After the success of projects at their Barnsley and Barking branches, Ford Online once again approached Sound Reduction Systems Ltd (SRS) to help reduce reverberation and noise within their call centre at Fort Dunlop near Birmingham.
Like many busy call centres and offices, noise became a problem when a number of telephone operators were speaking to customers at the same time. Excessive reverberation resulted communication problems for both parties as employees had to raise their voice effort to speak over the noise and customers struggled to hear the speaker.
The acoustic problem at Fort Dunlop, in part, was caused by the presence of highly reflective surfaces within the call centre, such as the exposed and painted concrete soffit and walls, as well a lack of acoustically absorbent finishes or furnishings.
SRS Director Richard Sherwood MIOA visited the call centre to carry out a site survey and subsequently worked closely with Ford’s Estates Surveyor, Paul Coulson, to ensure that the solution proposed was practical, viable, and fell within the budget available for the works.
SRS supplied bespoke sized Sonata Aurio absorbers to be bonded to existing desk-dividers, and ceiling suspended Sonata Vario absorbers. The ‘Indigo’ colour of the Sonata Aurio panels fitted nicely with Ford’s distinctive blue branding whilst the ‘White’ fabric finish was used for the suspended Vario panels to help them to blend in to the background.
In total over 40m2 of SRS Sonata acoustic panels were installed within the call centre, the work being done out of office hours by one of our expert fitters to avoid any disruption to business activities.
The results have been both visually and acoustically stunning. Lee Basham, Head of Sales for FordRetailOnline.co.uk comments:
"The difference was amazing – you could notice the difference straight-away. In the main office, where the agents are located the echo has all but disappeared. We haven’t had any feedback from customers yet but when listening to call recordings you can really notice the difference in background noise!"
If you have a noisy/reverberant call centre, or any other kind of room, and would like to discuss acoustic solutions please do not hesitate to give us a call on 01204 380074 or email us at info@soundreduction.co.uk
