CALLIDUS HEALTH

Challenge

• Callidus Health is a stealth mode startup delivering communication solutions that enhance how healthcare providers “communicate, collaborate and coordinate patient care.”
• The startup needed a more reliable platform to serve as its healthcare communication suite and answering service.
• Because Callidus communication suite handles “patient information and time-critical requests from patients,” it was vital that the platform featured low latency and HIPAA compliance to receive information fast and securely.

Solution

• Callidus Health contracted Mitel and its development partners who worked diligently to “incorporate voice and SMS functionality into the company’s two communications solutions — one for patients and one for doctors.” The patient voice and SMS functionality simplified after-hour patient requests and eradicated the need for third-party call centers and pagers.
• In this regard, Callidus Health’s CareLINK solution leveraged the Summit Platform for embedded voice and SMS communications and API integration from Mitel’s development partners to route patient requests to the correct physician based on the patient’s needs.
• The CareLINK solution removes the need for third-party answering services by notifying doctors about new patient requests via email or text for faster doctor follow up. Likewise, all texts and voice recordings are kept in the patients’ electronic records and can be accessed easily based on date, time, tags, etc.
• CareLINK also leverages Summit’s call scheduling solution to automate SMS and voice appointment reminders for patients. Overall, the text-to-speech functionality simplifies the capability to update appointment notifications.

Results

• In the end, Mitel’s development partners made sure Callidus Health’s two new solutions were up and running fast. The new solution also shifted the company’s efforts and focus on the telephony solution to leverage its industry expertise to focus on the clinical components and the patient/ doctor experience, which allowed it to solve many challenges they faced as doctors.
• Likewise, Mitel handled the infrastructure required to support the new software; thus, eliminated the extra efforts and costs the Callidus Health team could have incurred.
• Again, the new solution provided more room for changes to their code via Summit’s developer tools that allowed Callidus to easily and quickly make changes in-house as need arises.

BEAZLEY INSURANCE

Challenge

• Beazley is a worldwide specialist insurer that was founded in 1986 and has maintained an unbroken 34-year record of profitability. However, in 2020, the company had a workflow and communication challenge to address.
• After evaluating underwriting platform providers, Beazley’s IT department decided to develop an internal solution to meet its primary underwriting requirements. The team was tasked with integrating the best-of-breed tools into its platform architecture to “provide the insurance rating engine, document generation, business rules and workflow capabilities.”
• To effectively manage the thousands of policy generation processes between its primary underwriting platform, third-party platforms, and line of business users, Beazley’s team started researching workflow automation solutions that could help scale its U.S. volume for insurance underwriting operations.

Solution

• Beazley decided to implement HighGear’s no-code workflow automation platform to help it focus its development resources on enhancing internal underwriting operations, versus developing workflow and task management functionality from scratch.
• HighGear’s visual workflow tools “simplified the design of custom processes for seven teams, before standardizing and centralizing U.S. underwriting operations.”
• Equally, “enterprise task management continuously assigned thousands of tasks to shared work queues for completion by the underwriting operations team.”
• Lastly, HighGear’s real-time reporting and metrics delivered insights and visibility into the status of processes and service-level agreements (SLA) across its claims team, IT teams, and underwriting professionals.

Results

• Beazley’s flow of work between its “core underwriting platform, third-party systems, and unique processes for its teams and line-of-business users” is now managed by HighGear’s workflow automation solution.
• HighGear helped Beazley attain a “faster time to market, reduce the cost of delivering insurance underwriting products, increase capacity and improve the productivity of U.S. underwriting operations by 30%.”
• Within one year of deployment, HighGear enabled Beazley to “design, develop, and deploy new workflows independent” of its underwriting system, allowing the insurer to process 45% more risks year-over-year.
 
Source
 
• Overall, Beazley’s high-volume teams witnessed a 30% improvement in productivity once the new solution was implemented and the company can now measure turnaround time in minutes and not days like it was previously.

BNBUILDERS

Challenge

• BNBuilders, a West Coast general contractor specializing in highly technical commercial construction projects needed a daily check-in form based on the CDC requirements in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The company’s crisis response and safety teams needed to implement a daily check-in form for all its employees and visitors reporting to job sites and offices during the crisis.

