3CX Enables Architects’ College of Catalonia to Unify Their Telephony & Go Digital

The Architects’ College of Catalonia (COAC) was struggling with a mix and match of communications solutions at their various locations throughout Catalonia. Besides being outdated and limited, the variety of systems created an administrative nightmare making it difficult to manage suppliers and track costs. With the help of Conecta Wireless, COAC implemented 3CX to unify their communications, go fully digital and cut costs at the same time.

The Challenge

COAC was using another platform as a contact center, combined with five other analog and IP telephony companies for approximately 200 user extensions throughout Catalonia - and none of the service providers were integrated!

They needed a single cloud solution that would unify communications for employees across the entire region.

There was some initial resistance to the idea of a unified solution for all employees; some locations felt that the solution they had worked well enough. Yet, COAC was aware of the fact that unifying telephony providers on a single provider would simplify communications and administration, save costs and help in the ongoing digital transformation of the company.

Accessibility Wins the Day

After considering two other big providers that COAC previously worked with, they got in touch with Platinum partner, Conecta Wireless, who identified 3CX as the ideal, cost effective solution. In comparison to other options, COAC found that 3CX excelled in accessibility on the basis of price, breadth of features, ease of use and mobility, leaving no doubt as to the most compelling solution.

In addition to the benefits listed above, COAC was in need of 3CX’s versatile call flow designer, which allowed them to automate the handling of incoming calls, with an easy-to-use graphical drag-and-drop interface. The flexibility in hosting options to serve a dispersed team from one central cloud location allowed COAC to have their solution hosted by Conecta Wireless. 3CX's simple configuration was likewise a very attractive feature, reducing the cost and time required to transition to a new system.

Despite the initial resistance to change, COAC found that employees were able to easily adapt to 3CX, making the transition smoother and facilitating the process of getting those onboard who were less enthusiastic about change.

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“3CX facilitated another step in the digital transformation process of the company. It has enabled us to improve agility, mobility and productivity in all employees and, as a cloud solution, has simplified the suppliers, infrastructure and hardware at COAC across all its locations. Furthermore, we have been able to more efficiently manage our telecommunications costs, resulting in significant savings.”

Isabel Bellot, Deputy Assistant Director-General and Head of Digital Transformation, COAC

The Results

From a mix of outdated analog and IP systems that were very limited and restrictive, 3CX has provided the company with 100% agility & mobility for all employees, not to mention interconnectivity between branches. A significant advantage has been the ability to take the office anywhere using 3CX’s web and mobile apps. Productivity & customer experience likewise improved with a more robust range of modern features.

With the cloud solution hosted by Conecta Wireless, 3CX simplified the infrastructure and hardware for the all COAC locations, streamlining management of cost and suppliers. Transparency also improved across the board for COAC. All this came at a significantly lower cost than their more limited previous solutions and comparable alternatives.

The Customer

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As an institution with a history dating back more than eighty years, the Architects’ College of Catalonia (“Col·legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya” in Catalan or COAC) is dedicated to defending the social value of architecture and urbanism for society, on behalf of its member architects. There are currently more than 10,000 architects registered with COAC and 170 employees throughout Catalonia.

The main functions of the COAC are to provide services to members, to defend, represent and promote the work of architects, to ensure architectural quality and to disseminate architecture socially and culturally.