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Retail chain AS Adventure depends on Belgacom Explore for its national and international data traffic. At the same time, the network forms the basis for Belgacom Unify while IP-telephony and Unified Communications give AS Adventure greater efficiency and significantly reduces their costs.

AS Adventure is a chain of retail shops for outdoor and leisure goods. The company has over 110 shops throughout Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom. “The network is particularly business-critical for us,” says Peter Demets, CIO of the AS Adventure group. “The network not only connects all of our locations, it also form a platform that allows us to better manage the shops and, in this way, improve the level of service we provide to the end customer.” The head offices of all of the AS Adventure shops - in all four countries - are connected via Belgacom Explore.

The international dimension of the network affords the company a number of important advantages. With Belgacom Explore, AS Adventure is able to use the same IP-basis everywhere, on which the company can develop extra services. All data traffic for AS Adventure runs on Explore. This primarily involves operational data, such as financial and logistical data. But there’s more. “The electronic security system for the shops is also run on Explore,” continues Peter Demets. “Alarm signals are transmitted to us via the network.” In addition, the application for narrow casting - the images displayed on screens in the shops - runs on Belgacom Explore.

More efficient communication

By using SIP-trunking- again with Belgacom Explore as basis - AS Adventure was able to make the switch to IP-telephony. The company chose to use Belgacom Unify, the solution that Belgacom offers in collaboration with partner Escaux. Belgacom Unify is a hybrid solution: it runs in the cloud, but offers the same functionality as would an on-site appliance for IP-telephony and Unified Communications. “IP-telephony offered us a major opportunity to reduce our company’s communication costs. All communication between the shops is now done over IP, and this includes shops located in different countries.”

For the employees, the new solution has certainly led to greater convenience. “I’m thinking here of aspects such as the contact list and the simple way you can make a phone call straight from the PC,” says Peter Demets. “It is a functionality that allows us to communicate a lot more efficiently.” AS Adventure also uses presence management. This application allows employees to maintain a concrete overview of each other’s availability. This can be important, for example, if a member of a shop’s staff wants to call upon the expertise of a colleague from another shop to answer a specific question from a customer.

Central and flexible management

The fact that AS Adventure was already operating a fleet of 120 IP-telephones in 20 shops was not a problem for Belgacom Unify. AS Adventure was able to simply reuse the devices. “The most important advantage is in the simplified management. In the past, we had 32 telephone switchboards. If we wanted to change a single setting, we had to insert a bit of programming at each switchboard. That was expensive and very time-consuming. Now all the management is done centrally. That not only gives us much more flexibility - a change can be made much faster- it also represents huge savings in the area of support and maintenance.” AS Adventure has calculated that the changeover to Belgacom Unify cut the total communication costs by 20 to 25 percent. At the same time, the solution has also noticeably reduced the pressure on the IT-department.

Company Profile

AS Adventure is a specialized retailer for outdoor and leisure activities. The company operates 110 shops in the Benelux countries and the United Kingdom.

Business benefits

- Increased productivity: smooth communication and consolidated presence-information between all sites (also internationally)
- Cost-reduction: lower communication costs, no costs for back-ups and monitoring
- Increased efficiency: central management and central reporting
- Expandability: easy integration with other applications, easily expandable to include new locations

More info?

For more information on this solution, visit the Belgacom website or contact your Account Manager.