Customer:
Richard Köstner AG
Locations:
Ansbach, Bamberg, Schweinfurt, Diespeck, Forchheim, Oensingen (Switzerland), Munich, Neustadt/Aisch, Nuremberg, Plauen
Employees:
approx. 500, of which 106 workstations are with estos software
The Company
Richard Köstner AG was founded in 1934: The company founder, Richard Köstner, acquired an iron and coal treatment with two employees in Neustadt an der Aisch. Today, the company employs about 500 people at 10 locations in Germany and Switzerland. Richard Köstner AG not only offers ideas for house and garden, the range includes steel, plumbing and heating supplies, tools and fittings, gardening and forestry equipment as well as other building components, the array of products ranges from drainpipes to bathtubs to chainsaws and doors. In addition to branded products, the company also offers a wide range of services.
The Challenge
To improve their sales and purchasing processes was the goal that Richard Köstner AG wanted to achieve through unified communications. At the same time, it was required to integrate the necessary software components into the existing IT environment so that eight sites could use UC via terminal servers. With the additional goal of business process integration, they wanted to enable employees to send faxes directly from the ERP system proALPHA, and to be able to call a contact at the push of a button. When an employee receives a call, the matching data of the caller should be automatically displayed on the screen.
Based on the recommendation of the IT infrastructure and service provider Cancom NSG ICT GmbH Nürnberg, Richard Köstner AG decided to use the ixi-UMS Unified Messaging Server, replacing conventional fax machines as well as the Comfax fax solution. Employees use the functions for fax and software-based answering machine directly with the Microsoft Outlook client: Not just only e-mails, but faxes and voice messages can be received, sent, edited and managed as well.
In addition, the ixi-UMS client tools ensure that employees can initiate faxes directly from the Microsoft Outlook contacts and can also use the Word serial letter functions for sending serial faxes.
In addition, it is possible to send faxes directly from ProAlpha. The respective employee will receive the confirmation of successful or unsuccessful dispatch in their inbox.
The ProCall Enterprise unified communications and CTI software suite allows employees to use computer telephony and collaboration functions: Control of the phone with mouse and keyboard, hotkey selection, caller identification, telephone journal, call scheduling and instant messaging for improved in-house communication.
Applications:
- ixi-UMS Enterprise
ProCall Enterprise
IT Infrastructure:
- MS Exchange Server
- MS Outlook
- proAlpha
- Windows Terminal Server
- Dialogic Diva 4BRI-8
Telephone System:
- 6 Siemens Enterprise Communications HiPath
ICT Partner:
- Cancom NSG GmbH Nürnberg