Mobility, or the ability to work and communicate from any device and any geographical location, is changing the American workplace. A recent study found that fewer Americans are relocating for work. One reason? Why move when you can work remotely? With video conferencing, collaborative tools and access to the company’s servers via a web-based portal, employees can be productive from anywhere.
Add to this the need for businesses to serve their customers seamlessly. Clients don’t want to hear that the person they need to talk to is unavailable. Voicemail just doesn’t cut it. Customers want immediate gratification and many companies are delivering on those expectations.
Can small- and medium-sized businesses compete in this environment? You bet. With a business VoIP phone system like MiCloud Connect, smaller organizations can have the same communications functionality as the big guys. You can serve your customers and clients no matter where you are and no matter where they are.
Connecting to customers
Cape Medical Supply is in a very competitive industry, selling sleep therapy and orthopedic bracing products and services in the New England region. “What we offer is a product you could get essentially anywhere, so we need to build a competitive advantage through our service,” explains Gary Sheehan, Cape Medical Supply CEO. “The way that patients and partners interact with us via our phone system is a significant part of their experience.”
With their hosted contact center, Cape Medical Supply can now route patient and partner calls easily to field sales personnel, who can access all the information they need to answer customer questions via their mobile devices. No more voicemails left unanswered for hours. Presence technology enables staff to choose how they can be reached — voice, SMS, email, etc. Contact center agents can then see the availability of staff out in the field and contact them in the most efficient way.
Connecting to constituents
Municipal governments are always looking for ways to best serve their constituents without spending a lot of tax dollars. So when Orion Township’s legacy PBX system had a voicemail crash, township supervisor Chris Barnett turned to a business VoIP phone system. The result was a solution that not only serves staff and constituents more effectively but costs less than the previous telephony.
With MiCloud Connect, Orion Township now has a full-featured business VoIP solution that includes mobile apps for iOS and Android as well as Microsoft Outlook integration. When township employees are out in the field, they’re easily accessible to both constituents and colleagues. Via the mobile app, they are able to communicate via voice, email and instant messaging. They can also collaborate with colleagues using conferencing, video calling and online meetings.
“With employees’ increased responsiveness and efficiency, projects now move quicker and constituents are better served,” says Barnett. And because all this functionality is via the cloud, Orion doesn’t have to invest in new hardware that needs to be updated. They can buy the functions they want at a price that fits in the budget. It’s a win-win-win for constituents, staff and the bottom line.
Connecting to remote workers
Scotland is a big country. The distance from Edinburgh to Aberdeen is more than 125 miles; the distance from Edinburgh to Inverness is over 150 miles (and then there are the islands!).
Warmworks has a challenging job. As part of a nationwide energy efficiency scheme, the Scottish government offers help to citizens who are struggling with high energy bills. Warmworks is the organization that operationalizes this mandate, helping citizens all over Scotland reduce their energy bills by providing insulation, efficient heating and renewable technologies.
Unfortunately, even though Warmworks was growing, their legacy PBX system wasn’t up to the task. They needed a high-quality contact center that served citizens reliably. They also needed a solution that could integrate remote workers into the call center flows. Their agents in satellite offices in Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen struggled with the legacy onsite PBX. Using a business VoIP phone system, physical location is no longer an issue. Reliable, consistent communications is now a reality no matter the location of the agents.
Connecting to donors
Dr. Cheryl "Action" Jackson had a dream, born out of her own struggles to feed her children. So in 2008, she established Minnie’s Food Pantry in Dallas, TX. This special non-profit aims to provide healthy meals and resources to those experiencing food insecurity. But as Minnie’s has grown – from a 500 square foot facility to almost 17,000 square foot – it needed a communications solution that would connect staff and volunteers no matter where they were — in the distribution center, on the road, delivering meals or engaging the community.
A critical point came when Minnie’s got nationwide attention following a celebrity spotlight. The phones were ringing off the hook with donors wanting to support the non-profit. Using MiCloud Connect, calls can now be forwarded and routed to the right staff, enabling them to receive donor calls during heavy fundraising events. Employees can also easily collaborate using mobile apps. When they need to plan or troubleshoot, they can conference at a push of a button no matter their geographical location or the device they are using.
And what’s also crucial when you are providing 8.5 million meals? Keeping that food at the right temperature. Several years ago, Minnie’s experienced a power failure that affected their cold storage. Now, using the Internet of Things (IoT), Minnie’s operational staff are kept informed by sensors in their refrigerator units. The sensors communicate via the cloud to the staff’s mobile devices. When there’s a problem, they’re right on it before any food goes bad.
Reliable, flexible and affordable
With a business VoIP phone system, small- to medium-sized organizations can have all the benefits without the investment in hardware and software. Service plans vary in price and features. Not all employees need to be on the same plan. So, you can pick and choose which employees need which features and build a plan that makes sense for your budget.