🎉 We’re a Leader... again! Read the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for UCaaS, Worldwide Request a Quote Resources Customer Stories Putting Customer Experience First Business Phone Contact Center All-In-One Retail Founded in 1892, Halfords is the UK’s leading motoring and cycling business, providing services and products through its 444 stores, 367 garages, and 120 mobile motoring services vans. Recent acquisitions have allowed Halfords Group plc to expand the total number of its garages, trading under the name of Halfords Autocentres providing MOT tests, servicing, and repairs, as well as its mobile van motoring service. Download PDF 444 Stores 367 Garages 120 Mobile motoring services vans "Choosing 8x8 allowed us to adapt and provide thousands of colleagues with an integrated communication platform." Gareth Brophy, Former Head of Customer Support, Halfords Founded in 1892, Halfords is the UK’s leading motoring and cycling business, providing services and products through its 444 stores, 367 garages, and 120 mobile motoring services vans. Recent acquisitions have allowed Halfords Group plc to expand the total number of its garages, trading under the name of Halfords Autocentres providing MOT tests, servicing, and repairs, as well as its mobile van motoring service. Halfords has seen steady growth amidst tougher trading conditions during the pandemic, with like for like increase in its cycling, e-moblity, and garage businesses as well as strong performances in its motoring business, despite the lockdown conditions. The challenge: Improving customer experience With the huge increase in customer contacts during the pandemic, Halfords has been working to ensure that it can provide customers with the best possible customer experience. The on-premises telephony system wasn’t adaptable or scalable, and suffered issues. “Customers would call a store but couldn’t be transferred to another store location, Autocentre, or team. Instead, staff would have to provide a different phone number or pass along customer details to the appropriate colleague, asking them to phone customers back. In the meantime, queues would form at the counter. It was labor-intensive and frustrating for everyone,” explains Gareth Brophy, Head of Customer Support at Halfords. Other legacy systems also made it difficult for Halfords to utilize metrics to track and improve the customer experience. However, teams from across Halfords joined forces to find a communications solution that met the needs of office staff as well as contact centre colleagues. “It was a real group effort, involving our customer support, retail, Autocentre, IT, digital, and facilities teams,” says Brophy. “We wanted to make it simple for customers to interact with us — and to see us as one brand. The solution had to be cloud-based, robust, and future proof.” It was crucial for Halfords to have one phone number published on its new website for customer enquiries, with callers able to self-select the appropriate department. The solution: Communications put customers in the driving seat Halfords chose a comprehensive cloud communication platform provided by 8x8. This ties employee communication and the contact centre colleagues together — to enable users to deliver and monitor the customer experience throughout the organization. Teams in Halfords’ contact centre can now engage with customers using the tools that their customers want including voice, web chat, email, SMS, call-back, and social media, plus analytics. Support teams and other office workers will also benefit from improved abilities to get customers the right resources quickly. Administrators will be able to onboard new employees or change permissions with a few clicks on a web-based dashboard. Gareth Brophy, Head of Customer Support, Halfords, said, “We needed to launch quickly and were very demanding, but 8x8 rose to the challenge. It was impressive.” There’s more innovation ahead too, as Halfords explores WhatsApp and Facebook contact channels, as well as using its 8x8 platform to trial outbound sales for auto parts and services, providing colleagues with the ability to take secure payments over the phone. “With 8x8, we’re now starting to allow customers to interact with us when they want, how they want, on the platform they want. For retail, that’s the future,” says Brophy. The results: Communications contribute to record-breaking profits After a year of having the benefits of the 8x8 platform being realized, Halfords is on course for record-breaking profits. The 8x8 contact centre solution achieved immediate buy-in from colleagues, who became empowered to serve customers better, wherever they’re working. Meanwhile, office staff relish being able to stay connected from anywhere with a single app for voice, video, and chat on their laptops and mobile phones. Customers can now reach virtually anyone in the business by calling just one number. 8x8’s integration with Salesforce means customer details appeared instantly on colleagues’ screens. Live web chat and the call-back service have reduced queuing and lost calls. “I’ve seen the board turn from red to green,” says Brophy. “Calls are resolved faster and customers are getting a better experience, boosting our Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) and Net Promoter Scores.” There’s more innovation ahead too, as Halfords explores WhatsApp and Facebook contact channels, as well as using its 8x8 platform to trial outbound sales for auto parts and services, providing colleagues with the ability to take secure payments over the phone. Request A Quote Name Email Phone Company Number of Employees Country Primary Interest By checking this box, you are opting in to receive future communications from 8x8. Request a Quote Get your fast, no-obligation quote now 1-866-936-1272 Chat with an 8x8 Expert Chat with Sales Schedule a Meeting or Demo Calculate your savings in 60-seconds. Start 8x8 ROI Tool Need product help? 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