how technology is used to implement the organisation’s service strategy.

From there, Victoria Teachers worked with NSC’s

Victoria Teachers Mutual Bank (VTMB), which has received numerous awards in recent

years and prides itself on customer service, has just

completed a major review of its contact centre so that it can

serve members even more effectively.

Banking on NSC Group

03/2013 converge /11

Sydney – 3rd April

Melbourne – 18th April

consultants to identify opportunities for improvement, and prioritised them in short-, medium- and long-term action plans.

As a result of this project, VTMB is implementing a range of initiatives including the restructuring of their contact centre, the introduction of a new performance-management system as well as a strategy to make more effective use of interactive voice-response systems.

“We are also proposing to conduct satisfaction surveys within 24 hours of members interacting with the contact centre. This will provide us with quality feedback that will allow us to continually drive change,” Boissezon said.

In the longer term, technology will be a focus. More sophisticated use of data repositories will enhance knowledge management and aid the implementation of e-learning for staff. Upgrading current infrastructure will allow more routine enquiries to be handled by the voice-response system, freeing up the time of contact-centre staff to spend with members on more complex tasks.

“The work that we’ve done with NSC significantly accelerated the process of reviewing our contact centre, effectively saving us a year or more,” Boissezon said. “We’re now well positioned to make changes that will enable us to serve our members even better than before.”

Technology It’s what you do with it that Counts – hear Suncorp’s story

Whenever you ask contact centre managers about the challenges that face them, the list that comes back usually includes “improving the customer experience” whilst having to “do more with less”. With respect to facing these challenges, the industry trend is towards investing in WFM technology to support improvements.

NSC has been involved in a number of WFM reviews with several of our customers. The result of each review is typically a WFM roadmap that supports process, people and technology improvements in this area. Interestingly, technology tends to carry the least weight, as most centres these days have good WFM technology.

Most time is spent discussing and analysing the context in which the software is deployed i.e. the operational framework, processes and everyday workpractices that are in place (or otherwise) to support the organisation’s objectives.

Come along to this highly interactive workshop to hear from Jag Garcha about Suncorp’s journey along the road to Workforce Optimisation. They will share their challenges and plans for the future.

The highly experienced consultants at NSC will also discuss how to build a roadmap to best practice.

To find out more or lock a place in please contact Belinda Moore on 98564303 or Belinda_moore@nsc.net.au Space is filling fast so get in quick!

Register for Brisbane

Register for Sydney

Register for Melbourne

Register for Brisbane

Register for Sydney

Register for Melbourne

12/ converge 03/2013

Improved client service and staff productivity for RSM Bird Cameron

In July 2007, RSM Bird Cameron approached NSC Group to help provide better communications functionality which enabled superior client support, increased staff productivity and lower costs. With a business model that puts customers first, NSC Group set about finding a solution that would provide a range of business benefits to the organisation.

RSM Bird Cameron provides a full suite of financial and advisory services for commercial, corporate and personal customers in 26 offices across Australia. A large proportion of RSM Bird Cameron’s 100 plus staff members, particularly those who are involved in the audit business, are highly mobile and therefore require a robust and reliable communications infrastructure.

The challenge that both NSC and RSM Bird Cameron faced from the outset of the contract was that the firms existing infrastructure system was a legacy system that was leading to business wide inefficiencies. Luckily however both NSC Group and RSM Bird Cameron established a clear mandate to change this.

RSM Bird Cameron Chief Information Officer, Paul Joseph, comments: “We wanted to modernise our communications infrastructure and to come up with a three year, unified communications strategic plan. We are in twenty six locations and we wanted to leverage and connect our professionals in different locations effectively.”

NSC, working alongside RSM Bird Cameron, undertook a detailed unified communications review that assessed the needs of staff and how the new systems would be rolled out, whilst retaining some elements of the legacy network in some parts of the business.

Many of the smaller offices had ageing and unsupported telephony equipment in place which needed

to be upgraded. Coupled with this however was RSM Bird Cameron desire to build on the current investment in its existing telecommunications, to help provide better integration into business applications, mitigate operational issues and enable a more standardised, consistent and flexible communications environment.

NSC Group developed a detailed three year communications strategy that provides immediate benefits and a phased rollout of additional functionality over time. Elements such as video-conferencing, messaging, fixed-to-mobile call routing and other presence features were implemented which has enhanced internal executive communication and enabled for the provision of faster responses to RSM Bird Cameron’s clientele.

Paul Joseph was pleased with the project and expertise provided by NSC and said that it has contributed to the business growth goals of the firm. He added that the company’s partners were in a much better position to service their clients and were free of any communications restraints.

03/2013 converge /13

As one of the world’s leading medical technology companies, Stryker specialises in the development and sales of reconstructive, surgical, neurotechnology and spine products – and employs nearly 400 people in Australia and New Zealand.

The Business Challenge: To improve business efficiency and provide staff with communications functionality – enabling them to be more responsive to customers

There had been no major changes to Stryker’s telephony platform since 2006, with each office location running independent applications such as voicemail and contact-centre services.

Crucially, the Melbourne and Sydney call centres couldn’t link to each other, and they couldn’t patch in executives from the Perth office.