Solution

• To ensure the safety of its employees and visitors and to keep track of them in case of contact tracing, BNBuilders implemented a daily check-in form developed by Nintex Workflow Cloud.
• Likewise, when its employees reported to a job site or office they access that location’s form by scanning a QR code.
• In case the response they received met any flagged parameters, BNBuilders’ safety team gets alerted to investigate the issue and escalated it to the crisis response team.

Results

• In the end, the solution resulted in over 28K unique form submissions in its first month of implementation.
• The check-in form also supported contact tracing and business continuity requirements.
• It also took Nintex Workflow Cloud a day to build the complete solution for BNBuilders.

INSUREON

Challenge

• Insureon CEO wanted to develop a machine-learning system to help its sales agents—“in real-time, while they were on sales calls—leverage all of our company’s collective knowledge in a given selling situation.”
• The aim was to record agents while on call using real-time transcription, then feed the recording into an AI solution to analyze and “learn from each call and provide those learnings to our agents in real time while talking to a customer or prospect.”
• Insureon’s plan needed three core technology solutions, i.e., “a real-time transcription solution, a machine-learning system to analyze data, and a phone system to work seamlessly with both solutions.” The company decided to leverage RingCentral Office and Voice API tools as its business communications solution.

Solution

• Insureon was already leveraging RingCentral Office for one of its call centers, and it had proven itself as a great business phone solution that is easy to manage, reliable, and easy to expand as when more capacity was needed.
• In this regard, Insureon found out it could use RingCentral’s API platform to integrate the sales tools & solutions it was developing for its sales-intelligence solution.
• Insureon selected XSELL’s HiPer for its artificial-intelligence solution and Velvetech for its transcription solution.
• Both Xsell and Velvetech spoke positively about RingCentral, which increased Insureon’s confidence that the two vendors could integrate their systems seamlessly via the RingCentral API.

Results

• Developing the machine-learning solution on RingCentral’s open API platform gave Insureon a significant competitive advantage. No company has such a capability to “monitor and record their calls in real time, do an automatic analysis of those calls, and use that knowledge to continually improve their practices company-wide.”
• The new solution helped Insureon learn new things that are vital for the growth and development of their industry, and the insights uncovered from the new solution also boosted the company's competitive edge.
• Since the deployment of the new solution, Insureon has seen “average call-handle times for its agents decrease by as much as 45%, because the artificial-intelligence solution helps to guide them much faster to the optimal path in the conversation that will lead to a conversion.”
• Another advantage of the new solution is it has led to a 52% increase in customer conversion rates and an increase in Insureon’s bottom line. Moreover, Insureon’s increased conversion rates are also benefiting its clients because the sales agents are learning how to find the optimal solution for each client’s need.

SERVICE COMPANIES WITH HIGH MARKS FOR EASE OF DOING BUSINESS

HomeAdvisor

•  HomeAdvisor is an online platform that connects residents to reliable and trustworthy home repair or improvement services in their locality. The company provides services in multiple categories, including HVAC repair, maid services, and home improvement. It also backs its offerings with a Happiness Guarantee.
• HomeAdvisor works with over 100,000 professionals that have been prescreened for legitimacy and safety to ensure that homeowners’ projects or repair works are handled by pros and contractors within their areas.
• The top pros for using HomeAdvisor based on over 21,759 reviews on Consumer Affairs include convenience, ease of use, instant online scheduling, and happiness guarantee, while its top cons include showing few companies and providing limited options in some areas.
• HomeAdvisor attracts many users due to its simplified website, proprietary search technology, and mobile app that quickly connects homeowners to the right pro for their home improvement needs.
• Equally, the website provides a full suite of resources, such as cost guides to enable homeowners compare what other sites are charging and a comprehensive resource center to inform users about home improvement.
• HomeAdvisor has managed to score high due to its streamlined workflow process. The first step involves a client selecting the category matching their home improvement needs. The client then answers a few questions to help them get matched with the best pros (at least four) to choose from. Lastly, HomeAdvisor connects the client to the best pro and provides them with the client information to contact them to start the project.

