About Dixons Carphone plc
Dixons Carphone plc is Europe’s leading specialist electrical and telecommunications retailer and services company, employing over 42,000 people in eight countries. Dixons Carphone’s primary brands include Currys PC World and Carphone Warehouse in the UK & Ireland.
With a full range of services and support, they make it easy for their customers to discover, choose and enjoy the right technology for them, throughout the life of the product.
The Relationship
We began working with Dixons International in 2001 when Amillan was chosen to provide a corporate telephony solution. Over time, Amillan became more involved in the business and introduced new technologies and solutions to DSG as their business grew and expanded across the UK and into Europe.
Today, Amillan provides the voice infrastructure which supports the following:
– 700 Currys PC World stores
– 17 administration sites
– 3,000 agent contact centre
– 22,000 users
Support is provided 24×7 as part of a managed services contract and Amillan operates a branded help desk for stores personnel to assist them in the day-to-day running of their retail outlets.
Extensive Infrastructure Imagination Technologies
By Amillan Enabling Innovation at Global Scale
Imagination Technologies is one of the world’s leading semiconductor and software design companies. Its processors and graphics IP sit at the heart of products we all use every day – from smartphones and laptops to car infotainment systems, digital radios, and game consoles. Though often behind the scenes, Imagination’s technology powers experiences for global brands such as Apple, Sony, and NVIDIA.
With a workforce of over 2,000 specialists spread across the UK, Europe, Asia, and beyond, Imagination operates at the cutting edge of design and simulation. Their engineers don’t just consume IT services – they push technology to its limits, running simultaneous high-value projects for multiple global customers, all of whom demand absolute protection of their intellectual property.
Meeting these demands requires more than a traditional network. It requires a resilient, secure, and agile platform capable of enabling advanced design and simulation at global scale.
For more than a decade, Amillan has been Imagination’s chosen partner, trusted to deliver this platform and to evolve it continuously as the business grows.
The Challenge
Imagination’s requirements went far beyond a conventional infrastructure refresh. They needed:
The Solutions
Amillan designed and delivered a modular, flexible, and highly resilient infrastructure for Imagination, encompassing:
The Results
The partnership has delivered outcomes far beyond that of purely infrastructure projects:
Customer Testimonials
“Amillan aren’t just a supplier – they are an extension of our team. From carefully planned global rollouts to last-minute requests that demand something extraordinary in days, they consistently rise to the challenge. Their combination of deep technical expertise, agility, and genuine collaboration makes them an invaluable partner. Amillan gives us the confidence to innovate at speed, scale securely, and focus on pushing the boundaries of design.”
— Quote from Paul Alexander, Imagination Technologies
“Working with Imagination Technologies isn’t about building a standard IT network – it’s about enabling one of the world’s most advanced design environments. Their emulator grid, global teams, and stringent IP protection requirements operate on a scale few companies could even attempt to manage. What makes this partnership unique is the trust and agility between us. The synergy between Amillan and Imagination Technologies, combined with a modular architecture of active network, management, and cabling systems, allows us to adapt dynamically to evolving business needs. The result is resilient service, higher efficiency, and measurable revenue impact. Amillan has become an extension of their team – helping them innovate faster and more securely across the globe”
— Quote Nigel Cowie, Technology Solutions Architect, Amillan Limited
Why Amillan?
This case study shows more than technical capability – it shows what true partnership can achieve.
Amillan has supported Imagination Technologies through multiple generations of growth and transformation, enabling one of the world’s most advanced semiconductor innovators to design faster, collaborate securely, and scale globally.
Few organisations can claim to deliver enterprise-class networks for customers of this calibre, under conditions where time is literally worth millions. Amillan can.
About Trent & Dove Housing
Trent & Dove Housing offers well maintained, affordable homes across East Staffordshire, South Derbyshire and North West Leicestershire. This includes 6,000 properties, ranging from sheltered accommodation to family homes and everything in between.
Trent & Dove housing are driven to make a difference in people’s lives and reduce homelessness in the region. Their aspiration is to be an organisation of over 10,000 homes by 2022. By providing affordable homes and a wide range of supporting services they enable people and communities to thrive and enjoy life.
