Standaard Boekhandel – How FMC and Cloud Communications helped communication and operational efficiency

Standaard Boekhandel, a venerable institution with a rich heritage spanning over a century, has been a steadfast purveyor of culture, education, creativity, and leisure to its patrons. With an extensive network of more than 200 bookstores spread across Belgium and a dedicated workforce of nearly 300 employees, Standaard Boekhandel has carved a niche for itself in the world of literature and knowledge dissemination.

Since 2018, Standaard Boekhandel has been a valued partner of Dstny, initially leveraging their local internet services, MPLS, and cloud infrastructure. However, it was the winds of digital transformation sweeping through the corporate landscape in 2020 that prompted Standaard Boekhandel to further enhance its collaboration with Dstny, ushering in a new era of streamlined business communication and operational efficiency.

 

The challenge

Inefficiencies and Limited Visibility on Employee Availability

Before transitioning to the Dstny cloud system, Standaard Boekhandel grappled with a multitude of communication challenges. Their landline telephony infrastructure relied on a physical Private Branch Exchange (PBX), situated at two separate locations. Making even minor adjustments to this system was an arduous process, necessitating individual requests and on-site implementation by the PBX provider. This not only proved highly ineffective but also left Standaard Boekhandel overly dependent on their vendor.

In addition, mobile telephony services were sourced from another provider, leading to cumbersome management of subscriptions, termination of old plans, and the procurement of new ones. However, one of the most vexing issues was the lack of transparency in employee availability. If an employee was engaged in a landline call, it did not impact their availability on their mobile number, and vice versa. This disconnect often led to missed calls and frustrated customers or colleagues. Moreover, seamlessly transferring calls between mobile and landline numbers was an elusive goal.

While these challenges had lingered for some time, they became even more apparent with the growing demand for hybrid working solutions.

 

The Solution

Embracing Cloud-Based Mobility with Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC)

 As the need for digitalization and hybrid work environments gained prominence in August 2020, Standaard Boekhandel embarked on a comprehensive review of its business communication strategies. The objective was clear: optimize communication management, enhance customer accessibility, and future-proof the organization. In their quest for the perfect solution, Standaard Boekhandel found a natural partner in Dstny, a provider they had already been working with for other services.

Leveraging Dstny Core and Dstny Converge, Standaard Boekhandel introduced a cloud-based communication framework that seamlessly connected all their employees. This all-in-one solution is accessible through mobile phones, computers, or desk phones. It retained all the functionalities of their previous fixed PBX system, but also ensuring that mobile and landline numbers were intricately connected. This means that the correct line state and presence is displayed, irrespective of whether an employee is in a meeting, on a mobile call, or using their landline. Dstny Converge, a Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) product, allows employees to answer their business calls through their mobile devices, adding an extra layer of flexibility.

According to Kjartan Heynderick, CIO of Standaard Boekhandel, “By consolidating our business communication and partnering with a provider offering a robust all-in-one cloud-based communication platform, our employees are now effortlessly reachable anytime and anywhere.”

 

The result

Enhanced Efficiency and Customer Satisfaction

The implementation of Dstny’s solutions yielded remarkable results for Standaard Boekhandel. Their IT team experienced a significant surge in efficiency, empowered to make changes to their business phone system without relying on external parties. Employees benefited as well, with improved visibility into the availability and line status of their coworkers.

Kjartan Heynderick further affirms, “Dstny’s solution enables our colleagues to collaborate at full speed in a simple and efficient manner, allowing us to provide our customers with the high-quality service they deserve.”

Most importantly, the deployment of Dstny’s products not only sustained customer satisfaction but also future-proofed Standaard Boekhandel by seamlessly accommodating the demands of a hybrid workforce.

 

Broaden your markets with Dstny

Service providers are starting to understand the need of providing a flexible and mobile service to their end-users worldwide, but building the technology themselves would be too cumbersome, costly and time-consuming.

Dstny have provided Service Providers with FMC and cloud products for many years and we can provide a fast time to market, together with a white label and reliable products. Want to know more about how we can help you grow your markets? Fill in the form on this page and one of our representatives will get in touch.

Recent posts