Faith A Step Ahead With Improved Customer Service

Published 18th August 2008

August 15th, 2008, Stockport – UK shoe retailer Faith has adopted a new network from Vodat International, to improve shop productivity and customer service across its chain of stores...

Vodat International recommended that Faith migrated to MPLS technology using BT’s DataStream product. The migration will provide the shoe retailer with a more secure network.

“The company’s existing network provided a good service for the transmission of data between shops and head office, but it was unable to provide point to point connectivity or IP telephony,” said Paul Maxwell, Head of IT at Faith. “The technology was neither resilient nor secure enough for EFT traffic. It will also be more cost-effective to outsource the implementation and management of the extended network.”

“We believe that by moving to Vodat International’s complete network we will deliver long-term cost savings to the business,” added Maxwell. “We are going to start rolling out the network across a handful of stores for an initial pilot then we will increase the pace of the roll to 25 stores per day across the group. The migration will be completed by mid-August.”

“The Faith contract shows how we can add value through symbiotic technology such as IP telephony, unified messaging and EFT processing,” said Mike Bielinski, CEO at Vodat International. “We also have a great deal of experience in gaining our own PCI compliance and have the knowledge to assist Faith with its compliance in a shorter time frame at a reduced cost.”

The retailer is embarking on a number of projects which are dependent on having a business class network in place. This includes a new website, a shift to more multi-channel retailing, disaster recovery processes, reductions in supply chain lead times and reductions on telecoms costs through SIP trunking.

Faith has 85 branches, 115 concessions within Debenhams and another 14 concessions in independents.