Woonplus Schiedam about their first experiences with Unexus Connect

We regularly launch the Unexus Connect communication platform for new customers. Such was also the case last September at Woonplus Schiedam, a real estate corporation that aims to invest in the quality of life of their tenants. We spoke with Kevin Stouthandel, functional manager at Woonplus. In this blog he tells us more about the launch of Unexus Connect and his first experiences.

Hi Kevin, why did Woonplus want to invest in a new communications platform?

“Two years ago we started our own Woonplus customer contact center (CCC). In order to develop this CCC, it was necessary to have recording functionalities and reporting tooling within our telecommunications platform. We wanted to record conversations and run reports to improve our customer contact. We have had the same telephone plan at the same telecommunications provider for 15 years. We initially tried this with this telecommunications provider, but they indicated that these kinds of wishes would not only cost us a lot of money, but were also partly impossible.

Furthermore, Woonplus aims to work as cloud-based as possible. We want to be able to work from anywhere. But working from home was still quite complicated with the old telecommunications provider. The settings for the mobile service in particular were difficult to realize. That is why we decided to look for better alternatives.”

How did you end up with Unexus?

“We already used Embrace, our customer tracking system. We wanted a solution for telephony that not only matches with Embrace, but where we would have many new features and further options. We also searched for a platform which enabled us to change small details or settings ourselves.

To look for this solution, we approached the Embrace user group to ask which telecommunications provider most organizations used. Many users spoke positively about Unexus.

After some initial contact, we were provided with a demo. The demo enticed enthusiasm. Afterwards we received the project proposal, which made us even more excited. The monthly costs of purchasing Unexus Connect with telephony turned out to be lower than creating new features at our telecommunications provider. So it basically was a no-brainer.”

Which solutions have you chosen to use, and why?            

“We purchased, and now use, Unexus Connect with fixed-mobile integration, presence management, text-to-speech call flows and reporting tool. We use the text-to-speech to arrange our call flows. Within Unexus Connect it is easy to make adjustments in the flows ourselves.

We have elaborate plans for the use of the reporting tool. We want to improve our customer contact. In order to realize this, we will analyze our data. We can then use this data to manage our customer contact.”

How did you experience the overall process, from start until live start?

“It took us three months from demo to live start. The project was well supervised. Right from the start Unexus provided a basic platform for us to fill in and develop further. This was already a firm foundation. Then Eric (project officer at Unexus) guided the setup of the platform step by step. We tried to look as little as possible at how things were before, and mainly focused at what was possible now. Only this way we could improve our customer experience in the best way’.

“Whether from home, or from IKEA, with Unexus Connect you can work from anywhere.”

Kevin Stouthandel – Functional Manager at Woonplus Schiedam

And, what are your conclusions about Unexus and the platform?

“What makes us so enthusiastic is that it now really doesn’t matter from what location we work from. Whether from home, or from IKEA, with Unexus Connect you can work from anywhere. The arrival of the Unexus app for accessibility of employees at the office or in the field is also very useful to us.

We have learned that it is important to not only focus on your customer contact center when implementing a new communication platform, but also on the employees in the back office. This is because they do not navigate the telephony platform on a daily basis. This is why they have a different support need than the employees of the CCC who do work with the platform on a daily basis. That is why we will soon be creating user profiles, containing a description of how different employees can best work with telephony.

Finally, Unexus Connect simplifies and heightens my own work as functional. There is so much more possible now! And we are well supported to find our way in the Unexus platform. We now have been working with Unexus since September 2021, yet the platform and partnership feels already intuitive. To conclude: we are very happy with it.”