Case Studies > Web Application Delivery for Call Center eCRM

Web Application Delivery for Call Center eCRM

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Region

America

Country

United States

Product

A10 Networks Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
A10 Networks aVCS™ Virtual Chassis System
A10’s 64-bit Advanced Core Operating System (ACOS)

Tech Stack

SQL Databases
Symmetric Multi-Processing (SMP) Architecture
Layer 7 Health Checks

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Cost Savings
Productivity Improvements
Customer Satisfaction

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Visualization
Networks & Connectivity - Network Management & Analysis Software

Applicable Industries

Telecommunications
E-Commerce
Professional Service

Applicable Functions

Business Operation
Sales & Marketing

Services

System Integration
Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
Testing & Certification

About The Customer

USA 800 is the largest employee-owned contact center in the United States, known for its exceptional growth and scalability. The company has experienced double-digit growth over the past five years, necessitating the expansion of its Raytown headquarters and the addition of 150 new agent workstations. USA 800 specializes in managing inbound calls for various industries, offering services such as customer care, sales, and lead acquisition. The company operates three contact centers, each handling inbound contacts for over 150 partners. With a workforce of approximately 800 employees, USA 800 relies on its web-based eCRM platform for eCommerce, customer care, and order processing. The company's distributed network utilizes local eCRM applications and SQL databases on the backend, ensuring efficient and effective operations.

The Challenge

USA 800, the largest employee-owned contact center in the US, experienced double-digit growth over the past five years. This growth necessitated scalable technology solutions to handle the increased demand, including expanding its headquarters and adding 150 additional agent workstations. The company specializes in managing inbound calls for various industries, providing services such as customer care, sales, and lead acquisition. With three contact centers handling inbound contacts for over 150 partners, USA 800 relies heavily on its web-based eCRM platform for eCommerce, customer care, and order processing. Forecasting a record 2008 holiday shopping season, USA 800 needed to add high-performance server load balancing functionality to ensure all orders could be processed quickly and on time. Key business drivers for purchasing a new load balancer solution included redundancy and disaster recovery to meet the increased demands during the holiday season.

The Solution

After researching multiple load balancing solutions, USA 800 chose A10 Networks Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) and deployed them near the end of October 2008, just in time for the holiday shopping season. The A10 ADC managed capacity flawlessly, helping USA 800 experience its most successful holiday season ever. The A10 ADC's scalable SMP architecture handles heavy traffic periods with ease, utilizing multiple CPUs without unnecessary overhead. This results in faster application performance, particularly for USA 800's eCRM platform. Additionally, the A10 ADC provides advanced Layer 7 health checks and high availability, ensuring users receive the fastest session and that servers, applications, and databases are operational before connecting to a backend session. The price/performance ratio of the A10 ADC was also a significant factor, delivering exceptional performance at half the price of alternative solutions. With all required features included without additional licensing fees, USA 800 achieved the best cost/benefit equation from the A10 ADC.

Operational Impact

The deployment of the A10 ADC in USA 800's data centers reduced costs, accelerated the user experience, and ensured a scalable solution for future growth.
The A10 ADC's scalable SMP architecture allowed USA 800 to handle heavy traffic periods with capacity to spare, preventing system failures.
Advanced Layer 7 health checks provided by the A10 ADC ensured that servers, applications, and databases were operational before connecting users to backend sessions.
The price/performance ratio of the A10 ADC delivered exceptional performance metrics at half the price of alternative load balancing solutions.
The A10 ADC's comprehensive feature set and flexible virtualization technologies supported public, private, and hybrid cloud environments, enhancing infrastructure efficiency and end-user experience.

Quantitative Benefit

USA 800 added 150 additional agent workstations to handle increased demand.
The A10 ADC deployment contributed to USA 800's most successful holiday season in its history.
The A10 ADC delivered exceptional performance at half the price of alternative load balancing solutions.