We've really been heads-down busy at Caisson of late, so it's nice to look up and see news coverage of the work we do to help our customers.
Today, I'm excited to share coverage of our work to help Affinity Home Care Services select, install and manage a brand new hosted phone service from Comcast Business called Business VoiceEdge™. Caisson was one of the first independent telecom consultants in Washington State to be trained on and become certified to sell this new business hosted voice service.
Our work with Affinity Home Care Services was featured in many media outlets, including The News Tribune in Tacoma, HeraldNet in Everett, The Olympian and The Bellingham Herald, as well as in publications in other Pacific Northwest states.
This case study is really helpful for any small to mid-size business in need of a new phone system, or that is experiencing call-quality, call flow and voicemail issues with an existing system.
Here's the story as it appeared in The News Tribune:
Caisson Technologies Helps Affinity Home Care Services Deploy the Latest in Business Hosted Voice
Seattle Washington (PRWEB) September 29, 2014
Affinity Home Care Services, a Puget Sound-based provider of in-home care solutions for older adults, hired Seattle-based telecommunication consultancy, Caisson Technology to help it select and purchase a new business phone system this month.
With offices in Tukwila and Everett, Affinity Home Care Services has many employees, as well as a fleet of nurses and ever-growing list of customers.
“This small company has a big coordination job. They need to connect nurses that want work and customers that need service. They needed a new phone system to help them do that,” explained Brian Wade, owner of Caisson Technologies.
The company’s old phone system was a key system with a 4-line hunt group. Calls to the main line would ring on every desk phone. All voicemails went to one general voicemail box. This configuration was problematic for many reasons. Many times, due to the nature of their work, employees aren’t at their desks. So, everyone at the company was fielding calls and then taking messages. There was no place to put those messages except on sticky notes or in emails. The system was inefficient and frustrating.
To solve this problem, Affinity Home Care Services searched online for telecom consultants and found Caisson Technologies. They reached out for help.
“They were not interested in spending 5 – 7K on a new phone system. They didn’t want to own a phone system. They wanted a phone system as a service. We helped them select and purchase the hosted voice solution that is right for them,” said Mr. Wade.
They already had CenturyLink phone lines and a Comcast Internet connection. The company was happy with Comcast Business, so Caisson introduced the Comcast Business hosted phone system, Business VoiceEdge™ (BVE).
Caisson is an authorized agent of Comcast Business and one of the first Seattle-based independent agents to get certified to sell BVE. To sell BVE you have to complete training specific to the service. Learn more.
As is the case with many hosted voice solutions, BVE can be programmed to work in a variety of ways based on a company’s needs. “It’s flexible outbound caller ID,” said Mr. Wade. With this solution, Affinity Home Care Services’ outbound caller ID is now from the employee’s DID.
“We gave out direct dial numbers and unique voicemail boxes to each employee. Now, if an employee makes an outbound call, his or her name and number is displayed to the person being called. In this way, the person being called can easily call back the employee on his or her direct line. With this solution, they also have music on-hold and main calls go to a receptionist,” explains Mr. Wade.
Telecommunication consultants, like Mr. Wade help business customers explore all of the options. They also use technical expertise to ensure a smart configuration that fits the business’ specific needs. Plus, they can expedite contract negotiations and installations times using internal connections at the region’s more than 40 providers. Mr. Wade explains how they helped Affinity Home Care Services in these ways.
“We met with the team at Affinity Home Care Services multiple times. We quoted several hosted voice and on-premise services from competing providers. Ultimately, they chose Comcast Business BVE because they liked the idea of a single-provider solution (i.e. phone, Internet and managed phone service all through one company).
On their behalf, we worked with a Comcast Business voice engineer and hammered out a call flow and voice configuration that meets their needs.
"Then we expedited the whole thing. They needed the service up and running quickly because their existing system was negatively impacting productivity and moral. From the point that the contract was signed to the day the service was turned up was a 30-day turnaround. That’s fast. Caisson made that possible by utilizing some of my internal relationships at Comcast Business. I was able to get it moved through their system,” said Mr. Wade.
Mr. Wade admits that in a decade of doing business, this is the first time Caisson has sold a hosted phone system.
“We’ve had concerns about hosted voice. I’ve seen so many bad installations with the service. But I’ve been pleasantly surprised with BVE. Like in all things telecom, the most important part of building a new solution is getting the details correct on the front end. Then clearly communicating with the client and provider throughout the installation process. This makes sure that the customers' wants and needs are met. I think the reason I’ve seen so many bad installations has less to do with the actual service and more to do with the fact that often this fairly intensive needs assessment and expectation setting process is cut short. Or skipped altogether,” revealed Mr. Wade
Affinity Home Care Services is happy with BVE. “Overall, it’s really has helped our organization to streamline calls more efficiently. It did want we needed and helped us save time,” said Erica Harty, Office Administrator with Affinity Home Care Services.
###
About Caisson
Caisson Technologies is a northwest-based telecommunications consulting company. We sell the business phone and Internet services of over 40 telecom providers, including Comcast Business, CenturyLink and Integra Telecom. We're the better way to buy because we work with the service providers so you don't have to. We're here long-term, so you always know who to call. And we save you money, typically 20 - 30%. Plus, our consulting is free. Here's how.
Visit our website to learn more. We're famous for our fast, free-flowing advice, so contact us here or direct at (206) 420-0140 with any questions you may have.