Cloud Business Phone Keeps Small Biz Connected

International Transportation Company Keeps Communication and Collaboration Moving with Intermedia Unite, Email, and Contact Center

Introducing the Intermedia Business Innovators series – where Intermedia honors business and civic leaders who are improving customer care, employee engagement, and operations through innovative thinking and decisive action.

In business for over 40 years, H&M International Transportation has provided a broad range of logistics services through a comprehensive network of U.S. Intermodal operations. The business handles U.S customs and border protection for incoming goods and operates a railway division that offers shipping container lift-on and lift-off services. For a busy, global transportation company like H&M, reliable, consistent communications and collaboration are absolutely critical to keep its wide network of employees connected and in sync and to keep its customers’ goods moving.

I recently spoke with H&M’s vice president of IT, Eric Witham, about his company’s journey with Intermedia. Mr. Witham is responsible for everything IT-related, from networking to phones to security. He first found Intermedia in 2015 with an eye toward simplifying and improving the security footprint of email. Since then, as the company’s geographic footprint grew, as did the amount of mission-critical services it provided, the need for a better way to communicate and collaborate led to the adoption of a broader array of Intermedia’s cloud solutions.

Migrating to Intermedia Unite^® Reduced Costs and Removed the Complexity of Phones

With H&M’s business growing and communications taking place from an increasing number of locations, the existing legacy, on-premises business phone system infrastructure they had in place could not keep up with business needs.  The on-premises phone system was not designed to handle the ever-evolving need for the anywhere, anytime communications that Mr. Witham needed for his organization.

Decisions in the field could impact decisions in the warehouse which could impact delivery schedules and more, so reliable, real-time communication was key – and not just via a phone call. Sometimes it was a quick online chat that was required, other times a document needed to be shared, and frequently a spur-of-the-moment video conference was necessary to make a decision. And since the employees who were critical to making the decisions were often spread around the country, be it in an office or out in the field, H&M needed the communications tools that allowed all the modes of communication to happen wherever the employee might be located.

Once Mr. Witham discovered the all-in-one communications and collaboration platform Intermedia Unite, he was sold.  Unite comes with business phone service, team chat, video conferencing, screen sharing, secure file collaboration and backup, contact center, and more – all integrated into one seamless solution.   Mobile and desktop apps allow for anywhere, anytime access from mobile phones, laptops, desktops, and tablets – all for one low, per user, monthly fee.

Said Mr. Witham, “Now we pay for one bundled account for all services. We don’t have three different vendors for four different things. We have one vendor and invoice for everything, it’s amazing.”

Looking to optimize communications solutions even further, the company next added Intermedia Contact Center.

Contact Center Enables Efficiency, Allows Company to Get Rid of Legacy System

“We had this horrible contact center system that was clunky, cumbersome, didn’t allow us to be responsive to customer needs, and making any changes to it was a nightmare. Then Intermedia came out with Intermedia Cloud Contact Center, and the switch was a no-brainer,” Mr. Witham shared.

Intermedia’s omnichannel Contact Center – which centralizes the handling of voice, web chat, email, and SMS interactions into a single application – gave H&M’s warehousing customer support team a better, more informed, and responsive way to deliver vital customer care. The team enjoys all the software features that enhance efficiency and increase positive, personalized customer experiences, including IVR (interactive voice response), dynamic notifications, intelligent call routing, integrations with leading CRM and WFR software, real-time and historical analytics, and much more. And since it’s based in the cloud, H&M reps can deliver customer care from wherever they may be working.

No Communications Troubles During the Pandemic

When the pandemic hit, most employees in the corporate office moved to remote work. Said Mr. Witham, “No matter where people were, they always had access to their Intermedia systems. The physical desktop phones had the ability to go home with them, but the most convenient and useful piece of the platform is the Unite apps for mobile and desktop.”

Since access and connection weren’t an issue, Mr. Witham even suggested that the company not renew its office lease because of how few people needed to work in the space. “Everyone has phones, printers, scanners, and VPN connections. Even those who work in the warehouse can now work from home as their schedules allow.”

What Mr. Witham appreciates most is how easy Intermedia products are to use for both an admin and end-user. Just before my conversation with him, he explained he was setting up a new account with a new domain. “I was able to set up a user with email and Unite with their device, extra lines, and any programming in seven minutes. I just configured all the security settings, too.”

And when Mr. Witham needs support for his Intermedia solutions, he knows that the J.D. Power-certified Intermedia technical support team is standing by 24/7/365 to assist.

Love for Intermedia Service

Mr. Witham sums up H&M’s experience with Intermedia succinctly “I love Intermedia’s solutions and service. I’ve spoken to probably 10 companies that we work with over the last few years to tell them how awesome you are. I’ve even shown them how I set it up and how quick it is.”

Scott Anderson

Scott Anderson is Intermedia's Chief Marketing Officer, and is responsible for Intermedia global marketing, including product, brand, direct, channel, demand, and digital marketing, as well as internal/external communications.