The housing association identified a need for improved reporting from its telephony system to ensure the organisation delivers the services that it offers to its clients. This included peak-time staffing of phones, extended service hours, outbound calling and ‘first point of contact’ resolution. In addition, a new LAN solution was required by Trent & Dove Housing, to both support the communication solution and protect against system failures that would result in SLA failures for the housing association.
The Solution
Amillan implemented Unified Communications and Contact Centre platform with a total of 213 users and 20 contact centre agents, and a replacement LAN solution to support it. The Unified Communications solution provides a call distribution system operating across all sites by routing calls to the first available qualified staff member in the shortest time.
Amillan also replaced Trent & Dove Housing’s multiple telephony systems with a single solution distributed across all sites, which provided a platform to support hot-desking, home working, remote contact centre agents, audio and video conferencing. The solution also gave the housing association a single, centralised management system for their communication platform.
The LAN solution provided abundant network bandwidth for voice, data and UC, with the additional requirement to support video over IP. Amillan designed and implemented a network that is resilient so in the event of an appliance failure, the fibre route will be maintained, and Trent & Dove Housing’s SLAs will not be affected.
After just three months of the system going live, Trent & Dove Housing reported a 50% reduction in time taken to answer calls; from 45 seconds to just 22 seconds. In addition, the average call length was reduced by 25%, helping Trent & Dove achieve their objective of faster call resolution. This improvement in answering time also reduced the abandoned call rate from 25% previously, to 8% on the new solution.
Amillan’s solution also provided a reduction in costs for Trent & Dove Housing. With the single system replacing multiple legacy systems, the ongoing maintenance costs were greatly reduced. The rationalised solution provided Trent & Dove Housing with a central management system which reduced operational costs and simplified the administration of the communications system.
“We selected Amillan’s solution on the basis of the wealth of features the solution provides, which we felt would increase our levels of customer service and boost the productivity of our staff.”
About Halfords
Halfords is the UK’s leading retailer in car maintenance, car enhancement and leisure, including cycles, accessories and outdoor leisure equipment. It differentiates itself through its national store portfolio, a broad range of products, competitive pricing, a fitting service for products sold, customer service and a strong brand. There are also over 460 stores across the UK with a number of sites also extending across Europe.
Halfords were undertaking a store refurbishment program to keep stores looking fresh and modern and to help attract new customers from the growing number of car and cycle enthusiasts.
Halfords wanted to replace telephone systems with a single vendor solution for all refurbished stores whilst maintaining the systems of older stores. A secure broadband connection was required in all stores was also required to manage energy systems, in order to reduce running costs and make stores more economical.
The Solution
Amillan provided a range of solutions and services to Halfords to address the communications and infrastructure challenges in the business.
As stores were refurbished, Amillan implemented the latest in IP telephony to replace existing systems, standardising them across the UK. This allowed stores to be more easily managed and administrate centrally.
In addition to this, Amillan also installed broadband at 80 sites to support Halfords’ energy management system. Providing the full range of communications and infrastructure allowed Amillan to help Halfords make the full use of their technology.
To ensure Halfords with the piece of mind that systems would continue to work smoothly, Amillan also provided maintenance for all telephone systems. This was made possible by Amillan’s high level of skills and expertise of its engineers.
“Our relationship with Amillan has allowed us to make a gradual migration to new telephony solutions while protecting our investment in existing systems. We work in true partnership and Amillan take a proactive approach in our business, suggesting ways in which we can enhance our performance with better communications.”
Unified Communications – James Cropper
By Amillan Limited, Your Trusted Managed Services Provider
James Cropper is a globally recognised manufacturer of advanced materials and specialist paper products, based in the UK with operations spanning over 50 countries. With a strong reputation for innovation, sustainability, and quality, the business supports sectors ranging from luxury packaging to aerospace composites. Amillan has extensive experience working in the manufacturing vertical, with a deep understanding of the sector’s specific communication challenges and operational requirements.
The Challenge
As James Cropper continued its innovation-led growth strategy, the company required a robust and flexible communications platform that could support collaboration across multiple global locations. Their legacy systems
lacked scalability and did not offer the level of integration or visibility needed to support modern workflows—particularly in support of their R&D and international client engagement teams.
