Summary:
Business:
Grocery, Health, & Wellness Products
Location:
HQ in Vernon BC and other sites across BC
Challenge:
- Staying connected across new locations
- Inefficiencies due to varying systems & legacy technology
- Variety of different providers
Solution:
- Hosted PBX
- VoIP Phone hardware
Result:
- Centrally managed system
- Easy to update and modify quickly
- Straightforward support & billing
Challenge:
Since its inception in 1993, Nature’s Fare has expanded to seven locations across the interior and the lower mainland of BC. As new stores opened, the company found itself using different voice systems and carriers – including assorted legacy solutions – from location to location. As the logistics of maintaining these systems grew more complex, creating efficiencies became a priority. As they pride themselves on providing a more educational, customer-oriented experience than their competitors, ensuring high-quality communication between stores and customers was a requirement.
Solution:
Upgrading their phone systems quickly became a priority. The decision was made to roll out a PBX solution – hosted by iTel – with a variety of VoIP-enabled devices across all their locations.
…based on past experience, I was worried about not having the personalized service or a single point of contact & I just didn’t feel it was right for us to engage with that kind of company. iTel and had the reviews and experience with network systems, so I felt really comfortable working with them.
– Paul Taylor
Director of IT
Results:
FLEXIBILITY: With their system managed centrally, they can easily upgrade and support their communications tools across the entire company, seamlessly adding hardware and locations without an extensive process. They also benefit from the increased flexibility and robust functionality of their new system. This allows them to pivot quickly when required – for example, adding pre-recorded reminders about social distancing policies to their in-store broadcast during their recent post-quarantine re-opening.
EFFICIENCY & CUSTOMER SERVICE: Working with iTel has also meant they can streamline their carrier relations – instead of managing different providers at different locations, they now enjoy a single point of contact with personalized service. Paul Taylor, Director of IT at Nature’s Fare, didn’t feel that working with one of the big-name carriers was going to go well – in his experience, the lack of customer service causes a lot of problems. Knowing that iTel not only has the experience in building out voice solutions but also larger network and data systems gave him the confidence to move forward.
LOOKING FORWARD: With their acquisition by the Jim Pattison Group in 2019, ensuring they have the support and infrastructure in place for continued growth and expansion has only become more critical to their success. While Paul’s team did a lot of the initial rollout, he found value in a highly collaborative approach to developing and testing the architecture with iTel. Having access to iTel’s team of experts for support continues to be an asset to their operations and future aspirations.
