Old, analog and expensive PBX solutions as well as limitations to physical offices are a distant memory for HAVI in Italy and Spain. In 2020, with the help of InfraCom and Microsoft Teams, they were able to set up their own flexible exchange and Teams solution that suit every department and country requirements
HAVI is a global logistics company in the restaurant and food industry. Among other things, they deliver food to the world’s largest restaurant chains and offer order processing and warehousing. They have a large customer base and HAVI receives 65,000 logistics inquiries around Europe weekly with the largest countries: Russia, Germany, Poland, Italy and Spain. In order for the logistics chain and the daily contact with customers to function seamlessly and cross-country, HAVI has high demands on its corporate communication, such as IT and telephony. The high demands on functionality and flexibility meant that in 2020 they faced a major challenge – a digitalisation journey in the middle of the pandemic. The demands and desire for a stable, flexible and modern collaboration platform led them to a journey together with InfraCom and Microsoft Teams.
Havi in Italy and Spain is at the forefront of cross-country telephony solution via Teams
Prior to Autumn of 2020, Havi had a very old exchange solution for telephony that was connected to Italy’s analogue telephone network, which led to high telephony costs. In addition, they had most of the suppliers involved in running the operation. High costs and an unclear cost structure were not the only problems that affected Havi. They also had difficulties in troubleshooting the old exchange solution that went via the analogue telephone network. If the customers did not show up on the call-display when they called, it was difficult for Havi to know which supplier the fault was with. This was the key factor when they faced the challenge of switching from a traditional exchange solution to a cloud-based solution. The fact that the pandemic hit Italy with full force in the Spring of 2020 meant that Havi needed to restructure its operations – and quickly. Havi’s employees quickly had to change their permanent offices to work remotely. In order not to lose the daily support to the customers, it was important to be able to offer the employees a flexible cloud solution. While a change in telephony and collaboration was necessary, it was difficult for Havi to find the right solution – until they were recommended InfraCom and Microsoft Teams.
“We saw an accelerating situation with the pandemic that required us to work remotely. Having InfraCom as a telephony partner throughout the Group creates synergies. We have had different telephony solutions in different countries and in Spain we have had our solution since 1995. What we do in Italy and Spain now will inspire our other departments in other countries to do the same. Having one and the same telephone solution nationwide across the company creates new conditions for the support we can offer our customers,” says Maar Muriel, IT manager at HAVI in Spain.
Fast implementation of Microsoft Teams and InFinity
The first to upgrade the obsolete exchange solution from 1999 was Havi’s office in Italy. InfraCom delivered a tailor-made complete solution. Havi now has a unified supplier for its telephony solution, which is also integrated into Microsoft Teams. In addition, everything is migrated into an optimal Teams solution which is a big advantage for Havi, as they wanted to unite their communication and unite the entire company on a single platform – Microsoft Teams.
“We wanted the telephony solution with InFinity and Teams to be quickly implemented in the business. InfraCom carried out the implementation very quickly and smoothly. We started implementing Microsoft Teams and InFinity in December 2020. In one month, our delivery department was fully integrated and 50-60 users migrated in one week. Which is something you could never expect with a traditional exchange,” says Alberto Finelli at HAVI in Italy.
The benefits of HAVI’s new cloud-based exchange and corporate communication:
- The cost picture became clearer.
- Changed and more flexible way of working among employees.
- They can work in a new and efficient way.
- Easier to troubleshoot – if something stops working.
- They have gathered their communication on one platform.
- They are no longer limited to physical offices.
- They have a provider for their corporate communications.
- They are constantly updated with new features that suit the business.
- Rapid implementation of InFinity and Microsoft Teams in the business.