Tidy.com

• Tidy.com is on a mission to significantly enhance the economics and quality of home improvement services by leveraging technology. The platform connects pros looking to offer cleaning services with clients searching for pros to handle their cleaning needs.
• The company is among the top rated digital cleaning services in the U.S. The Spruce released a report on March 2021 that ranked Tidy.com the best overall among eight cleaning services in the U.S. because it is easy to schedule and its website and mobile app are simple and easy-to-use.
• Tidy.com’s high marks stem from its exclusive focus on cleaning, which it achieves through its crafted technology with solutions such as smart standbys in case the select cleaner fails to show up; easy management online for booking, scheduling, and even canceling; and customization capabilities, such as choosing who to clean, what to clean, and many more preferences.
• The company’s workflow includes five steps that begin with online booking, customizing the cleaning needs, tracking the cleaning online, then a certified cleaner cleans, and lastly Tidy.com provides an improved experience for better cleanings.

• Unlike other cleaning service vendors, Tidy.com spends time with cleaning pros and clients to understand the industry better. Then it leverages its in-house engineering team to develop a well-crafted cleaning experience to enhance the service.
• Overall, the company continually collects feedback to help make improvements for both the clients and cleaning pros. It also focuses on specific industries related to cleanings — especially homes, rental properties, and small offices.

Colonial Van Lines

• With over 1,645 positive customer reviews on Consumer Affairs, Colonial Van Lines provides long-distance relocation services. Its offering include full-service packing and storage options for corporate and household moves.
• The company assigns a personal relocation assistant to handle the moving needs and special transportation requirements. Its top advantages based on consumer reviews include renting portable moving containers; providing free, instant quotes; and has an easy booking process. Equally, its disadvantages include no local and international moves.
• Colonial Van Lines’ high marks originate from its provision of unrivaled professional care to ensure the safety of the client items; its trained, licensed, and insured professional movers offer highly reliable services; its services are cost effective; and it works quickly and efficiently.
• The company enjoys a big share of positive reviews across many review sites, including Trust Pilot, Consumer Affairs, Judy’s Book, Moving.com, Yelp, and Inc. 500. The positive reviews on these sites also help improve the company’s score and attractiveness to existing and new clients.
• Colonial Van Lines also prides in its industry-first moving service app that leverages technology to improve its services and make it easier for clients to access its services. The app allows customers to reach moving specialists, obtain cost estimates, and order moving boxes and packaging materials. It also features a checklist for customer to use as a reference when preparing to move.
• Overall, the simplified mobile app and website have helped improve Colonial Van Lines score among consumers. The positive reviews across the sites mentioned above emphasize the ease of use of the website and app as the company’s top advantages and competitive edge.

Brinks Home Security

• Brinks Home Security provides a broad range of security and home automation solutions to keep homes safe and secure. The company offers customers three plans, with each having a 30-day trial period. Brinks Home Security provides 24/7 professional monitoring services and a two-year warranty.
• The company is top rated in the security domain and attractive to users because it is affordable and highly advanced security systems. Its primary advantages include affordable options for every customer, friendly product warranties, simple setup, and compatibility with home smart solutions.
• On the other end, the company’s disadvantages include a strict cancellation policy and the lack of cameras in the basic package. However, despite the strict cancellation policy, many consumers still prefer the company’s straightforward pricing and more equipment options.
• The company’s high scores stem from various factors, including its “powerful and reliable smart home security with fast alarm response” that has earned many awards, including the “best-in-state customer service” recognition by Statista.
• Brink’s competitive advantage also adds to its high marks in ease of doing business and transacting an order. These scores have been made possible by the company’s continuous innovation that enable it to deliver cutting-edge products and alarm monitoring services to over one million customers in North America.
• Overall, consumer reviews across sites such as Trust Pilot and Consumer Affairs share a positive sentiment regarding the company. Its competitiveness, simplicity, and ease to transact a work order stem from its cutting-edge technological solutions and company promise to provide service through purpose, offer security in every detail, 24/7 availability, relentless standard of care, and collective success.

