Ferguson unified its customer engagement across local and centralized locations on the Genesys Cloud™ platform. With Genesys Cloud Associate, the company is extending customer engagement beyond the contact center, helping customers reach the trusted experts they rely on — whether those associates are in a branch, warehouse, yard or on the move using their mobile devices.
Unified customer engagement
across local and centralized locations
Improved answer rates
and customer satisfaction scores
Increased associate efficiency
with mobile
1,200+ locations connected
with Genesys Cloud
Consolidated systems
for improved reporting
Ability to scale
its individualized service model
For nearly 75 years, Ferguson has built its business on relationships. Serving contractors, builders and trade professionals across thousands of locations, the company operates on the principle that expertise and connection matter.
“We are a relationship business,” said Matt Stirrup, Director of Associate Experience at Ferguson. “We are experts serving experts. And the ability to communicate in the moment is absolutely critical for us to compete and continue delivering a great experience for our loyal customers.”
Ferguson provides a range of products and services nationwide — from plumbing, HVAC, appliances and lighting to PVF, water and wastewater solutions. Unlike traditional retail companies, Ferguson customers don’t simply place orders. They rely on trusted relationships with local associates who understand their business, projects and markets.
For Ferguson, customer experience (CX) is about more than operational efficiency. It’s about preserving the relationships and specialized know-how that makes the company unique. And every customer interaction is an opportunity to reinforce that trust.
“We saw an opportunity to create a more consistent experience for both associates and customers by moving to a single platform.”
Randy Pierce
Senior IT Manager, Ferguson
As Ferguson continued to grow, the company recognized that its customer experience technology needed to evolve with the business. Previously, Ferguson used Genesys Cloud for its centralized contact centers and a third-party phone system for local customer-facing teams. The split made it hard to deliver the connected, relationship-based experience customers expected.
“It was very disjointed between the two solutions,” said Randy Pierce, Senior IT Manager at Ferguson. “We saw an opportunity to create a more consistent experience for both associates and customers by moving to a single platform.”
Fragmentation created several challenges. Transferring calls between systems was difficult, and reporting was inconsistent. In addition, customers were sometimes routed away from the people or teams who could best meet their needs.
For Ferguson, the impact went beyond internal complexity. Its service model is highly local and highly specialized. A customer in one market might need a local associate who understands regional requirements, regulations or availability. Another customer might be best served by a centralized team with specialized expertise.
Ferguson needed a single system to support both models without forcing every interaction into the same path.
“If you visit a Ferguson branch in rural North Carolina and a Ferguson branch in Washington, D.C., they couldn’t be more different,” noted Stirrup. “We needed a solution that could handle both instances and all the different variations we have. In some of our more rural locations, it’s very important that interactions are handled at the local branch because they understand the local market; they understand local regulations and legislation. Having a solution that works for both of those scenarios is critical.”
“With Genesys, we were able to maintain control while still delivering the branch-level experience customers desire.”
Randy Pierce
Senior IT Manager, Ferguson
The company’s primary objective was to meet customers where they are locally while leveraging the scale and efficiency of the broader enterprise. Ferguson chose to consolidate its customer experience tech stack on Genesys Cloud to unify experiences across 1,200-plus locations while maintaining the uniqueness of each branch.
This created a single foundation for consistent customer engagement across its local and centralized operations, while preserving the flexibility needed to serve their markets well.
With Genesys Cloud Associate, Ferguson has been able to extend that foundation beyond the contact center to customer-facing associates in branches, warehouses, yards and on the go, helping the company route, manage and measure interactions consistently across more roles and locations as part of one unified platform.
“With Genesys, we were able to maintain control while still delivering the branch-level experience customers desire,” said Pierce.
That balance of consistency, control and local flexibility allows Ferguson to modernize while preserving the personalized service that has long defined its brand.
With a more unified foundation, Ferguson can scale the individualized service model that sets it apart. The company is helping more customers reach the right expert faster — improving answer rates, increasing customer satisfaction across all major customer groups and strengthening the loyalty that fuels long-term growth.
“Answering more calls is obviously important; it leads to greater sales and a more profitable business,” said Stirrup.
“We’re always looking at how we can make our associates more productive, more effective and make the customer experience better. Anything we can do to support that is a win for our business.”
Matt Stirrup
Director of Associate Experience, Ferguson
Ferguson is continuing to evolve its customer engagement strategy with Genesys Cloud Associate, helping its employees stay connected and accessible no matter where they are working. The company sees mobility as an important extension of its relationship-driven approach, giving customers more choice and faster access to knowledgeable associates.
“When we showed a branch manager the mobile capabilities, it was a game changer,” said Stirrup. “He or she can be out helping customers and still support those calling in.”
Looking ahead, Ferguson is developing agentic AI and additional AI capabilities around auto-summarization and knowledge sharing. The company sees AI as an opportunity to help associates build knowledge more quickly without losing the human experience.
For a business built on deep product knowledge and local expertise, AI offers a way to help associates build confidence faster, share knowledge more consistently and deliver stronger customer experiences without replacing the human connection customers value.
“We’re always looking at how we can make our associates more productive, more effective and make the customer experience better,” Stirrup said. “Anything we can do to support that is a win for our business.”
As Ferguson continues to scale, Genesys Cloud gives the company a foundation to strengthen what has always set it apart: trusted experts, responsive service and customer relationships built to last.
To learn more about the solutions featured in this case study, visit www.genesys.com.
