Camden Group is the UK’s and Ireland’s largest manufacturer of uPVC windows and doors. Established in 1983, the family-owned business employs more than 650 people across its manufacturing facilities in Antrim and trade centres throughout England.

With multiple locations, large numbers of employees and continuous manufacturing operations, effective communication is essential to keeping the business running efficiently.

To support its continued growth, Camden Group needed to modernise its communications infrastructure and replace an ageing telephone system that was becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to maintain.

 

The Challenge

Camden Group was operating an ageing on-premises PBX telephone system that no longer met the needs of the business.

As the system became older, support challenges increased and the costs associated with maintaining the platform continued to rise.

As Gary Agnew explained:

“Prior to Camden’s relationship with Barclay Communications, we had an ageing PBX system which was hosted internally. The costs of running this system were spiralling out of control and, due to its obsolescence, it was becoming more and more difficult to support.”

The business required a modern communications platform that would:

• Reduce ongoing telephony costs
• Connect multiple locations seamlessly
• Support future growth and scalability
• Provide greater system visibility and reporting
• Be implemented with minimal disruption to operations

With manufacturing sites operating 24 hours a day, the migration also needed to be carefully planned to avoid impacting production or productivity.

 

The Barclay Solution

After assessing Camden Group’s requirements, Barclay Communications recommended a cloud-hosted VoIP solution built on the Gamma Horizon platform.

The new system provided a modern and scalable communications environment, allowing employees across multiple locations to communicate seamlessly through a single cloud-based platform.

The solution included:

• Gamma Horizon Cloud Hosted VoIP
• Connectivity between multiple business locations
• Easy user administration and scalability
• Akixi call reporting and analytics
• Dedicated project management
• Ongoing support and account management

Moving to a cloud-based environment gave Camden Group the flexibility to add or remove users quickly and efficiently, removing many of the limitations associated with its previous PBX platform.

The business also gained access to advanced call reporting functionality through Akixi, providing valuable insight into communication performance and customer service metrics, including:

• Call waiting times
• Inbound and outbound call volumes
• Call durations
• Team performance data
• Operational trends and reporting

Throughout the project, Barclay Communications assigned a dedicated Project Manager to oversee the implementation and ensure a smooth transition.

Gary Agnew noted:

“Barclay Communications gave me the confidence to move to a cloud-based system. We currently have 150 members of staff using the new Gamma Horizon system.”

 

Business Outcomes

The move to a cloud-hosted VoIP system delivered significant operational improvements for Camden Group.

Despite operating manufacturing facilities around the clock, the migration was completed with minimal disruption thanks to extensive planning, testing and project management.

The system was built and tested in advance of deployment, allowing potential issues to be identified and resolved before the final migration took place.

Since moving to the new platform, Camden Group has benefited from:

• Reduced reliance on legacy telecoms infrastructure
• Improved scalability and flexibility
• Better visibility through advanced call reporting
• Simplified administration and user management
• Improved collaboration between locations
• Zero downtime since implementation

Perhaps most importantly, the business was able to modernise its communications without impacting production or staff productivity.

As Gary explained:

“Thanks to the diligent planning and support we received on migration day, we had minimal downtime and no loss to production or staff productivity.”

 

Customer Testimonial

“We have had zero downtime since moving to the new system and I’ve been given the tools to manage everything I need to in Horizon.

Barclays support team and dedicated account manager are very knowledgeable on the system and have always been able to help or offer advice when we have needed it.

Early in the process we were assigned a Project Manager who, at every step of the way, guided us from planning through to delivery of the system.”

Gary Agnew
Camden Group