Diamond IT Blog

Great Southern Rail Case Study

Written by Samantha Cordell | December 8, 2016

An interesting customer case study on how Samsung has assisted the Great Southern Rail passenger train company improve their business communications and customer service, with the installation of a SCM Enterprise and Samsung Contact Centre software.

Great Southern Rail has owned and operated luxury train services The Ghan, The Indian Pacific and The Overland since 1997, becoming the first privatised transcontinental passenger rail business in Australia.

Great Southern Rail is passionate about sharing the spirit of expedition and provides travellers with the opportunity to experience the Australian outback through scenic expeditions and Off Train Excursions.

The Ghan rail journey showcases the scenic landscapes of Darwin, Alice Springs and Adelaide, the Indian Pacific travels between Sydney, Adelaide and Perth and The Overland passenger train operates between Melbourne and Adelaide. Due to a change in ownership in 2015, Great Southern Rail purchased new IT and communications infrastructure enabling it to become an independent entity.

A Snapshot

Client: Great Southern Rail

Locations: Two sites – Travel Centre and Railway Terminal in Keswick, South Australia

Samsung Products:

  • SCME (SAMSUNG Communications Manager (SCM) Enterprise, Server based VoIP Phone System
  • SAMSUNG ACD Contact Centre (30 x Travel Centre Agents, to integrate with GSR CRM)
  • SAMSUNG Enhanced Call Recording with PCI compliance
  • 100 x Samsung IP handsets split over the two locations

The Challenge

Great Southern Rail had recently been purchased by a new owner and needed to break all infrastructure ties that they currently had with their previous owner. This required the company to source, install and deploy new IT and communication infrastructure that would cause as little disruption to their operations as possible. Great Southern Rail also had difficulties with their current phone system as staff members were unable to easily self manage and make updates to this system to notify passengers about daily changes such as train delays or timetable modifications.

The Solution

Great Southern Rail required a system that could be deployed centrally and could be managed by staff on a daily basis. A crucial requirement for the business was being able to make ad hoc programming changes to their phone system - which they were unable to do with their previous Cisco Call Manager system. Samsung Communications Centre Adelaide designed a tailored solution for Great Southern Rail which included the Samsung SCME server based VoIP Phone System to be deployed across both sites - the Travel Centre and Railway Terminal.

The Samsung Contact Centre software and Enhanced Call Recorder was also installed at the Travel Centre, in order to improve overall business operations. Samsung’s product offering has proved to be an exceptional choice, as staff members can now easily manage adds, moves and any changes on both their phone system and with the Contact Centre software

The Results

  • The Contact Centre interface provides Great Southern Rail with the ability to manage incoming call volumes with excellent real-time vision to provide accurate management of staffing and rostering
  • The reporting capability of the Contact Centre generates predefined reports and also provides the ability to create detailed customised reports • The Phone System and Contact Centre are exceptionally easy and convenient to manage to make daily changes without any additional costs. This is a major benefit as processes such as daily updates to train timetables or advice on upcoming events and public holidays can be quickly updated by staff.
  • The call recording function has assisted with call coaching and quality monitoring leading to enhanced caller experiences.
  • The simple implementation of a postcall survey has allowed for tracking of caller experience.

The Samsung Solution

After an in-depth analysis of their business requirements and a rigorous tender selection process, Great Southern Rail chose the Samsung Communications Manager (SCM) Enterprise and Contact Centre solutions as they were a perfect fit for their requirements, both technically and financially. Great Southern Rail wanted a full IP solution centrally housed in a data centre environment with the ability for their staff members to be able to manually manage day-to-day adds, moves and changes relating to the voice services and Contact Centre themselves.

The Contact Centre is responsible for all incoming customer enquiries for holiday bookings, timetable information and general enquires. The Samsung SCM Enterprise Server based VoIP Phone System has improved the level of customer service as Great Southern Rail are now able to record the interactions they have with their customers and use this information for online verification and staff training purposes. Great Southern Rail worked closely with Samsung Communications Centre Adelaide to design and deploy these systems and Samsung Communications Centre Adelaide houses this equipment within its IBC physically located in an iiNet data centre. Great Southern Rail was very impressed with the service they experienced from Samsung Communications Centre Adelaide as they made it a smooth and seamless transition from the old systems to the new systems.

The Future

In order to improve their business processes and customer satisfaction levels further, Great Southern Rail are intending to interface the Contact Centre with their CRM software and new online payment system. The Samsung systems have proven to be stable, reliable, easy to use and also easy to manage which has exceeded Great Southern Rail’s expectations and has improved their daily business operations.

Reproduced with the permission of Samsung

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More about Samsung

Through innovative technology, distinctive designs and a dual focus on convenience and value, Samsung has remained at the forefront of the digital revolution and continues to provides best-in-class Wireless Enterprise, Unified Communications and Mobility Solutions.

The SCM Compact, supports up to 512 users, with an all-in-one pure IP based communications solution designed to meet the needs of small to medium size businesses. Featuring built-in capabilities without requiring additional hardware. These include Voice Mail System (VMS), Auto Attendant, Call Recording, Ad Hoc and Meet Me Conference, Video Collaboration, Premium Call ID, and a built-in Session Border Controller for secure SIP Trunking and UC.