Vendor Spotlight on Telescan: Growth through Innovation

Amtelco Cloud-Based Platform Solution

For more than thirty-five years, Telescan has produced innovations in hardware and software for the telemessaging industry, call centers, and telephone answering services with the same philosophy: to be the best in the industry and keep their clients up and running 24/7.

Welcome Amtelco: Telescan is proud to welcome Amtelco to their family. On December 20, 2012, a joint announcement was made combining Amtelco and Telescan. The announcement was issued by Roger Young, president of Telescan, Tom Curtin, president of Amtelco, and Joe Everly, CEO of Amtelco.

This was not the first time that either company created new market opportunities through corporate innovation and collaboration. Telescan combined forces with Axon Communications in 2003, and innovations from the Axon platform created great benefits for the combined company and the Spectrum system.

Amtelco and Telescan combine two strong development teams; growth through innovation continues with joint teams in Missouri and Wisconsin, creating Web, messaging, and switch innovations for users.

“Both company’s products are recognized in the industry as the very best in class. We can go forward together with even more robust product offerings. In doing so, we can offer the most innovative solutions to make [our customers] even more successful,” said Tom Curtin.

Amtelco and Telescan Shared Culture: Since the merger, collaboration between the two companies has proceeded smoothly, largely due to their shared values and similar histories:

  • Both companies were founded in 1976: Amtelco by Bill Curtin II in Wisconsin and Telescan by George Meyer in Missouri.
  • Both founders are recipients of the ATSI Hall of Fame Award.
  • Both owners’ families are involved in the industry.
  • Vibrant user groups are active and provide member support to users of both systems. TUNe (Telecommunications Users Network) is the user network for Telescan owners. TUNe and Telescan work together to bring innovations and focus on the success of Spectrum users. NAEO (National Amtelco Equipment Owners) gave an enthusiastic welcome to Telescan at their 2013 conference.
  • Great five-star service is a priority for both companies.

What’s New? In recent months Telescan’s flagship Spectrum system has incorporated enhancements to the way Spectrum users call and deliver services. Here are a few of the new benefits:

Spectrum Secure Delivery: Secure delivery puts Spectrum owners completely in control of message delivery to Web-enabled devices. The Spectrum secure delivery server communicates with the secure delivery app running on the client’s device. The call center maintains control over the message and meets the latest security standards.

Spectrum Data Manager’s New Call Routing Feature: Spectrum’s enhanced call routing takes the existing concepts of account priority and agent capabilities to a higher level of efficiency in the call center. Advantages and benefits include:

  • More efficient use of higher skilled agents, allowing them to handle more difficult calls first, while seamlessly interleaving less difficult calls in the presence of high call volumes, thereby reducing labor expenses.
  • Effective isolation of agents who are in various stages of training, presenting them only with those calls they are trained to handle, thus reducing the potential for errors and improving customer satisfaction.
  • Ability to raise the priority of calls under busy conditions to prevent call starvation.
  • Ability to route calls to agents performing administrative functions during call traffic spikes.
  • More effective call-traffic segregation in multi-office installations or within an office, such as order entry versus medical or commercial.
  • New revenue streams can be created with the ability to define and control levels of service, including a new emergency mode.

Message Commands and File Commands: New message and file commands give agents better message control and move hang-ups and wrong number calls away from the normal call processing.

Cross-Platform Products: Telescan has a long history of creating products that help the growth of any telemessaging company, regardless of switching platform. Spectrum Messenger, Spectrum Web Appointment Scheduler, and Spectrum Funeral Home Manager are three market leaders.

Spectrum Messenger provides secure chat and screen monitoring for call center in-house and remote agents. It allows users to define agent, supervisor, and group capabilities that streamline its operation. High encryption guarantees network-messaging security and allows for worry-free communication of sensitive information.

Now available to Spectrum users is Amtelco’s miSecureMessages, a powerful subscription-based Smartphone paging and messaging application built for Android™, Apple™, and BlackBerry® mobile devices. To maintain the security of Protected Health Information (PHI), miSecureMessages is vital to meeting HIPAA and HITECH regulations.

Spectrum Web Appointment Scheduler: The Spectrum Web Appointment Scheduler offers convenient appointment handling that closely ties clients to their call centers. No third-party system is necessary, so each call center is in complete control.

The appointment scheduler programming is easy and handles the full range of appointment schedules, including the most difficult protocols.

Spectrum Web Appointment Scheduler is Web-enabled and includes real-time updates, so there are no double bookings.

Spectrum Funeral Home Manager: For call centers looking for a way to improve service to funeral home customers, Telescan has an answer. Updating obituaries and memorials for funeral home clients is not only time-consuming but costly for call center clients. Spectrum Funeral Home Manager is a Web-based application that enables funeral home clients to create and maintain a database of information regarding funeral arrangements.

Since this information is accessible to agents, they can view the updated funeral arrangement information whenever a call comes in. The information is displayed in a uniform format, making it easier for agents to find the exact information requested.

Spectrum Funeral Home Manager can reduce errors and make call information more accurate by allowing funeral home staff to input pertinent information.

Amtelco’s Telescan Business Continuity Plans: It is important for every call center to have a plan in place in the event of business interruption due to telephone outages, power outages, and natural disasters. Amtelco is now providing call centers with hosted solutions to keep them up and running and providing service to their clients.

Amtelco’s Telescan business continuity partnerships are serviced by two data centers that are served by multiple connections to the Internet and the public switched telephone network. The production data center is SSAE 16-certified, equipped with system-operability monitoring software, and staffed by experienced and bonded service personnel who monitor the operating components twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Future Developments: Amtelco’s powerful Intelligent Series (IS) Messaging will soon be available to Spectrum system users. Intelligent Messaging reduces errors and increases efficiency by guiding agents through the flow of the message and automatically validating the information entered into each field of the message.

[From Connection Magazine September 2013]

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