The Aquilini Group
The Aquilini Group is a diversified group operating in sectors such as real estate, hotels, restaurants, sports and entertainment, agriculture and technology. Founded by Luigi Aquilini, the company has evolved over the decades to become a key player in the Canadian economic landscape, creating thousands of jobs and continually investing in the future of our beautiful country.
With such a vast, multi-sectoral structure, communication between the various divisions is essential to ensure effective coordination and fluid management of operations. Yannick Desbiens, Vice-President of the Montreal division, recently turned to XMA Solutions to modernize their telephone infrastructure and improve the fluidity and efficiency of their communications.
In this case study, we'll explore the challenges they faced with their old phone system, the motivations that led the Aquilini Group to adopt VoIP with XMA Solutions, and the benefits they achieved as a result of this transition.
What's VoIP?
VoIP (Voice over IP) is a technology that enables telephone calls to be made using the Internet rather than traditional telephone lines. Unlike traditional systems that rely on a complex physical infrastructure, VoIP offers greater flexibility, enabling employees to make and receive calls from any connected device, be it an IP phone, PC or mobile. In addition to reducing maintenance and operating costs, VoIP integrates advanced features such as call recording, intelligent voicemail, automated call transfer and simplified extension management. For companies like the Aquilini Group, which need to ensure fluid communication between several divisions, this technology represents a real efficiency booster.
Issues and challenges before VoIP
Before adopting VoIP, the Aquilini Group used traditional telephony systems, such as Bell lines and Nortel equipment. Although these technologies had served the company well in the past, they no longer met its growing needs, particularly in terms of flexibility and efficient communications management.
Firstly, the system required service calls to make changes, and technicians had to be sent to offices to intervene, slowing down operations.
Wondering what kind of change required an on-site technician?
- Modification of the phone tree
- Addition or removal of extensions in the tree structure
- Changing voice messages in IVR (Interactive Voice Response)
- Addition or removal of individual voice mailboxes
- Modification of telephone line access permissions
- Configuration or modification of call forwarding
- Reassignment of a telephone line to a new employee
- Updating opening hours in the telephone system
And the list goes on! Today, it's unthinkable to have to wait for a technician for these routine tasks. This rigidity led to unnecessary delays and productivity losses.
Another major challenge was call management. With traditional telephony, call management options are rudimentary: manual call transfer, classic voicemail and a few options for redirecting calls. This posed three major challenges for the Aquilini Group: the increased risk of missed calls, which made follow-up more difficult; the lack of advanced features, which made it difficult to activate out-of-office messages; and the redirection of calls outside office hours. In addition, the lack of overall control over communications led to internal frustration and uneven service quality.
Finally, the need to track communications was also a pressing requirement, for a number of reasons. Firstly, it's a particularly interesting feature when it comes to legal obligations, such as those related to the Tribunal administratif du logement (formerly the Régie du logement), for example. As a property manager, the Aquilini Group must comply with the regulations of the Tribunal administratif du logement. When a dispute arises between a tenant and a landlord, it is often necessary to provide evidence of communications between the two parties. Secondly, in terms of customer service, the ability to listen in on calls is golden. The ability to listen to calls was not available with their old system, which prevented them from being as proactive as they wanted.
In short, the need to modernize the telephone infrastructure was obvious: improving operational efficiency while guaranteeing better quality of service and substantial financial gains.
Meeting with XMA Solutions
The Aquilini Group's VoIP project was initiated by XMA Solutions' prospecting efforts. Nathaniel VanDerWerff, Director of our IT division, was well aware of the telecom challenges that an organization of this size could face, in all the industries covered by the Aquilini Group. After making initial contact with a member of the team, the discussion was quickly escalated to Yannick. ''I'd already worked with VoIP at another company and knew that this transition was unavoidable in the near future of the Aquilini Group. It was really great timing, Nathaniel's approach accelerated the project''.
The post-pandemic context of 2022 also played a key role in this decision. With numerous vacancies and a growing concern for optimizing business opportunities, the Aquilini Group wanted to ensure that no leads were lost. The timing was therefore ideal, and this necessity further accelerated the decision-making process.
Before entrusting us with the project, the Aquilini Group considered another supplier, but one crucial factor weighed in the balance: our local service. Unlike many companies that outsource their customer service internationally, XMA Solutions offers a fully Quebec-based service, with a bilingual team able to respond effectively in both French and English. For the Aquilini Group, avoiding the complications and frustrations associated with the language barrier was essential, guaranteeing fluid communication and local support.
The implementation went smoothly and efficiently, enabling the Aquilini Group to quickly adopt their new VoIP solution. The phones were delivered already coded by office number and line number, which greatly facilitated installation. “It was really, really simple. We just had to plug them in and do the training.” Since then, they've had a few service calls to adjust certain functionalities and manage access requests, and each time they've been very well served. Their satisfaction is testament to the wise choice they made in working with XMA Solutions.
Results and Benefits
The switch to VoIP marked a major transformation for the Aquilini Group, resolving several critical issues identified prior to implementation. In terms of customer service, the difference is incomparable: call management is now smoother, faster and more efficient, improving the overall experience for tenants and partners alike.
In terms of adding functionality and managing calls, VoIP has delivered several key improvements:
Cascading calls - Reduce missed calls and improve follow-up. In an emergency, they can always answer, even if the first person contacted is unavailable.
Call recording - A major asset for compliance and service improvement. This has enabled them to have accurate transcripts to meet the requirements of the Tribunal administratif du logement.
Intelligent routing - Automatic redirection of calls to the right department or person, minimizing lost leads and maximizing business opportunities.
Queues and call forwarding - Better organization of customer service to avoid bottlenecks and ensure smooth service.
Call scheduling - Automatic activation of out-of-office hours messages or call redirection, ensuring optimum availability.
And the best part - a rarity these days - is that with the addition of all these features, the biggest benefit for the Aquilini Group has been the savings they've made. Before VoIP, they had over 20 phone lines. Thanks to XMA Solutions' expertise, they were able to optimize their infrastructure and reduce this number to around ten lines, by intelligently grouping their needs. In the real estate industry, certain traditional lines remain mandatory (e.g. alarm system, elevator line, etc.), and XMA Solutions helped them to inventory and rationalize their resources, enabling them to generate significant savings.
But beyond direct costs, another key benefit lies in the impact on lead generation. With traditional telephony, a misdirected or missed call could easily translate into a lost opportunity. Today, thanks to intelligent routing and optimized call systems, every lead is efficiently routed to the right person, guaranteeing a better conversion rate. In a competitive market such as real estate, every missed call can represent lost revenue - a figure difficult to quantify, but one whose impact is undeniable.
In short, call efficiency and optimization translate directly into business opportunities - a reality well understood by the Aquilini Group, which is now taking full advantage of its new VoIP infrastructure.
Satisfaction
When the Aquilini Group was asked if they were satisfied with their experience with XMA Solutions and if they would recommend our service to other companies, the answer was without hesitation: absolutely.
The process, from start to finish, was smooth and seamless. The onboarding was simple and efficient, the handling exemplary, and above all, there were no nasty surprises. No hidden costs, no unforeseen complications-just a seamless, well-orchestrated experience.
Yannick sums it up perfectly: “I'd recommend XMA Solutions to any company that, like me at the start of the process, knows what it needs. Explain what you need, then let the team do its job. For us, it went super smoothly.”
Thanks to this collaboration, the Aquilini Group now benefits from an optimized, high-performance telephone solution tailored to its needs, while having experienced a hassle-free implementation.
