By Laura LaLuzerne
Protecting customer information is essential for maintaining trust. When faced with the challenge of replacing the pagers they had relied on for decades, a solution that met compliance requirements while preserving paging speed and reliability was needed.
This case study examines how one call center addressed this challenge — and improved communication efficiency in the process.
Dexcomm Answering and Communications Services is a 24/7 live call answering service with a history dating back to November 1954. For over 70 years, Dexcomm has provided its customers and callers with compassionate, dedicated, and reliable call center services. Dexcomm, based in Carencro, Louisiana, develops strong partnerships with each of its customers, helping them improve connections with their callers.
To ensure they deliver the best possible customer service, Dexcomm makes it a priority to hire agents who want to help others, utilize great listening skills, are passionate about what they do, and are motivated to do an outstanding job. They take great strides to
ensure their team is thoroughly trained and always keep service standards in mind, empowering the Dexcomm staff to exceed their customers’ expectations.
Serving Customers in Many Industries
Dexcomm has a diverse customer base, accurately handling calls for a wide range of businesses, including legal firms, electricians, plumbing services, HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) companies, cosmetic practices, oil and gas providers, funeral homes, medical practices, and more. The call center services they provide are also diverse, including taking messages for the office, scheduling appointments, sending automated appointment reminders, and providing inbound and outbound marketing support, while delivering excellent customer service on every call.
Their staff understands the importance of answering calls promptly and recognizes that every call is a potential emergency that requires a quick response from their customer.
By providing prompt service, Dexcomm helps customers increase profits by efficiently managing every call.
A Need for Encrypted Messaging
With the passage of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) in
1996, call centers and answering services like Dexcomm needed a pager replacement solution. They found that smartphone applications that incorporate encryption and security features enable the secure transmission of patient information to healthcare providers while also reducing costs by consolidating devices.
Dexcomm selected a secure messaging app that also has a partner program, which provides access to marketing materials that explain the many benefits of secure messaging, making it easier for Dexcomm to sign up more customers to use this service. Dexcomm is also included in the “Find a Reseller” section of the app’s website, which provides a direct link to the Dexcomm website, enabling them to expand their customer base.
Ensuring Private Communications
Dexcomm uses the secure messaging app to securely send electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) for their many healthcare providers, including physicians, home health, hospice, and specialty practices such as orthopedics. Instead of sending the provider a message to call the answering service, which slows the process, Dexcomm uses the app to instantly send all the necessary patient information to the medical staff, saving time for Dexcomm agents and helping medical personnel speed the response time to the patient.
When asked why they chose this particular app, Solomon Heath, a developer at Dexcomm told us, “The security and ease of use have been the two main things. It’s HIPAA compliant, which makes it ideal for our medical customers.”
Part of a Fully Integrated Solution
By using a consolidated solution from the same vendor that provides its call center software, Dexcomm has a single resource comprised of enhanced ACD (auto call distribution) to send the call to the most-qualified agent, browser-based operator consoles to answer calls, built-in scripting to ensure customers receive all the needed information for each message, software-based call log, and call recordings to verify information, an integration engine that automates dispatch to notify customers while saving time for agents, and most recently, the encrypted messaging app to securely notify customers. This single platform ensures a streamlined solution that improves caller satisfaction while enhancing efficiency for agents and customers.
Convenient, Time-Saving Features
To optimize agent workflows, a key feature of the secure messaging app is persistent alerts, which continues to alert the recipient until they acknowledge the message, all without agent intervention. Solomon explained the advantage of this by saying, “We like
the persistent alert reminders, because if the customer doesn’t read the message, their phone just keeps alerting them. That’s a big thing because it stops us from having to keep reminding them.”
Maintaining Consistency
Solomon creates script templates for their customers, ensuring agents obtain all the necessary information on every call. Solomon commented, “If we come up with a medical template, I will develop it. If we come up with any new advancements for it,
that’s me. And I also handle any API (Application Programming Interfaces) integrations for any companies.”
Since the scripts look similar regardless of the dispatch method and no special keystrokes or commands are required, agents simply fill in the caller’s information, and the message is on its way. This expedited method ensures customers receive the information quickly, enabling them to react promptly.
Ensuring Messages are Delivered
“Another big feature of the app,” according to Solomon, “is the ‘delivered when read’ setting. Every customer that we have uses that feature because that’s what they prefer.”
For full accountability, the app also maintains a detailed audit trail for every message, including when it is sent, opened, and replied to.
Even with persistent alerts, if a message isn’t delivered, the secure messaging app can automatically escalate the notification. Solomon pointed out, “If the message isn’t delivered within 10 or 15 minutes, it creates a dispatch cue. Usually it’s a dial-up escalation at that point.”
A Trusted Solution
Because it handles critical notifications, having a dependable app is important. Dexcomm has found the app to be very reliable. Solomon told us, “I take it mostly as ‘no news is good news’ because no one usually checks in when it’s working right. Out of all our users, maybe four times a year, I hear from someone who’s having a problem, and the fix is usually to reset their password. Most of the time, it was likely started by a user error, and since I can’t check their phone, I just reset the password, and that’s usually the fix.”
Incorporating a Secure Messaging App into Dexcomm’s Workflow
Dexcomm also found a use for the app for their own notification needs. When asked why he recommends it, Solomon replied, “I use the app when I’m the programmer on call for Dexcomm. At first, I used it to get familiar with it, but I actually prefer it now. It helps separate work from everything else because I know if the app’s notification goes off, it’s work-related, and I have all my messages organized.”
Plans to Expand Customer Use
While Dexcomm currently uses the app for medical customers, they plan to expand this service to current customers in other industries. Because of its integration with on-call schedules, detailed audit trails, and features such as automated reminders, escalation alerts, and marking a message as delivered when read, the app is a natural fit for technicians and service personnel. Secure messaging protects sensitive customer data, and as more industries recognize the value of faster, safer communication, it’s quickly becoming not just a competitive advantage, but an expectation.
Laura LaLuzerne is the Marketing Coordinator at Amtelco