Auction Technology Group
ATG scales with RingCentral communications platform to support growing global business.
From receptionists to the executives, everyone is delighted with our new system. Migrating communications to RingCentral was the best move we have made.
Marika Clemow
Director of Operations, Auction Technology Group
Auction Technology Group (ATG), which runs both timed online auctions and live webcast auctions, built its auction expertise in the print publishing industry in the UK before expanding into digital and technology products and into to the US in 2013. The company’s numbers are impressive: more than 43.5 million bidders view their websites, listing more than 7.5 million items and facilitating £2bn of transactions annually. ATG partners with over 1,350 auctioneers and hosts 13,000 auctions per year with infrastructure that allows secure transactions, easy bidding, and comprehensive searching to ensure no opportunity is ever missed. Auctions across their 12 verticals have included items as diverse as Princess Diana’s dresses to laboratory equipment and even a dinosaur skeleton.
ATG’s global technology business operates over two continents. The 100-person staff supports round-the-clock customer service for the company’s ecommerce portals and SaaS products. It also manages a high volume of calls during UK business hours.
As ATG grew, Marika Clemow, Director of Operations, realised that the company needed more features and better pricing from its communication providers. She decided to replace the company’s existing solution—different phone providers on different continents along with additional providers for audio and video conferencing—with a single, global, cloud-based communications solution.
Communications system requirements for a growing, global business
Clemow had several non-negotiable criteria for the new communications solution:
- Easily scalable to accommodate growth
- Advanced business functionality—one-stop shop for telephony, conferencing, messaging, etc.
- Integration with Zendesk®, Salesforce®, and Office 365®.
- API access to integrate data from business analytics tool, Power BI
INDUSTRY
Retail
HQ
London
YEAR FOUNDED
1971
EMPLOYEES
100+
She had several additional requirements as well. “Our customer service and client services teams handle thousands of calls each month,” she explains. “We needed reports to be able to identify peaks and troughs on a granular level and set some KPIs.”
The company also needed to implement advanced call management features such as call prioritisation, recording, monitoring, queuing, etc. while simplifying phone administration for staff, based on permission levels. And since a portion of ATG’s employees work from home or on the road, the new system needed to be as accessible from home desktops and mobile devices as it was at headquarters.
RingCentral delivers on technology and support
After comparing several cloud providers, ATG chose the RingCentral communications platform because it was the one that best met all their requirements and because of “its track record as the leader in the field,” Clemow says. “We knew the features and benefits of RingCentral would enable us to grow and support customers into the future.”
With RingEX™, ATG now has advanced telephony features such as Auto-Receptionist multi-level IVR for call routing, role-based access control to simplify management, and more. RingEX also delivers integration with ATG’s helpdesk software, Zendesk, as well as integration with Salesforce and Office 365.
With the RingCentral Phone, employees on mobile devices have all the advanced features of the system when traveling away from their offices. ATG also implemented RingEX™ for video and audio conferencing with screen share to increase team collaboration and improve business efficiency.
The company has seen benefits with even the simplest features. For instance, a previously time-consuming and frustrating task was the monthly collating and printing of the current staff phone numbers, which often contained errors. This has been replaced by the up-to-date and accurate RingCentral dial-by-name directory. “The implementation of the desktop app with everyone’s correct names and extensions was literally revolutionary,” says Clemow. “The new system is already improving our workflows and saving us time.”
ATG runs a 24/7 global business with an emphasis on serving the customer. Clemow has been pleased with RingCentral’s same 24/7 customer service philosophy. “From receptionists to the executives, everyone is delighted with our new system,” Clemow says. “Migrating communications to RingCentral was the best move we have made.”
The implementation of the desktop app with everyone’s correct names and extensions was literally revolutionary.
Marika Clemow
Director of Operations, Auction Technology Group