AniCura reduced its telephony costs by 30% by switching to the cloud

AniCura

Providing professional care through sustainable animal hospitals.

Places

350 animal clinics in Europe.

Number of employees

7 500

Customers since

2018

"We saved a lot of time because I didn't have to drive the projects. Telavox has taken care of that."

Ulf Ståhl

IT Manager at AniCura

About the company

AniCura is a family of prominent animal hospitals and clinics specializing in companion animals. The company was born out of the idea of pooling resources to create better animal care and was founded in 2011 as the first merger of animal hospitals in the Nordic region. The company offers a wide range of medical and surgical services.

There are 350 animal clinics and hospitals in Europe, providing peace of mind for pet owners through high availability and patient safety. The company’s 7,500 passionate employees care for three million patients every year.

The challenge

AniCura is an impressive group spread across 45 different locations – from Sundsvall in the north to Malmö in the south. In 2017, they carried out an IT project with the aim, among other things, of enabling the clinics to work together more effectively.

“Our vision is to be able to help each other between regions. If we have specialists available in one region but not in another, we should be able to easily refer them there,” says Ulf Ståhl, IT Manager at AniCura.

Different switching solutions in each region

AniCura had largely different switching solutions in each region. During the project, they asked both large and small clinics to develop a requirements specification.

“Our goal was to bring everyone together under one solution. This facilitates cooperation between the clinics and is more cost-effective,” says Ulf.

Ulf Ståhl, IT Manager at AniCura.

Ulf Ståhl, IT Manager at AniCura, says he has been able to hand over much of the operational work to Telavox, allowing him to focus on core business and strategic work. Photographer: Daniel Nilsson

Compared many telephony providers

Before the big plan could be launched, AniCura did an advanced evaluation of different telephony providers. They had some requirements: Is there integration with other systems? How is the interface? Is the app intuitive and user-friendly?

“AniCura also paid a lot of attention to the supplier’s commitment during the process – were they available? And what was the supplier’s approach and strategy when it came to implementation and training on the system? That was an important criterion to get support during the transition”, says Ulf.

The most essential thing for Ulf was that the delivery should go as smoothly as possible.

“It creates a sense of security for employees. The phone has to work when concerned pet owners call us. And first impressions are crucial”

Big savings from switching to cloud exchange

After AniCura’s supplier evaluation, one stood out.

“We took three test cases, both small and large clinics, and looked at how much they called and so on. We looked at the costs of upgrading the old solutions with new equipment and cloud services. But in the end, we chose Telavox as the best price. We saw a big saving in switching to the cloud and Telavox’s solution gave the best value for money,” says Ulf.

 

Vet comforts dog wearing a collar.
Photographer: Jonatan Fernström

The solution

Ulf is very satisfied with the workflow from old PBX systems to cloud-based services.

“Transitions are always hard for people, even if the old is not perfect, at least you know how it works. We have received a lot of help and support from Telavox. They trained our employees in the system, and if someone wanted a refresher course, it has never been a problem,” says Ulf.

Veterinarian examines a cat
Photographer: Jonatan Fernström

Proactive and committed supplier

Ulf says that the project would have been massive if Telavox hadn’t had such proactive and committed project managers and salespeople who made sure everyone got what they needed – cell phones or even softphones? Which technical solutions are suitable for each clinic? What is the Wi-Fi network like?

“We have saved a lot of time as I did not have to be the driving force in the projects. Telavox has taken care of that. We have instead been able to devote ourselves to strategy and being good buyers. All 45 clinics had to be contacted and onboarded. We could only say to our Project Manager, Morgan Arnhed, that now it’s time for Södertälje. Then he called the clinic manager, asked the right questions and reported back to us,” says Ulf.

 

The result

Since AniCura switched to Telavox, Ulf says they have saved considerable amounts of money and time.

“I estimate that we have reduced our telephony costs by about 30%,” says Ulf.

There are no intermediaries

Ulf appreciates that Telavox develops everything itself and can therefore be more flexible towards customers.

“It’s great that we can have a dialog with the actual performer without any intermediaries. When I visited Telavox, I got to talk directly to the development department. The integration possibility is important to us. For example, being able to integrate with our medical record systems with the Telavox app. At the moment we don’t have any purpose-built integrations, but I know it’s possible,” says Ulf.

Their personal Project Manager also gives them tips on how to meet customers’ needs.

“I had a discussion with our Project Manager, Morgan. How can we use the statistics tool to plan staffing? Are there many calls during a long weekend? How long are the calls? We use all this data to make sure we have the right number of people on site to meet our customers’ needs,” says Ulf.

Saved both money and time

Ulf can highly recommend Telavox to other companies.

“We are very satisfied. We have received a solution tailored to our requirements. When we compared suppliers, Telavox was a much smaller investment. Not only in dollars and cents, but also in time and effort. The innovation is impressive and there is an open interface with great potential. In addition, Telavox is committed to our business and wants us to save as much money as possible through flexible contracts and more.”

Morgan Arnhed

Morgan Arnhed, Project Manager at Telavox

“The entire AniCura project has been very exciting and above all challenging from day one. After a relatively long process with many clinics and start-ups, it is incredibly satisfying to see that the whole of AniCura is gathered under one and the same solution. All the hospitals, clinics and contact persons I have been in contact with have been extremely engaging and excited to finally get a unified cloud exchange. And now it is finally a reality and it makes me extremely happy because I know that this will significantly facilitate the everyday life of AniCura’s employees.”

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