Call Center Software Featured Article

Toshiba America Information Systems Helps Busy Arizona Medical Practice

By Tracey E. Schelmetic
TMCnet Contributor

Toshiba (News - Alert) America Information Systems Inc., Telecommunication Systems Division is offering a new case study about how it helped a busy medical practice – Tri-City Cardiology in Arizona – obtain the increased reliability it needed and enhance its call center functionality with the help of Toshiba’s Strata CIX business telephone system.

Tri-City Cardiology, which is based in Mesa, Arizona, offers comprehensive services for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease. It has five locations distributed across the Greater Phoenix area.

The practice realized that it was time for an update to its aging telephone system, which offered poor service, dropped calls and a general lack of reliability that was affecting both the practice and its patients. Tri-City required a new solution that would provide excellent reliability and a broader feature set. The three individuals responsible for technology purchases at the practice – Ken Frandsen, CEO; Missy Buhman, COO; and Laura Barnes, communications supervisor – identified the most important features a new system would need to have:

• Outstanding reliability for all systems, with redundancy;
• The ability to seamlessly network all five locations together;
• The ability to mix IP and digital telephones on the same system;
• Expanded and enhanced call center capabilities;
• The ability to effectively handle the practice's 14,000 monthly calls;
• Remote administration for all locations; and
• Support of the practice's mission to improve service to their patients, physicians and health plans.

With the help of Copper State Communications of Phoenix, an authorized Toshiba dealer, Tri-City found and implemented the Toshiba Strata CIX IP business telephone system and Strata ACD call center solution, which includes a number of components: a Strata CIX670 business telephone system at the practice's headquarters; Strata CIX670 systems at its four other locations; Strata Net, which connects all locations via IP; more than 265 Toshiba digital and IP telephones across the locations; the Strata ACD contact center solution with Toshiba Strata Call Manager softphones, OAISYS (News - Alert) Tracer call recording solution and TASKE Reporting; Strata Media Application Server (MAS) with auto-attendant, unified messaging and other applications for a single server solution; and finally, Network eManager for centralized remote management of all systems.

One of the first results with the new system was the realization of how many calls their former system had been dropping. According to Frandsen, when the new Toshiba system was installed, the practice began receiving hundreds more calls per day than it had previously. Today, the Toshiba system processes more than 14,000 calls per month for Tri-City.

Tri-City now has more than 17 ACD groups on its new Strata ACD system, comprised of more than 64 agents. Groups include operators, scheduling, new patients, billing and more. Some groups are available through the auto-attendant while others are accessed through operators or direct-dial numbers. Overflow call support is provided by various agents, helping to ensure that every call is answered as quickly as possible. ACD agents are spread across all five locations. Agents are able to use the chat feature in Strata Call Manager to communicate with their supervisors and with one another, helping boost internal communication and the quality of service they are able to provide callers.

In addition, Tri-City’s call center supervisors are able to use the OAISYS Tracer recording solution to audit calls, train agents, review historical patient data, and for conflict resolution. They are also now using TASKE for reporting on productivity and staffing, with the goal of ensuring the highest possible quality of customer service.

Using Toshiba’s Network eManager remote administration tool, Barnes can now remotely manage the entire telephone system from her desk, easily making adds, moves and changes remotely for all five locations. She can also troubleshoot system issues more effectively since Network eManager provides her with control over the system.

Post-implementation, Tri-City’s is reporting that the new Toshiba system has met or exceeded its goals, proving outstanding reliability and survivability and helping ensure that every call gets through, which has helped improve customer service. The call center as seen improved efficiencies as well, including call handling and management, recording, reporting, and more, which has helped reduce call center agent turnover. Call routing has changed for the better, and recording and reporting have resulted in a strong improvement in customer service. Finally, Tri-City is finding that the ability to self-administrate the new system has reduced both the time needed to make changes and the need for expensive service calls.

“Thanks to Toshiba and Copper State Communications, we are able to give our patients the best possible customer service when they call us,” said Barnes. “They are routed to the right person in our call center, who takes care of their needs without delay.”