Stockholms Stadsmission is a politically independent organisation that dates back to the 19th century. Most know about their important work to help people and families in homelessness and poverty. But the organisation actually has about 20 other supporting operations.

The organisation has operations spread across all of Stockholm, consisting of day activities and work training. They also have second-hand boutiques and are responsible for six high schools.

Lotta Cahn, Telephony Manager at Stockholms Stadsmission.

Large businesses require flexible solutions

Having 1,800 employees and volunteers that also work for a wide variety of different functions in the organisation needs a flexible and user-friendly telephony solution.

“When working in a lot of different operations, you need a painless telephony solution. Our previous supplier didn’t live up to expectations. We got incorrect invoices, administrative problems and lack of flexibility. We couldn’t even do a simple thing like changing the IVR”, Lotta Cahn, telephony manager at Stockholms Stadsmission says.

A more affordable option

Stockholms Stadsmission made the switch to Telavox in 2016. Besides reduced costs, they wanted to be able to do more on their own.

“Telavox is so much more affordable. The previous solution was unreasonably expensive. Previously, we had to contact the supplier to make the smallest change or when something went wrong. Today we can do so much ourselves and it saves us a lot of time. We can also customise our telephony on an individual and company level”, Lotta says.

Today, Lotta thinks that it’s a lot easier to meet the organisation’s different needs.

“It’s easy to manage the PBX on your own. It’s easy to set up an IVR that operates after closing time if someone wants that. I can create different queue systems depending on the department someone’s calling. I couldn’t do anything like this before. Back then we only had a static PBX and a group number”, Lotta says.

Everyone thinks it’s easy to use Telavox

Lotta is very pleased with the user-friendliness and she’s sure that her colleagues at customer service agree. They work in the administrator view daily. They use the tool Operator. With Operator, the user can monitor and handle the calls in the PBX simply and transparently. The people working with customer service get an easier workday thanks to client-custom search bars and AD synchronisation.

“Even my colleague, who’s not very good at technical things, thinks that Telavox is easy to use. That’s a good recommendation”, Lotta says.

Some functions have moved outside during the pandemic. Sara Fargerström is packing grocery bags that Stockholm Stadsmission will transport to families in Järva. Photo credit: Anna Z Ek.

Other employees at Stockholm Stadsmission are pleased with Telavox, as well. They use the app frequently. Lotta has also made a quick-start guide and created a FAQ-page for telephony on their intranet. There, she regularly shares tips and tricks.

“I very rarely get questions about how the app works. I see that as a good sign and that the administration is intuitive and easy-to-use. We receive fewer internal calls through our main PBX, and I think that’s because it’s easier to find your colleagues in the app. This also applies to the clients who find their way thanks to the IVR.”

According to Lotta, the onboarding was smooth. A Project Manager from Telavox was there to assist during the process.

“We had prepared with spare telephones if something would go awry, but we didn’t need them. We prepared our employees with info early in the process. Everyone had received their SIM cards so that they could get going directly.”

“My contact at Telavox feels like a colleague”

Lotta appreciates the personal service and the contact they have with the Project Manager from Telavox.

“It’s unusual that a company puts so much focus on personal service. Henrik, my contact at Telavox, knows so much about the company that he practically feels like a colleague. It’s comforting to know that he’ll answer quickly and understands my problems straight away. You develop a completely different dialogue when you get assistance from the same person. If I have an idea, Henrik listens and he can help me develop it”, Lotta says.