Cutting trunking costs in half sounds pretty appealing to any company, but especially if you’re a retailer trying to stay afloat in the face of tough competition both online and in the malls. In that game, every penny counts.

A major retailer , with stores all over the country as well as a solid online and catalog operation, was seeking a way to leverage their investment in IP telephony, reduce costs, and better address customer inquiries. On top of that, it wanted the ability to quickly increase trunking capabilities during the all-important holiday season.

This company deployed an MPLS network-based enterprise trunking solution, which provides local access, voice and data, over a single IP connection. In addition, it is using Managed Network Services for increased security and reliability.

This solution delivered exactly what the retailer was looking for. The efficiencies of this approach enabled a 50 percent cost savings over local trunking, and added savings by allowing the company to increase its on-net usage with a flat rate. From a customer service standpoint, this setup allowed the retailer to divert calls to its highest-volume departments to a centralized call center, making sure customers got through to someone who could answer their questions, rather than have their calls hit voice mail or go unanswered because clerks were busy.

As we enter another holiday shopping season – and regardless of the reports of consumers cutting back on gift-giving, it will still be a busy time – this solution will have yet another opportunity to prove itself.