Buying a Phone System – Part 3
November 9, 2009
Part 3 –Discovery Process
Discovery, by the very definition is “the act or instance of discovering”. In G3TP terms it is the process of uncovering hidden or root problems that keep businesses from making the right technology decisions. It is very common for organizations to make snap decisions for the wrong reasons without first addressing these root problems.
Initial Need: A law firm is looking to update their outdated technology.
Discovery Questions:
- Why do you think your organization is losing revenue?
- What are you doing now to grow your business?
- In a perfect world, tell me about how you’d like to see your business run?
Initially, the discovery questions seemed obscure to the client but they allowed me to see their business as a whole, get a better understanding of their expectations, and pinpoint the prospect’s priorities. After the Discovery Process, here is what I uncovered:
The firm was having difficulty recouping billable hours from its attorneys. Management had the attorneys keeping a paper trail of hours spent on each client. Inevitably with depositions, court appearances, multiple clients, etc., the written hours were being miscalculated or not accounted at all. Ultimately revenue was lost.
Solution: The firm did receive an updated solution however it included a call accounting application that automatically sends a report via email (or text) to the attorney and management at a specific time every week that the firm now uses for billable time. This simple, efficient report allowed the attorneys to focus on their clients and helped management take the guess work out of billing which helped increase revenue (actually by 4% out of the gate).
Note: I offer all of my prospects a mutual non-disclosure document. This legal document protects any proprietary information disclosed during the discovery process.
The 411 on the 311?
November 2, 2009
The 411 on the 311?
Part 1
Many city governments today are either implementing or considering a 311 service to improve assistance and responsiveness to the public. “311” is the slang term used for a centralized service center equipped with the tools and information needed to handle various non-emergency calls from the public. Some common things that a 311 service provides support for are:
- Reporting potholes
- Reporting graffiti
- Garbage collection information
- Blocked roadways, driveways, and fire hydrants
- Reporting broken traffic lights
- Mayor action line (complaints)
- Reporting abandoned vehicles
- Reporting stray animals
- Provide information on which department to call for any given service when there is uncertainty
- Information and possibly call routing for local shelters, public assistance, domestic issues and other urgent/emergency like calls
According to New York City’s website, their 311 even provides language translation! Also, some cities have even set up their 311 service as a 911 back up or as a disaster recovery site.
Is Your Practice Ready for Unified Communications?
July 3, 2008
What if it was possible to reduce costs while growing your business at the same time? Ever wonder how to set your business apart? You could set your organization apart just by how you regard customer service, making you the preference amongst the competition. Not only will your customers benefit, but your business will as well. In this article by Nick Snoply, he’ll help explain several ways in which technology will be part of the solution, especially within the medical field.
Is Your Practice Ready for Unified Communications? (pdf download)
The Fear of Being Too Connected…
May 22, 2008
By Marissa Jacquay
As I’ve begun to meet with more customers and prospects and define Unified Communications, and how it plays into enhanced productivity within their organizations, I keep getting the same response. Well Marissa, I like the idea, but I don’t want to be TOO connected.
Mobility, in regards to communications has changed so much over time. I think back to childhood, and life seemed simple. Maybe it was due to the fact that I was young and had a child’s perspective, but making trips out and about, and running errands with my parents was simple. We put on our shoes and our coats and we left…I never heard them say, “Oh, hang on, I forgot my cell phone,” or “I will call or text you when I get there.” I remember my neighbor had the first cell phone I had ever seen, and it was connected to a bag that you had to carry around, and I thought that was so cool, strange, but cool. Then pagers came into the picture, you were somebody if you had a pager, and knowing the lingo that if someone paged you with a “911″ after it, that meant, it was urgent. Suddenly more convenient analog cell phones came into the marketplace, and yes they were bulky, but they were better than the original phone in a bag and these allowed for more mobility. And today, well, most people have some sort of a mobile device.
Okay, you’re probably asking yourself, why is she rambling? The point I’m trying to make is this, just as we grow up and mature from children to adults, technology does the same thing, and as technology evolves, society adapts to that changing technology and although we have early embracers…we also have those who wait, and wait, and suddenly the technology embraces them. They have to adapt or they’re lost. Look at the World Wide Web. Company web pages were a thing of the future, but today, if you don’t have one, or don’t have some aspect of e-commerce you’re losing a piece of the pie and the competition might just leave you in the dust.