TRENDS IN TELEPHONE COMMUNICATION

AI-Enabled Smart VOIP Assistants to Become the Norm

• The main reason many companies are shifting to cloud telephony solutions is to enable them provide 24/7 service to their customers and address customer queries anytime and anywhere.
• In this regard, forward-thinking organizations are integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into their telephony systems to streamline daily tasks like routing or diverting calls to voicemail and to deliver more personalized customer services.
•  Combining AI and VoIP can potentially improve customer service offering for businesses. 2020 saw an increase in the adoption of AI-driven chatbots to address the increasing calls and customer queries in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Experts predict that in the coming years, many companies will leverage chatbots and programmed voice assistants to automate responses for basic questions. AI can help businesses save time, costs, & the human capital, and “eliminate linguistic barriers by analyzing speech patterns and enabling real-time call translations.”
•  AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast are examples of companies leveraging AI and chatbots for enhanced customer services.

5G Networks, IoT, and Smart Cities

• 5G, the most recent iteration of broadband connection delivers three primary upgrades, i.e., greater speed to transmit more data, reduces latency for improved load times, and increases the ability to connect multiple devices simultaneously.
• On the other hand, the IoT comprises a network of connected devices that communicate with each other and can be managed remotely. Experts predict that by 2021, there will be about 30 billion connected IoT devices in the world, including industrial connections that are a vital component of smart cities.
• Experts anticipate 5G networks to enable more “detailed and efficient augmented and virtual realities, higher resolution video, fully autonomous vehicles, massive connected IoT networks (like smart cities), and more.”
• Smart cities advance the IoT concept by establishing an interconnected network that residents can access online via a mobile app. Such a network powered by 5G will help people better manage day-to-activities in real-time and fast.
• With 5G network deployment ongoing, many urban centers are racing to introduce smart cities that will offer better quality of living for people by streamlining services and amenities like transportation and energy via smart technology. Examples of companies currently offering 5G network in the U.S. include Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, US Cellular, and MVNOs.

Growing Demand for UCaaS

• The last five years have witnessed continuous consolidation of communication channels to form an integrated service. These consolidations have resulted in a rise of Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS).
• UCaaS relies on VoIP technology to deliver integrated telephony systems and features like video & web conferencing, team collaboration, faxing, and instant messaging, among others.
• According to experts, 2021 will witness more and more companies shifting to cloud-based UCaaS solutions to build their communications networks. Among the core benefits of using UCaaS is to save both time and money when setting up the system.
• Overall, many companies would no longer buy and install separate solutions for video & audio, instant messaging software, and voice solutions. In this regard, they will have a competitive edge over their peers.
• Many companies are using UCaaS, including Forest Hills School District, which uses UCaaS for over 7,600 students and 250 administrators

TRENDS IN EMAIL COMMUNICATION

Email Still Remains the Most Effective Online Marketing Solution

• The unclear social media algorithms and cybersecurity concerns have forced businesses to continue relying on email communication for marketing campaigns and to talk with their customers.
• According to statistics, email sending volume is rising with volume increasing by 45% in 2020 compared to 2019.
• Additionally, people prefer email as a favorable medium to get information. The number of monthly subscribers collected online has increased by 40% since February 2021 and continues to increase.
 
Source
 
• Businesses continually look for new ways to collect emails and stay engaged with their customers. In 2020, the number of landing pages expanded by 70% since 2019, with the number of pop ups growing by 75%.
• Equally, e-commerce orders via email tripled in 2020 and experts assert that the number of orders and unique buyers continue to grow. With social distancing measures, more and more customers are expected to shop online rather than brick & mortar stores, and email is their preferred channel.

Increasing Email Accessibility for Small Businesses

• The COVID-19 pandemic has proven that email is the most effective ways businesses can stay in touch with their customers.
• Data shows that email continues to be the best performing marketing channel — delivering an average ROI of 4,400%. In this regard, email should be the first option for businesses seeking to create connections with their audiences.
• 2020 pushed brands to rely on connections more than ever and this was true for small businesses that use fewer communication channels. Interestingly, big tech companies like Facebook and Shopify have announced their own email products to offer these small businesses.
• Experts continue to assert that email is one of the best ways to reach large audiences quickly and effectively and its use is anticipated to grow beyond 2021 and into the future.
• Overall, with new players rolling out new email options and products for small and large businesses, the use of email for communication is likely to continue into the future and beyond. Many small and large businesses are leaning into the trend; hence, examples are numerous and include almost all small and large businesses.