There was also no redundancy or business-continuity plan in place, which meant that a communications outage would severely hamper operations.

“We urgently needed an overhaul of our communications network in order to drive further business growth,” said Paul Collings, Associate Director IT for Stryker South Pacific.

The NSC Solution: Migration to an Avaya communications platform and implementation of a three-year Managed Service to provide ongoing system upgrades and support

NSC Group was called to help Stryker unify its communications systems.

After an initial assessment, NSC decided to migrate Stryker’s old network to an Avaya communications platform, on which NSC could provide IT Support through their Managed Service offering. This ensured Stryker didn’t need to worry about managing the new technology themselves – saving both time and effort.

Stryker’s voicemail and call-centre applications were centralised, enabling the entire Stryker workforce to access these vital communications services. This streamlined administration of the network, which substantially reduced costs.

Stryker’s network was converted to an IP platform, including the introduction of IP-based soft phones, which enabled busy sales executives to work remotely.

NSC also worked with the provider of Stryker’s customer service system to integrate its telephone and computer systems. Stryker’s customers can now be immediately identified by their phone number: a customer profile screen opens on the contact-centre agent’s computer, helping them to provide personalised, responsive service.

Stryker said the overhaul of their communications systems and ongoing management by NSC’s experts

have completely transformed its operations.

“We’ve been extremely impressed by the way that NSC implemented this project,” said

Collings.

“Their commitment to excellence gave us confidence that they would deliver a quality outcome.

“NSC is providing ongoing management of our system for the next three years, so we know that it is in very good hands.”

Stryker Efficiency Skyrockets thanks to NSC Communications Upgrade

NSC Group will be adding Managed Mobiles Service to its long list of offerings – meaning companies can now turn to NSC as a ‘one-stop shop’ for all their communications needs.

As a leading service integrator, NSC Group already assists customers with several important aspects of their communications needs – including CPE Equipment, Managed Services and peripherals.

But thanks to its enterprise partnership with Telstra, NSC Group will now be able to offer pretty much anything that companies may be contracting Telstra or a Telstra partner to arrange.

With the widespread use of smartphones, one of the biggest challenges faced by fleet managers is to keep fleets properly maintained, configured and secure. With this latest offering, NSC can now provide effective Mobile Device Management, allowing customers the freedom to concentrate on their core business.

Managed Mobiles Service now a key offering

Some of the ways in which NSC’s Managed Mobiles Service can assist customers

NSC can connect services directly to the Telstra network without delay

NSC can supply the same mobile devices and contract options as Telstra

NSC can arrange repairs, activate SIM cards and apply international roaming

NSC will assist in managing handset upgrades via new connections, contract renewal, and outright purchases – within impressive procurement turnaround times

NSC has powerful reporting tools allowing customers to ensure that they are paying the correct amounts for their carrier spend

NSC also offers a range of Telecom expense management solutions to help with keeping the costs of running a large mobile fleet under control

Our Managed Mobiles Service offering means we can now offer a reliable, professional service to meet all our customers’ telecommunications needs – all in one place.

14/ converge 03/2013

ShoreTel / NSC partner of the yearIn November of last year, NSC Group was awarded the APAC ‘Deal of the Year’ by vendor partner ShoreTel, for the project with Frankston City Council in Melbourne.

The project, one of the largest of its kind, included the replacement of the Council’s existing telephony system with a ShoreTel VoIP solution, which provided Frankston Council with the capacity to make voice calls over data services; implement call routing; use video conferencing and employ unified communications.

The contract is worth a significant amount of money and provides Frankston with the capacity to handle 600 users spread across 21 sites. It includes a sophisticated contact centre of up to 32 agents and builds on the team’s already significant local government experience. The team, headed by Dean Letson, have worked with a number of other councils in Victoria over the last 12 months culminating in significant wins for NSC and ShoreTel’s unified

communications and contact centre systems. NSC has delivered over 115 switches to 50 sites with over 3500 IP end points with these wins.

The award was presented at the ShoreTel Champion Partner Conference in Florida in late 2012 and highlights the growing strength of the relationship between NSC Group and ShoreTel.

Speaking about the award win, Craig Neil said the quick blossoming of the relationship made the award win even more satisfying

“We are very pleased that ShoreTel has chosen to acknowledge NSC in this way. We understand that ShoreTel technology appeals to customers because it combines functionality, user friendliness and low cost of ownership and these were key reasons behind our success in tendering for the Frankston City Council contract.”

03/2013 converge /15

Converge is published by NSC Group Pty LtdPublisher: Craig Neil

For more information please go to our websitewww.nsc.net.au, call 1300 366 304

or email Nick Culpitt nick_culpitt@nsc.net.au

© 2013 No part of this magazine may be reproduced by any

process without written permission.

All reasonable measures have been taken to ensure the quality, reliability, and accuracy of

the information in this magazine at the time of publication. Statements, opinions and views of contributors may not necessarily reflect those

of the NSC Group or its affiliates.

ADELAIDE | AUCKLAND | BRISBANE | CANBERRA | MELBOURNE | PERTH | SYDNEY