Active Engineering

Being locally based meant Business Hub Account Manager Varun Sharma could visit Active Engineering and regularly communicate one-on-one to better understand their business needs. As a result, he turned a complex challenge into a simple solution which has really gotten their ICT up to speed.

After almost 25 years in business, Active Engineering Ltd have built a solid reputation for being the team you call when you’ve got a highly technical engineering challenge. But until recently, calling them had become a bit of a challenge in itself.

Newly appointed Operations Manager Michael Neville recalls the frustration. “We had a really old PABX system and we were trying to get twinning working, so it rings mobiles at the same time it rings the phones. But as we were on analog lines, the call quality and volume would drop so much you could barely hear them!”

It wasn’t an ideal situation, especially when you’re trying to relay micrometre precise measurements. So Michael called on the knowledge and expertise of his local Spark Business Hub Account Manager, Varun Sharma, to come and meet them, talk about the issues they were experiencing and suggest some options to replace their antiquated setup.

“I just explained our problems to Varun and he came back with awesome solutions. He talked us through the different options of how we could do it and the advantages and disadvantages of each. So it was super easy for me, and then it was just done. He organised it all, sent me a few emails to sign a few things and that was it.”

Being locally based meant that Varun instantly knew that fibre was now available in the area. So he recommended an upgrade from copper to get the business up to speed. And, as Varun explains, that meant they could upgrade to a VOIP system which opened up a world of benefits for the business. “It’s definitely helping them now as they have more channels to receive more calls, whereas previously they could only receive 2-3 calls at the same time. So they were missing a lot of opportunities from not being able to pick up each call.”

In particular, replacing the copper ended up having a big effect on the bottom line. “With their existing analog set up they were paying a higher rental, and a higher rate on calls as well” explains Varun. “But by giving him the right product, we opened up the option of a cheaper plan with cheaper rates. And the new plan is very easy, he can add on new lines or disconnect things very quickly over the phone.”

Inspired by their success with the fixed line service, Michael and Varun have now revamped the businesses mobiles. “We unified our mobile platform so we’re all on the same group share plan, which gives us more data and free calling between the office and all the guys. Michael says that helps keep the costs down, and it’s a fixed monthly cost so it’s easy to budget for and there’s no, or very little, overage charges.

Now Active Engineering are up to date when it comes to ICT technology, Michael has got his eyes firmly set on the future. “We’ve done a lot of technology upgrades in the first year I’ve been here. The next phase is to expand. I want more engineers which is going to mean more tablets, more sim cards, more phones and more phone lines. So no doubt we’ll be growing our relationship with the Hub as the business grows.”