Dixie Medical
Medical Supplier Faces Rapid Growth, Quickly Deploys Easy-to-Use Phone System
Partner: Dixie Medical
Web Site: www.dixiemed.com
Customer Size: 13 employees
Country or Region: United States
Industry: Distribution
Partner: Carnes Group
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Customer Profile
Dixie Medical distributes and services cardiac equipment, such as defibrillators, to emergency medical services, fire departments, military organizations, and other businesses.
Software and Services
- Microsoft® Response Point™
- Microsoft® Exchange Server 2003
- Microsoft® Office Outlook 2003
- Microsoft® Office Outlook 2007
- Microsoft® Response Point
- Microsoft® Windows Small Business Server 2003
"The deployment of Response Point was extremely easy, training only took an hour, and since then, we have required almost no support."
Matt Spencer, President, Dixie Medical
Business Needs
When emergency medical services, fire departments, clinics, and businesses call Dixie Medical for defibrillators and other life-saving devices, a Dixie Medical employee answers quickly. “A big selling point for us over our competitors is that our employees answer the phone when customers call,” says Matt Spencer, President of Dixie Medical. “We are very accessible.”
In 2007, the company, which operates in Franklin and Jackson, Tennessee, doubled its revenue without adding staff. With an increased workload and only three phone lines at Dixie Medical, customers faced delays when placing sales or contacting customer service by phone.
Says Spencer, “To support our rapid growth, we needed separate lines for all nine people in our main office—three phones lines were no longer effective.”
The company’s digital phone system from Samsung, however, proved a barrier to growth. Spencer notes that while the system provided the company with the features that it needed, such as call parking, call transferring, and voice mail, it only scaled to four lines and didn’t support voice over Internet protocol (VoIP). VoIP would enable Dixie Medical to avoid expensive wiring and long-distance fees. In addition, the company couldn’t service the Samsung system in-house. Says Spencer, “To make changes to the phone system, someone had to come on site, they would bill by the hour, and the service call itself would cost us $75.”
To meet the increasing call volume at Dixie Medical, Spencer needed to find a new scalable phone system that wouldn’t require expensive wiring and support.
Solution
Spencer looked to Microsoft® Response PointTM phone system software, understanding that the system’s competitive price, rich features, ease of support, and VoIP capabilities fit with the needs of his business.
Says Spencer, “With all the included features, Response Point is a cost-effective phone system—an equivalent phone system would have cost us about four times as much.”
To acquire and implement the system, Dixie Medical engaged with Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Carnes Group, an IT services firm and reseller of the Quanta Syspine phone system hardware, which runs Response Point. Including preliminary planning and training, Carnes Group implemented the phone system hardware and software in less than a day.
Using the Phone System
With Response Point, two Dixie Medical employees field incoming calls by viewing which employees have busy lines, and then transferring calls as appropriate. These transferred calls can be parked as well, which means the call is put on hold for another employee to answer. “With Response Point, we don’t have worry about transferring a customer only to have them get voice mail,” says Spencer, “Because we can see if an employee’s line is busy, we can ask the customer if they want to speak with someone else, if they want to be put on hold, or if they want to go to voice mail.” If the customer decides to leave a voice mail, the voice mail is automatically delivered to the employee’s Microsoft Office Outlook® inbox.
To transfer calls, park calls, and dial out, employees use the voice-controlled interface of Response Point. Employees simply push the Response Point button on their desk phones; say an employee, customer, or group name, such as “sales”; say an action; and the phone system performs the requested action. These names can be stored in both a contacts list in Office Outlook and a directory in the Response Point system.
Supporting the System
The two front-office employees who route calls, in addition to Spencer, use the Windows®-based management console of Response Point to quickly make system changes as needed. When implementing the system, Carnes Group used the management console to set up extension numbers and configure other features to meet the requirements of Dixie Medical. For instance, Dixie Medical chose not to use the autoattendant feature so that the company can provide customers with immediate, personal service.
Benefits
Dixie Medical now has a phone system in place that supports its continued growth. Providing advanced functionality at an attractive price, Response Point has even caught the attention of Dixie Medical clients. “When we have potential customers or vendors visit, they see how advanced our phone system is,” says Spencer. “They are impressed that I can say ‘Retrieve call one’ and the phone system will pick up a parked call.”
Drives Cost Savings
Because Response Point supports VoIP, Dixie Medical avoided the costly wiring associated with adding new phone lines. Now, the phones simply run on the company’s existing network and T1 connection. By taking advantage of the VoIP support in Response Point, Dixie Medical also avoids long-distance calling fees—helping the company to serve its nationwide customer base without worrying about the phone bill.
Spencer notes that, for the same price that he paid for three phone lines and local calling with his Samsung phone system, he can now provide all main-office employees with their own phone lines and long-distance calling through the VoIP support of Response Point.
Offers Easy Administration and Support
Dixie Medical’s business has experienced little interruption caused by the implementation and support for Response Point, ensuring that the company can focus on its customers, rather than its phones. “The deployment of Response Point was extremely easy, training only took an hour, and since then, we have required almost no support,” says Spencer.
When Dixie Medical does require support, such as modifying settings, Carnes Group can quickly provide remote support through Windows Small Business Server or Dixie Medical can make the changes through the management console.
Grows with Your Business
With Response Point in place, Dixie Medical ensures that it can maintain high levels of customer service, even as the company continues to grow. Because Response Point can scale to meet increasing headcount and does not require wiring for additional phone lines, Spencer can provide each employee with a dedicated line. And, adding a new phone is as simple as plugging it into the company’s network. Says Spencer, “We like that our phone system can keep up with our growth—as we expand to include more sales and service staff, we have additional phones in reserve that we can install quickly.”
For more information about other Microsoft customer successes, please visit: www.microsoft.com/casestudies