Irish luxury hampers company Hampers & Co has invested in a new state-of-the-art IT infrastructure to cater for its growing customer base, and especially its online purchasing business. The new installation has been implemented by Netforce and will ensure a faster and highly effective response to Hampers & Co’s clients from all over the world.

“After analyzing the business’ requirements, we used the Microsoft Technology Assessment toolkit to assist with creating and documenting a strategy for Hampers & Co,” explains Larry Doyle, managing director of Netforce.

The solution provides the luxury hamper company with excellent remote connectivity, instant access to email and calendar information via mobile, CRM integrated VOIP telephone phone systems, backup with full recovery and centralized databases as well as managed services from Netforce to provide comprehensive monitoring and support.

A key component of the system is the ability of the ShoreTel telephone system to link up directly with the customer base.  Once a call is received, details of the customer are automatically sent to the screen.  In addition, during busy periods and out of hours, calls are captured and managed in a seamless fashion.

The installation features a Windows SBS 2003 Premium server with XP running on the desktops, with Microsoft Office 2007 Pro to provide office functionality and Business Contact Manager (BCM) delivering a fully featured Client Relationship Management (CRM). Netforce has also deployed a Shoretel VOIP telephone system which gives them instant access to information when a client calls the office.

Netforce equipped Hampers & Co’s mobile users with Windows Mobile Devices which allow them access to their email and calendar remotely. Remote Web Workplace and Outlook Http over RPC have been implemented to connect the Dublin office to the main Thurles office over ADSL.

“Understanding and listening to our clients is a key element of how Hampers & Co has prospered over the years. Only once a client’s needs have been fully understood can a Gift solution be provided that will fulfil their requirements. This is where the need for improved customer communications and relations has been developed,” explains Emer Purcell, founder and managing director of Hampers & Co.(pictured with Alan Metcalfe, General Manager, Hampers & Co.)

“The in-house sales and customer service teams need to be able to share information about client’s requirements quickly and effectively, not only in the busy period but throughout the season. There is the need to accurately record changes to orders and then transfer these changes into the order process as quickly as possible, whilst ensuring stock availability to meet these variations and updates.”

Hampers & Co. (www.hampersandco.com) produces Luxury Hampers, Gift Boxes and Wine cases and has been in operation for over 15 years. The company employs a small number of full time staff throughout the year and increases manpower to over 55 people full time from October through to the Christmas break.