The Client
Interact Medical are an award-winning and 120-employee strong medical recruitment agency, specialising in NHS locum recruitment.
They describe their service as resembling that of a ‘sports agent for high-value doctors’ and have a more unique approach than other medical recruitment agencies.
The Challenge
Interact’s call-centre focus was initially successful due to them leading the way with new technologies. They developed their own business management solution called ‘Momentum’, to enable them to analyse call data & call related KPI’s on a ‘to-the-minute’ basis and their business rapidly grew as a result.
More recently however, Interact moved to the more flexible approach of using mobile devices to make & receive calls, yet this change created issues for the management team who then struggled to quantify the call stats made via mobile. Where they had been able to analyse call data within minutes using their in-house software, they had reverted to relying on call data supplied by their mobile providers on a monthly basis.
This simply wasn’t fast enough and meant that they’d moved from a dynamic and proactive management style to a much slower and reactive approach - Not how they wanted to operate and nor was this going to support their growth strategy.
Ultimately, they wanted better stats for the calls made via mobiles and wanted this information more quickly. They also wanted the productivity enhancing features of a desk-top handset, using their mobile devices, plus the ability to easily scale the number of users to allow them to work dynamically.
Additionally, the existing Mitel PBX was too rigid and difficult to manage. There were multiple portals and they had to rely on external support to push through changes. Their IT manager wanted greater flexibility in order to keep up with the demands of the business and ultimately be more proactive.
The Solution
GAMMA Connect – Converging the business class features & power of GAMMA’s Hosted VoIP offering, Horizon, with the flexibility of GAMMA Mobile. The easy-to-use online portal enhances the call management power of their Internal IT Manager and has since improved overall productivity of the team.
Akixi Call Reporting - This 3rd party software enables Interact to see key call statistics in real-time for both fixed handsets and mobiles. Not only does this allow them to get data out at 2-minute intervals, we were also able to plug this into their own system ‘Momentum’ to provide them even greater data analysis.
Gigabit Leased Line – We recommended a Gigabit speed leased line - A fast and more robust internet connection to support their heavy reliance on connectivity - along with a back-up leased line for ‘Disaster Recovery’ purposes. At the time, a gigabit connection was a cutting-edge service and made Interact early adopters of the service in our joint hometown of Milton Keynes.
Professional Services - Project management covering the roll-out of the entire portfolio of services. Plus, engineering services to install and integrate with their internal system ‘Momentum’.
Implementation
LEASED LINE – Despite agreeing to two leased lines, it soon became apparent that Interact were still in contract with another supplier, so we allowed them to post-pone the second, back-up connection until they were out-of-contract.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT - The installation of leased lines can often be a time-consuming practice, especially when dealing with 3rd party stakeholders. With Interact, we were conscious that timing was imperative, so we extended our professional services offering to include providing support and advice to the solicitors and landlord involved in signing off the legalities surrounding the install to ensure smooth progress of the project.
TRAINING – Both prior to roll-out and as an after-sales service, our sales support team visited Interact to deliver end-user training on all of the systems to the IT manager, call agents and management team. This included demonstrations of GAMMA connect and the online portal, set up & training on Akixi and Q&A sessions with the team.
SUPPORT – To make life easier for the IT manager, all mobiles were pre-configured by us in advance of being delivered to the customer. Each handset was clearly labelled personal to the user and telephone number associated with it. This was over-and-above the standard level of service, yet something that made a big impact with the client.
The Results
Interact were blown away by the combined features of their VOICE solution and the way we were able to integrate with their in-house software ‘Momentum’. They were thrilled to benefit from;
More flexible call handling - Including being able to make & receive office line calls from their integrated mobile devices using those all-important 07 numbers.
Call recording – Of all calls irrespective of whether made via fixed handset or mobile device. This has since proved to assist with the further training & development of their team.
Enhanced call analytics - Providing management with a real-time view of activity across the business whether mobile or fixed line calls.
Greater control - For their IT manager to have full control to make changes and adapt to business requirements dynamically and pro-actively, in contrast to their previous reactive approach.
The Gigabit speed leased line has also driven positive benefits to the business. Steve Young, who co-owns Interact medical alongside Marty Bettles quoted;
The Future
Faster connectivity means that introducing additional forward thinking, cloud-based applications is a viable option for Interact’s aggressive growth strategy over the coming months & years.
Coupled with the easy scalability of their complete VOICE solution, they can grow their business in the most cost-efficient way possible, which will ultimately lead to greater profitability.
We have built a relationship of strategic IT partnership with Interact Medical and look forward to working with them for many years to come.
Award Recognised Solution
In mid 2019, the highly commended, independently judged, Comms Business Awards - who rewarded forward thinking and progressive channel businesses - announced us as a FINALIST in their ‘SMB ICT Solution' in recognition of the bespoke solution delivered to Interact Medical, the exceptional training and ongoing support provided, as well as the project management expertise that enabled us to overcome challenges and exceed all expectations of service delivery.
