Bank customers want to be answered without delay, and the bank representative has enough information in front of his eyes so that this answer is comprehensive and does not keep you waiting. Today, you should not expect such opportunities from outdated traditional PBXs. Thanks to the introduction of the 3CX system, which supports integration with CRM and ERP, as well as with voice applications, all the tedious and time-consuming processes associated with the work of the call center are eliminated. Operators can focus on professional advice about a product or service rather than the complexities of using technology.

AccessBank has been serving small and medium businesses since 2002 and today is the leader in microcredit in Azerbaijan. The bank's shareholders are such international organizations as the Asian Development Bank, the European Investment Bank, the International Finance Corporation, etc. At present, AccessBank serves clients operating in various industries, including construction, transport, agriculture, healthcare, etc. The bank has 28 branches, 15 of which provide services in Baku and 13 in the country's regions.

- The growth rate of the bank required an urgent and thoughtful upgrade of the telephone system. The old PBX, which was based on outdated hybrid solutions, no longer met the rapidly growing requirements of the bank's customers. The bank was faced with the task of finding an inexpensive and functional solution, with a convenient and understandable administration interface, the ability to create reports, as well as centrally manage the telephone infrastructure and allow employees located at any distance from the workplace to be connected. The 3CX solution was able to satisfy the wishes of the bank administration, bypassing competitors in a number of criteria, including security, versatility, continuity of versions, the principle of "zero" administration (Zero Admin), as well as the price, - says the director of business development of the iTech Group company involved in the implementation of the project, Rovshan Akbarov.

The replacement of the ATS, which was in effect at the time of the start of the project implementation in the bank, was also necessary due to the fact that it did not allow for the mobility of bank employees. They were tied to a specific workplace, and navigation with an outdated system became a real problem for the operational work of customer service. Since the bank's branches are located not only in Baku, but customer offices are scattered throughout Azerbaijan, call center operators had to rely on the traditional telephone system. This has become difficult due to the use of traditional analog telephone networks. The introduction of IP-PBX 3CX made it possible to provide high-quality and inexpensive communication for employees in the shortest possible time, raise key performance indicators for managers and optimize work processes.

- An important condition was to maintain the smooth operation of the telephone system, especially when it comes to a bank with more than 1,000 employees. The second important feature of the project was associated with minimal financial and time costs and the choice of modern and compatible with 3CX auto-configuration phones. The devices of the German company SNOM were used here. These devices have proven themselves perfectly when working in IP networks, and their menu was localized by the joint efforts of our company and the manufacturer for use in the Azerbaijani market. In total, we implemented two projects in AccessBank based on 3CX solutions. One serves the call center, and the other is aimed at maintaining communication between the office and numerous branches of the bank. The projects are closely intertwined, which allows, if necessary, to instantly transfer calls from the contact center to bank specialists, even if they are absent from the workplace, supporting seamless roaming, - continues Rovshan Akbarov.

In addition to bringing together the most popular communication channels, 3CX provides end-to-end omnichannel communication for clients and detailed reports and analytics for bank executives:

• since classic telephony is still the main means of communication for many organizations, telephone, fax and voice mail are available to 3CX users;
• 3CX users can schedule video conferences and web conferences, as well as make video calls through the browser and mobile applications;
• integration with CRM and ERP allows you to organize the synchronization of the customer base;
• operators can communicate with visitors to the company's website, as well as business pages on Facebook, using them as additional channels for operational customer support;
• 3CX allows operators to work with SMS through a single corporate company number.

3CX pays great attention to security, providing its solution with a built-in intrusion prevention system. It was developed taking into account the features of VOIP technology specifically to protect corporate telephony from intruders. Security in 3CX starts right from the moment you install it. The system itself detects and blacklists sources of SIP threats. 3CX also maintains a global, dynamically updated list of suspicious IP addresses, can encrypt traffic using 3CX Tunnel technology and voice communications using the SRTP protocol. 3CX automatically generates and maintains SSL certificates. The solution also includes an automatic failover mechanism for customers who value instantaneous failover.

With the implementation of 3CX AccessBank, a significant reduction in communication costs was achieved by replacing traditional communication costs with VOIP, free communication between branches, and the introduction of mobile clients. The 3CX licensing policy is also very simple. The bank pays not for the number of users, but for the number of simultaneous calls. With the help of 3CX applications for Android and iOS, the functionality and accessibility of bank employees is practically unlimited - they can be as mobile as possible. In addition, the deployment of this solution was very fast and without interrupting the current processes of the bank, and the process of training call-center personnel took only a couple of days.

- The staff of the bank actively participated in the implementation of this project and it was a pleasure to work with them. People understood what was needed to improve the quality of work. This is the rare case when working with a customer is essentially working with a partner who goes to a meeting in order to solve the problem by joint efforts. Now the solution is actively used by bank employees, receiving regular functionality updates and local support from our company. And best of all, 3CX is ready to scale at any time. Now the expansion of the bank's staff can occur without unnecessary investments in infrastructure. It is enough to connect an existing telephone set to a free port of the gateway or purchase an IP telephone. The number of users and external lines in 3CX is practically unlimited, - Rovshan Akbarov notes.

- Our bank was faced with the task of prompt modernization of the telephone system in order to improve the level of customer service. The chosen solution actually has excellent scalability and allows you to save your investment. 3CX allowed AccessBank employees to interact more effectively with advanced unified communications technologies. At the disposal of users were software clients for Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS and a web client that does not require installation. There was a corporate secure chat for exchanging short messages, as well as a powerful platform for video conferencing. With the help of a solution from 3CX, a way out of the problems that we had when working with the old PBX was found. It also allowed us to achieve a significant reduction in telecommunications costs. By solving technical problems with 3CX and iTech Group, AccessBank has been able to increase the mobility and productivity of its staff," said Ilkin Guliyev, Executive Director of Retail Banking at AccessBank.