Man Truck & Bus Iberia Unifies 15 Offices with Avaya IP Office

MAN Truck & Bus Iberia, a multinational member of the Volkswagen Group that specializes in industrial vehicles, has upgraded the communications infrastructure of all 15 offices in Spain and Portugal with the latest Avaya technology.

For this multinational there’s no doubt, telephony is a vital service for effective client communication. “Each of our offices is a service point for end customers and we can’t afford to break this connection,” explains Antonio Caballero, IT Manager of MAN Truck & Bus Iberia. This was reason enough to look for a reliable telephony system with proven stability to handle more than 15,000 incoming calls per month across 15 offices throughout Spain and Portugal.

Once the life cycle of the previous VoIP telephony system solution came to an end, MAN had to decide between renewing the existing infrastructure or changing to a more robust solution that would unify all their offices, including six offices (three in Spain and three in Portugal) that were not yet included in the circuit. “Our priority has always been traditional telephony, and we knew that Avaya could meet our needs. We know the brand well as its approved by the Volkswagen Group, which we are part of,” says Caballero.

Why Avaya

Our business partner Infocom presented a project based on a single IP Office 500v2 Preferred Edition switchboard system in the Coslada office, and Gateways IP Office 500v2 in the other 14 Iberian offices (Spain and Portugal). This design meant a single, centralized, collaborative system, with independent functioning capacity and autonomy in each office.

The reasons why MAN chose the Avaya platform are summarized by Antonio Caballero: “For our case, the system Avaya presented was better thought out and more powerful. It was important to know that even if the MPLS stopped working at an important moment, the telephony system would remain intact, and we would always remain in contact with our customers. Another reason was the Avaya terminals which are more robust and in keeping with our environment, the Avaya solution for DECT telephones, and the form of licensing.”

The new system provides functionalities that have been welcomed by users, such as global voice messaging or the centralized automatic operator scheme which acts differently depending on the center the call is being received from (regarding local hours of operation, public holiday calendar, etc.)

Caballero also highlights the switchboard management interface (the Manager program) which enables the flow of calls to be monitored. “We have improved quality in the innermost workings of the system. Before, it was much harder to access information of interest to the IT department, but now we always know what’s happening and have reduced the time taken to resolve user incidents.”

“In addition to telephony, we have to add network electronics for all offices; series 35xx, PoE, 24 or 48 ports, depending on the case, thereby achieving full integration of the solution. No matter what it is; landline terminals, switchboards, network electronics, DECT terminals; we get it from the same manufacturer: Avaya."

Implementation Process

“The deployment and implementation of the project was a pleasant surprise. Both the solution and Infocom’s expertise have been really effective, making things much easier for us. The learning curve for users has also been quick thanks to a very intuitive system,” concludes Caballero.