New dataforest hotline: A new approach to availability
In times of increasing digitization, personal contact remains an indispensable part of our support. We have used the upcoming conversion of our telephone system as a welcome opportunity to completely rethink our telephone availability and to equip it with modern technologies.
Time for the next development step
With the announcement from our previous provider that the existing telephone system would be switched off in the foreseeable future, we had the opportunity to fundamentally modernize our hotline system. This gave us the opportunity to design various processes from scratch while making full use of current technical options.
When planning our new solution, we paid particular attention to flexibility when forwarding to mobile phones, improved organization of on-call services and greater independence when making system adjustments. In addition, we now benefit from a larger support team on the provider side, which significantly increases reliability and quality of support.
Innovative approaches instead of conventional solutions
Implementing a powerful hotline system is more technically demanding than you would initially expect. After thorough market analysis, we have opted for one of the most advanced telephone systems currently available. “Our goal was clear: We not only wanted to remain available around the clock in an emergency, but also to create real improvements for everyone involved,” explains Jens Hummert, who was responsible for implementing the new hotline solution.
At the heart of our new solution are call group chains, which enable significantly more flexible management of incoming calls. These replace the classic queue concept and allow transfers to a variety of physical and virtual devices, which can be flexibly controlled by our employees themselves at any time.
A particular advantage of the new solution: Our employees now have significantly more flexibility when it comes to arranging their availability. They can decide for themselves when and on which devices they want to be available for calls. This means, for example, that on-call services are no longer unintentionally disrupted after their shift, which ultimately also benefits the quality of our support. “What we now have is a system that brings tangible added value for both our employees and our customers — shorter waiting times, more flexible availability and overall more professional processing,” summarizes Hummert.
Customer-focused improvements
For our customers, the new solution primarily means shorter effective waiting times. If our supporters cannot be reached, unnecessary queues are now avoided and instead offered to leave a structured message, which is immediately forwarded to our support team — during normal support hours via a ticket, in emergency support times, in addition by directly alerting our readiness. We are clearly committed to calling you back immediately if you miss a call — as an alternative, email contact is also available.
We have also implemented intelligent announcements that specifically guide our customers to the right solution for them. In this way, callers receive helpful information even before the call — for example on our status page in case of possible faults or on the ticket system for specific concerns. This saves everyone involved time and ensures that customers get the information they need more quickly.
Well-thought-out transition for seamless service
To ensure a smooth transition, we have introduced the new system in parallel with the existing one. The previous solution will continue to be available as a fallback throughout the transition phase — with the aim that our customers are as unaware as possible of the changeover and can reliably contact them at any time.
Extensive testing was particularly important to us, in particular of so-called “edge cases” — unusual or extreme scenarios that rarely occur but still need to be reliably covered.
We are convinced that this change represents another important step towards keeping our service at the highest level and continuously improving it — in the interests of our customers and our team.
Important notice for our customers
As a result of the changeover, the previous Essen telephone number (0201 85793801) is no longer active. For all inquiries, please use our current hotline number, which can be found as usual on our website find.