Village Roadshow Group has worked with Rapid Circle to improve cross-site coordination and enhance stakeholder responsiveness with a modern Microsoft Teams Phone solution, designed and delivered to improve productivity and customer experience.
From operating one of Australia’s first drive-in cinemas in 1954, to becoming the country’s leading entertainment and media companies with 32 sites nation-wide, Village Roadshow is a household name.
Among its vast portfolio of ventures is producing and distributing film, alongside offering Australians experiences in cinema, exhibition, and theme parks, including Sea World and Warner Bros. Movie World.
With an incredibly diverse and dynamic range of brands, Village Roadshow recognised there were inefficiencies and redundancies in its internal communications infrastructure network, which hampered communication within the organisation. It sought to establish a system capable of promoting intelligent and robust communications without the complexity.
Ben Parker, IT Operations Manager at Village Roadshow said that their 15-year-old communications infrastructure was not only requiring cumbersome daily restarts, but their handsets operated on six different PABX systems.
“This complex, legacy environment was costly to maintain, and it wasn’t conducive to providing a reliable service,” said Parker. “Our strategic partnership with Rapid Circle came together to improve and streamline the everyday working experience of our staff, introducing Microsoft Teams telephony and a better way to communicate.”
Village Roadshow Group engaged Rapid Circle to replace its legacy platforms, including handsets located at all 32 of Village Roadshow’s cinema sites, introducing Microsoft Teams Phone System to the entire business.
Deploying the Microsoft-powered unified communications platform earned the entertainment organisation a centralised voice, video, and messaging platform. In scenarios where existing platforms could not be replaced, Rapid Circle’s approach ensured tight integration, an example being phones supporting guests in Sea World Resort’s more than 400 apartments.
Parker said that the modern telephony capabilities grant their field, customer service, operations and administrative staff a single phone system, and the ability to make, receive, and transfer calls from anywhere.
“Previously, our main reception phone was so plagued by issues that around half of external callers trying to connect with us were successful. Transfer issues within head office were also a common issue being reported,” added Parker. “We’ve managed to resolve these key issues and more with Rapid Circle, resulting in a better experience for our customers and staff alike”.
George Stavrakakis, managing director for Australia at Rapid Circle, said that, from a reduction in costs associated with IT management, to improved user experience for staff and customers alike, the transformation of Village Roadshow’s telephony infrastructure is supporting its greater efforts to prioritise productivity and safety at every touchpoint.
