As thousands of cyclists gear themselves up for the CapeArgus/Pick n Pay Cycle Tour on Sunday, 14 March in Cape Town, they will have the added comfort of knowing that a sophisticated call centre will be up and running on the day to ensure medical attention will be efficiently dispensed and any emergencies handled effectively and with speed.
Grintek Telecom has been appointed one of the official technology partners for the Cape Argus/Pick n Pay Cycle Tour and supplied the call centre with its core equipment.
The call centre - which is situated at Greenpoint stadium, the control centre of the tour, will allow cyclists to call for medical assistance or find out registration details before and on the day of the race.
Says Steve Cannoo, regional operations manager at Grintek Telecom in Cape Town: "Grintek Telecom has supplied emergency and medical call centres that operate nationwide with our PABX solutions and this was an ideal opportunity to ensure the Cycle Tour organisation has access to the latest and most technologically advanced equipment for this event."
Grintek Telecom supplied Nortel's Meridian 11c PABX with 50 telephone extensions and 12 Telkom trunks. The company also provided a computer telephony server, including Nortel Symposium call centre server, and telephone management software and server. A wallboard and wallboard server were included to provide a display for call centre applications.
Grintek Telecom will also have two engineers on site in the event of support or maintenance.
The calls to the call centre will be recorded, time-stamped and allocated an identification number, which is logged onto a database. This is necessary as a caller might not be able to re-establish contact with the call centre if his or her call is disconnected. It will also provide the opportunity to verify details that were communicated and recorded.
A distributed network of emergency vehicles with satellite tracking will be situated at various places on the route and will be contactable via the call centre, ensuring that the nearest vehicle to an emergency is dispatched. These vehicles, as well as race marshals, will be able to contact the call centre to provide feedback with regards to traffic jams, accidents and any disturbance that could affect the cyclists. Keeping the call centre up to date with this information will provide cyclists and callers with the necessary details to establish problem areas of the cycle route.
Says Denzil Ulyate, procurement manager for the Cape Town Cycle Tour Trust, owners of the race: "Grintek Telecom has allowed us access to computer telephony integration with an integrated voice service that will facilitate a better call centre service for callers. The welfare of all participating cyclists is paramount to our organisation and Grintek Telecom has greatly assisted us with this leading-edge technology solution."
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Grintek Telecom, a division of JSE-listed Grintek Ltd, is one of SA's leading empowerment ICT solutions and integration companies. Grintek Telecom provides tailored and innovative ICT solutions, from initial project and business requirement consulting, through to implementation, integration and ongoing support.
The company's ICT solutions have been implemented in more than 500 top South African companies and it provides solutions, services and maintenance in 23 African countries. Over 25 international vendors have selected Grintek Telecom as their local service provider and partner.