Simplify your communications management

Juggling multiple contracts for different phone service vendors

For a modern workforce, mobile means more. More flexibility and agility. More opportunities in more places. But that can also lead to more headaches if you have to manage multiple contracts and communications systems just to keep your distributed workforce connected.

WIS International is a leading global inventory and datacollection services company with more than 15,000 employees in over 200 physical and virtual office locations, all of whom work together to serve more than 4,500 worldwide clients. Due to conducting physical inventory counts and merchandising for customers, employees are often working on the move. With all those locations—and with employees constantly working onsite at different client locations—managing communications was a challenge.

For years, the company had been setting up each office and location-based project with a separate phone service and internet provider in order to make and receive calls and transmit data. That proved to be costly and inefficient. “Since our phone service contracts were negotiated by individual managers, sometimes they would get a promo plan at a discount. Then when the promo ended, the bill would more than double. It created budgeting challenges,” said Larry Wagner, WIS International Controller. The company began seeking a cost-effective way to simplify and streamline its communications operations. 

Keeping critical contact  numbers easily accessible

WIS International also needed a solution that would help it provide customers with the best possible experience. When working onsite with a customer, area managers frequently set up their own physical or virtual office, complete with phone system. They also build a team tailored to meet the specific needs of each project. As the project is completed, team members often get reassigned to work on new projects with new area managers. Having such siloed operations made it difficult to keep contact information current and available to whomever needed it. “Somebody might be assigned to an office or team for six months and would get transferred to another team, so then we would have to find out all places where their cell phone number was listed, from recruiting to customers to in-house, and try to change it out,” said Director of Special Operations Charlene Boucher. This time spent trying to track down its workforce was time taken from serving customers.

When WIS International discovered One Talk℠ from Verizon, it knew it had found a solution that addressed its primary communications pain points—and delivered so much more.

A unified communications system for a dispersed workforce

One Talk is a cost-effective, mobile-first business phone system that increases administrative efficiency by replacing multiple phone-service contracts with a single contract. And it empowers companies to easily manage phone services across desk phones and employee-owned devices, creating a unified, streamlined experience.

One Talk makes it easy for a mobile workforce to connect with customers, coworkers and recruitment candidates by providing one number across multiple devices. Plus, One Talk has more than 50 business-grade phone features that can be accessed from employee-owned devices using the mobile app. So employees can stay agile, accessible and productive wherever they are.

"I see big savings from an administrative and management perspective with One Talk." 

        — Larry Wagner, Controller, WIS International

One number, so many possibilities 

One Talk makes it possible to use one number across multiple devices, even employee-owned mobile phones. Managers and employees can easily load the One Talk app on their smartphones, enabling them to receive calls as if they were at a company desk phone. “Even our employees in local offices are not tied to the office waiting for a call. The One Talk app makes it so they can go out and conduct their business and still be reachable anywhere,” said Boucher.

"One Talk allowed us to get rid of 50 different vendors all over the U.S., with 50 different accounts, and pool it all together in a single, cost-effective plan." 

        — Larry Wagner, Controller, WIS International

Setup that's quick and easy 

Since the company’s area managers periodically need to establish an office and team to work on new client projects in different locations, time is of the essence—and there’s usually not going to be a professional IT support team onsite to help. But One Talk is so easy to deploy that the company’s corporate office created a do-it-yourself kit for U.S. offices.

The kit includes an LTE Cradlepoint® router, One Talk–enabled desk phones and directions for installing the One Talk mobile app on their bring-your-own-device (BYOD) phones. So the manager can get set up without IT installation or support. What would have taken several days now takes less than an hour. “We can ship a ‘mobile-office kit’ to them and say just plug it in. If they move the office down the road, they can unplug it and plug it back in again at the new location. It’s easy,” said Wagner.

Managing contact information made easy 

Like most large companies, WIS International has a highly mobile workforce, and increasing productivity, efficiency and accessibility are top priorities. Now, when employees are reassigned to new teams, are promoted or change employers, the One Talk portal streamlines the process, enabling administrators to easily drag, drop, add and delete numbers when needed. “No matter what manager was assigned to a team, we would put them on that One Talk app and we didn’t have to remember managers’ cell phone numbers and change them in 20 different locations,” said Boucher.

Staying reachable when customers call 

Since WIS International works with many of the world’s top retailers, its customers are located in multiple time zones. To maintain strong relationships, it’s critical that every call gets answered, no matter the time. One Talk has helped the company provide a better customer experience and respond better at all hours with the Hunt Group feature, which forwards calls—including after-hours calls—to the employee on call, or to the next available employee. The feature helps to ensure that customers can reach someone, even if their primary contact is unavailable. And the chain of command for forwarding calls is easily set up and managed from the administrative portal. 

A solution that grows with you

As WIS International continues to take on new clients in new cities, One Talk will scale accordingly, providing the communications solutions that are necessary for its mobile workforce to do their jobs well—without putting additional strain on administrative resources. And whenever they need assistance, a Verizon business partner is only a phone call away to provide the support needed to help keep operations running. 

"Verizon's One Talk allows us to provide  a one-stop solution for all of these offices for phone and internet." 

        — Larry Wagner, Controller, WIS International

Why Verizon

As your workforce grows more diverse and dispersed, you’ll need solutions that help you stay connected. With One Talk, we help empower companies to meet ever-changing communications needs—all with one streamlined bill to increase administrative efficiency. And our support team is there for you whenever you need them. One Talk provides a quick and easy way to connect employees, remote locations and even vendors to help everyone communicate and stay productive. 

Learn more 

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Contact your Verizon Wireless business specialist to learn more about how One Talk can help you grow your business.  For more information about One Talk, click here or visit a Verizon Wireless store near you.