Peake Real Estate

Asia Pacific

“You’re caught up in running your business and the telephone accounts are one of the last things you tend to review.”

That included telephony for a second branch opened four years ago in the nearby town of Officer for Peake to run its property management services. While the original PABX installed at Officer was connected to the main office, when the original system was replaced in Berwick, the two PABXs operated as completely separate systems. That meant Peake could no longer transfer calls and had to advertize separate phone numbers for the two branches.

Operational simplification and cost savings

RingEX was recommended as the ideal replacement, providing Peake with an easy-to-use cloud-based telephony service requiring minimal setup costs and no hardware outlay, apart from handsets.

Most of the basic administration of the phone system can be done in-house by Peake’s reception staff. Implementing RingCentral also allowed Peake to connect both branches on the one phone system using its existing broadband connections and dispense with costly separate fixed line telephony services to each location.

While it is still negotiating with its previous telco to cut off a number of legacy services, once these services are discontinued Peake expects to be saving more than 50% on its monthly telephony costs.

Better connections

There are some traditional processes and working practices that will take time to change, says Adams. Agents’ mobile phone numbers are still listed on property signage, and on promotional and marketing materials, so 99% of buyers today ring people’s mobiles. While Peake’s sales team have access to the RingCentral app on their smart phones, most are only picking up transferred calls once they are automatically diverted to their mobile number.

“Over time, we expect our sales team will use the RingCentral app to enhance the way they are communicating and connecting with their clients and colleagues,” said Adams.