Chinese automobile retailer Lei Shing Hong has recently implemented a three-year unified communications project that will link up all its dealership stores to its heardquarters, in its bid to improve customer service to clients in the country.

LSH has several dealerships spread across more than 20 cities throughout China. Currently, each shop operates in "silo" with its own preferred voice and network platform, resulting in high communication and maintenance costs. The long-term strategy behind this latest project is to create a unified communications network of connected dealership stores that link to headquarters via a common platform, improving collaboration between backend offices and sales outlets. Part of the plan will also see Digital Media Signage implemented in dealership stores across mainland China, with the aim to elevate customer experience and increase revenue streams.

“We are constantly challenging ourselves to stay ahead of the competition in our ever-changing business environment. One of the areas we identified was the need to deploy a more cost-effective communications structure in order to streamline our backend management and deliver a more positive customer experience," said Gerald Tan, Business Development Executive Director, Lei Shing Hong Management (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. “Our vision is to provide our customers with consistently high-quality customer service, regardless of which outlet they go to. We have chosen Datacraft as our sole IT network and unified communications solution provider on the back of their proven and successful track record."

Datacraft China proposed a virtualised voice network infrastructure design that connects all the shops. Each office-to-office call will be treated as an "extension-call" regardless of the geographical distance that separates the two locations. The solution will involve implementing a single dial-plan and use toll-bypass to reduce or eliminate domestic long-distance charges. This will dramatically reduce communication, support and maintenance costs.

The new infrastructure will be built based on a redundant architecture to provide zero downtime and ensure minimal disruption to daily operation. By designing the solution around an open platform, LSH benefits from the flexibility of being able to add new applications to meet future requirements.

"We worked very closely with Lei Shing Hong to understand their existing structure and future business plans before proposing a virtualised voice network infrastructure that connects all the shops under one standard platform," said Francis Yip, Regional Director for North Asia and General Manager for China, Datacraft Asia. "Tailored to the major retailer’s business model, the solution will reduce ongoing communication costs, improve employee productivity and is highly scalable, to easily integrate future dealerships that may open up in other parts of China.”