The Solution
Amillan delivered a comprehensive, fully managed Unified Communications and infrastructure solution designed to meet James Cropperʼs multi-site, high-security, and safety-critical requirements. The deployment combined state-of-the-art IP telephony, collaboration tools, mobility services, and resilient data networking into a single, integrated environment. A cornerstone of the project was the consultative design and deployment of James Cropperʼs LAN and WLAN infrastructure. During the pre-consultative exercise, Amillan carried out a full wireless profile of the busy manufacturing site, identifying potential sources of interference and developing a bespoke design tailored to the operational environment.
This approach ensured that the deployed solution could:
Amillan successfully implemented a new enterprise data networking solution at the main UK campus, delivered on time and within budget. Building on this success, Amillan supported the expansion of the LAN and WLAN infrastructure to remote sites worldwide, creating a consistent, secure, and scalable global network environment.
Key Elements of the Solution
Data Network Infrastructure
This approach ensured that the deployed solution could:
Amillan successfully implemented a new enterprise data networking solution at the main UK campus, delivered on time and within budget. Building on this success, Amillan supported the expansion of the LAN and WLAN infrastructure to remote sites worldwide, creating a consistent, secure, and scalable global network environment.
Cabling Infrastructure
A high-availability telephony core was deployed using a virtualised architecture, providing redundancy, scalability, and future-proofing for James Cropperʼs expanding global operations.
Resilient Virtualised Unified Communications Platform
A high-availability telephony core was deployed using a virtualised architecture, providing redundancy, scalability, and future-proofing for James Cropperʼs expanding global operations.
Full IP Telephony Across All Locations
Modern IP handsets and soft clients replaced the legacy systems, delivering consistent call quality, centralised management, and the flexibility to adapt to different working environments.
UCaaS and CPaaS With Microsoft Teams Integration
A UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) platform was deployed as a softphone and a CPaaS ( Collaboration Platform as a Service), offering presence, instant messaging, audio, and video capabilities. Partial integration with Microsoft Teams ensured a seamless user experience for employees already working within the Microsoft 365 environment.
Full-Site DECT Coverage
Wireless DECT infrastructure provided robust site-wide mobility, enabling employees to stay connected across manufacturing floors, warehouses, and office spaces with guaranteed voice quality.
Man-Down Services For Lone Workers and Hazardous Areas
Specialist DECT handsets with man-down functionality were introduced to safeguard lone workers and staff operating in potentially dangerous areas, automatically triggering alerts in the event of falls or inactivity.
Deployment and Support
Amillan carried out a full network readiness assessment before implementation, ensuring the infrastructure could support the increased demands of voice, video, and mobility services. Post-deployment, Amillan provided comprehensive user training and continues to deliver 24/7 proactive monitoring and support, giving James Cropper centralised visibility, operational resilience, and peace of mind.
Benefits Delivered
Customer Testimonials
“The support from Amillan has transformed the way we collaborate across global teams. Their understanding of our sector and proactive support model has been key to the smooth rollout and ongoing success of our communications strategy”
— Quote from Alistair Belshaw, IT infrastructure & Security Manager, James Cropper
“Working with an innovation-led manufacturer like James Cropper is a perfect fit for our approach. Our goal was to deliver a secure, scalable platform that supports their collaborative workflows and future growth.”
— Quote from Darren Greally, Account, Sales Director, Amillan
About Futures Housing
Futures Housing Group is an innovative business which provides nearly 10,000 affordable homes throughout the East Midlands, owns a social enterprise, a commercial development company and co-owns a further education provider.
FHG provide more than 6,000 homes in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire and more than 5,500 homes in Northamptonshire – but their ambitious business plan includes the development of more than 2,000 homes for rent, homes for sale, shared ownership and private-market rent.
Futures also provides excellent housing and support services for our customers and the local community.
The Project
As a forward-thinking organisation, Futures Housing Group was keen to implement a new communications environment that would not just allow all staff to benefit from cutting edge mobility, collaboration and flexible working capabilities, but also extend multimedia functionality externally to enable better engagement with its customers and partners.
The chosen solution of Microsoft Skype for Business, with integrated Enghouse EICC contact centre enables communication and productivity improvements throughout the organisation via voice, email, instant messaging, video and desktop sharing/collaboration. Customers now have greater choices in how they communicate with Futures Housing, including telephone, e-mail, SMS, live webchat and via social media, supporting the Group’s vision to allow its customers to help shape and develop their products and services.
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