Case Studies

 

London School of Economics

Company:

The London School of Economics is a world class educational institution based in Central London.  Renowned for both teaching and research across a range of topics, the university is also known for its multiplicity and has the highest proportion of international students in the world with 62% of the student body from outside the UK.

Many of these students, particularly the undergraduates, live in residence halls, where calling cards are provided by the university and sold at a reception desk.  The cards play a crucial role to students whose tight budgets restrict their calling habits, but whom also need to stay in touch with family abroad. 

The calling cards recently proved to be an inefficient method for international calls.  Students found the service inconsistent, and that they would constantly lose out on airtime for no apparent reason.  To add to the frustration, there was no customer service channel to deal with queries and problems with the cards.

At this point LSE telephony manager, Robert Lindall contacted Primus seeking a solution to the issue.    

Goal:

LSE wanted to set up an account based system to replace the calling cards.  In this scenario students would call a customer service line and top up their allowance using a card with an account number.  This way records would exist of all the pre-paid long distance credit and the Primus service would be guaranteed. 

Solution:

Primus provided LSE with two Direct Connects that route calls to our network headquarters in Canary Wharf, saving money for the university and improving the call quality.   The pre-paid accounts use the outstanding Digitalk system which recognises the students by their specific extension number, allowing them to maintain a balance of credit and make calls to their liking.  Furthermore, a customer care unit has been established to help students set up accounts and allow top-ups with either credit or debit cards. 

As a result of this Primus built solution, students no longer have to go to reception to buy calling cards, nor do they have to input confusing and lengthy PIN and access numbers.  The dedicated customer and fault lines are readily available to assist with any problems and call quality has been largely improved. 

From a business perspective, Primus also facilitated a promotional campaign to publicise the new system resulting in a very successful response from students and substantial revenue returns for LSE.