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Initial Need: A law firm is looking to update their outdated technology.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.
Buying a Phone System – Part 2
October 28, 2009
Part 2 – Initial Discovery
So you’ve thought about it, now what?
You’ve conducted your interviews, you’ve chosen the partner that has your best interest in mind and you have an outline of what business objectives you’re trying to accomplish – now what? This phase in the process, called Initial Discovery, is typically the tipping point for some vendors. I call it the “tipping point” b/c during this time in the early evaluation process either the customer or vendor is going to try to tip the project in their favor and hope that the outcome is favorable (for the customer: requesting everything under the sun for little or no money. For the vendor: Pushing their agenda, not doing the right thing for the customer.) In most cases the project goes dead and no one succeeds. To avoid this there must be open lines of communication, expectation setting, and established trust (this goes back to choosing the correct vendor for your business – step 1). It is on both the customer and vendor to establish this critical communication connection.
I mentioned in a previous blog, the evaluation process is 6-9 months in length due to finding out exactly what needs to be accomplished, why and how all of that is going to happen, and what the expected outcome is – all in detail.
In part 3, I will dive into the detailed portion of the Discovery Process. What questions to ask your vendor, why and more importantly, what those questions can and will mean to the future of your business.
Buying/Evaluating a phone system?
October 27, 2009
For starters interview several vendors and “partner” with the one that you want to do business with. This is an important first step as most reputable manufactures (Avaya, Interactive Intelligence, Siemens and Cisco) all have similar products and depending on the size of your company all will perform well. This is why it’s important to find the correct vendor for your business and make sure that they understand what you do, how you do it and what goals you’re trying to accomplish – not just how many phones you need and what the “flavor of the week” is in terms of the technology. It’s not the technology that solves problems, it’s the people; the technology is the vehicle in which the problem is solved. Also, try to find a vendor that will educate you on what is available in the market place and also represents several manufactures. This will enable you to make the correct decision that is right for you – empower yourself. The sales cycle is typically 6-9 months (give or take) because there is so much that goes into the evaluation process. Most legitimate best in class business phone systems range in price from $8k to over $100k depending on applications and complexity.
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