We’ve gone from basically not being connected at all, to developing ‘Blackberry Thumb’ and being connected to our devices 24/7. You have the two extremes, and you’ve got that happy medium. Technology is only going to keep progressing and changing, and it’s up to all of us to “Roll with It,” but remember that we have choices, and it’s up to us to determine the boundaries that we set with our communications. Productivity is what is pushing these changes, but remember that increased productivity may allow you to still stay on top of your work responsibilities, and still manage to have a life outside of work, and the benefit of this is that you know can have the best of both worlds, and one or the other doesn’t have to suffer. In the past, you had to choose to stay late at work to answer e-mails or leave early to attend your child’s baseball game. Now, you can leave on time, answer the e-mails from your smart phone while you’re waiting for the game to start, and still have the life you choose outside of the confines of the brick and mortar office. It’s a balancing act that may take some practice, but with being TOO connected, the positives outweigh the negatives, and at the end of the day, it is all about CHOICES, and it’s okay to turn off those mobile devices and CHOOSE to come back to them when you’re ready.
Marissa Jacquay is a technology specialist with G3 Technology Partners and works with businesses to analyze and assess how technology can solve business problems. She can be reached at 317.876.6535 or by email at marissa.jacquay@g3tp.com.
An Integrated Solution and Outbound Dialer: From ‘What is It?’ To ‘How Did We Do Without It?’
May 12, 2008
by Michelle Heiden
As a technology specialist, I’m always looking for big problems that can be solved by well-executed, properly-designed technical solutions. For me, the bigger the better.
Well, recently I helped install a system for a health supply company. When we first began diagnosing their issues, they thought they merely needed a new PBX. But after further investigation, we realized they needed a solution that fundamentally changed the way they manage and grow their business.
It is so significant, that I thought you should hear.
Company Overview:
Butler Animal Health Supply is a national leader in providing pet supplies for independent Veterinarians across the United States. Their products range from cotton swabs to medicine to food supplies for all pets related to Veterinarian practice. Butler Animal Health Supply has multiple locations with their corporate headquarters located in Dublin, Ohio. They have inside sales centers in an additional 8 cities and multiple distribution centers throughout the country.
The Problem:
Butler was hoping to solve multiple problems. All the problems below have a significant hard cost ROI associated:
- Multitude of old disparate phone solutions at each site with minimal to no reporting. (Due to this environment Butler Animal Health Supply did not understand how their organization, as a whole, was providing service to their customers, how many calls the call centers were handling, and bandwidth required to handle activity. They did not have accurate data to support growth.)
- No interoffice dialing. Long distance dialing was required to call remote facilities.
- Each site with individual voice mail solutions. No central management, no standardized use of voice mail and multiple people needed to support this environment.
- Multiple support organizations, excessive network costs. Due to multiple environments, Butler Animal Health Supply was paying up to 8 separate support companies to support their environments, which means little control and inconsistencies.
- Minimal call distribution solutions. Limited call processing.
- No automated dialing, and little to no flexibility or integration to other applications.
Solution:
When we begin with a customer, we get very clear on the goals. In this case, their goals were to:
- a) to make their environment more efficient to for revenue growth,
- b) to increase management effectiveness by giving them tools, and
- c) to reduce technology costs.
The implementation of a VoIP telecommunication leader, Customer Interaction Center, provides a centralized solution that allows for ONE solution across the entire enterprise.
Implemented an Outbound Dialer which automatically initiated outbound sales calls when inside sales reps were idle.
The End Result
was a consolidation of support contracts into one national contract. That, in turn, reduced network costs due to implementing VoIP technology which reduces long distance costs and allow technology to take advantage of the existing data network.
Advanced supervisor, reporting and monitoring tools which allows management to appropriately manage, support and grow the business.
Michelle Heiden is a consultant with G3 Technology Partners (Cincinnati, OH). She specializes in business applications for technology solutions and can be reached at 317.876.6588 or at michelle.heiden@g3tp.com