Raise a glass to the latest tech

Article written by Joe Newton (Technical Manager at Connexis) for Shropshire Business Magazine.

Tanners Wine Merchants is a very well known and trusted Shropshire business that was founded by William Tanner in Shrewsbury 150 years ago.

Still run by the Tanner family, stepping inside their Grade II listed head office and Cellars Shop is like stepping back in time, in a building steeped in history. Despite the historic surroundings however, Tanners is a forward-looking business embracing new technology to empower them to provide the best possible service to their customers.

In 2020 Tanners started looking for a replacement for their Panasonic telephone system. It had served them well over the years but following Panasonic’s announcement that they are withdrawing from the telephony market, Raise a glass to the latest tech and in preparation for the switch off of ISDN and PSTN services in the UK in 2025, it was time to make the move to an all-IP solution.

Having looked at a variety of platforms, including both on- premise and cloud, the decision was made to move to Wildix. Wildix is the primary Cloud Telephony offering from Connexis, Telford-based communications specialist headed up by Managing Director and founder William Rowland. Wildix is hosted in Amazon Web Services (AWS), and so provides a very reliable foundation for Tanners’ communication needs.

William Rowland said:

“We are delighted to work with such a well-known and respected Shropshire based business” said William, “I am sure that Wildix’s WebRTC technology will make a big difference to the way that they work”.

As well as Shrewsbury, Tanners also has sites in Bridgnorth, Hereford, Chester, Llandudno Junction and Welshpool. Previously these sites each had their own telephone system, or in some cases a single telephone line. Wildix allows for all of the sites to be integrated into one cohesive system, providing internal calling and transfer, overflow of calls between branches, and enabling staff to work any branch, as well as from home and elsewhere.

Tanners experienced minimum disruption when migrating to Wildix. Connexis installed the new phones and Wildix software alongside the existing Panasonic phones, ported the numbers from one system to the other, and then removed and recycled the old phones.

James Tanner, chairman and managing director of Tanners Wines, said:

“As a business, I felt that Connexis’ approach to customer service was very much aligned to our own high standards. Through this project, we have been able to unify communications across sites and to enable our staff to work remotely. We have also realised real world savings compared to our previous telephony arrangements”

To discuss how moving to the cloud could help your business, call Connexis on 01952 528000, or email sales@connexis.co.uk