Tag Archives: Startel

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Startel Turned 40 in 2020!

Startel contact center software that delivers happiness to your customers
Startel turns 40t

But we all know that was not the big story of the year. Like so many other companies, the big story was COVID-19. This revealed Startel’s preparedness and subsequent ability to pivot amid the pandemic. Contact centers and answering services who use Startel were pleasantly surprised they were already prepared for a pandemic as they were able to successfully deploy thousands of remote agents throughout the ordeal. For Startel, this has been an unprecedented opportunity for innovation and growth, and they continue to make strides as they realize the permanent changes this worldwide crisis has left. 

Let’s look at the progress Startel has made in a year where everything seemed impossible. 

Startel Contact Management Center

Startel CMC 

The Startel CMC is not going anywhere, it is only getting stronger. With the acquisitions of the PTD and Tascom platforms, Startel has experienced many “Wow, that’s an excellent feature” moments from their new customers. As a result, they are taking those wow features and incorporating them into the Startel Contact Management Center (CMC). 

In the current Startel CMC 16.1 release, customers are managing actions (or priorities as some call them) similar to how PInnacle users do. Agents and dispatchers love being able to view all actions in queue and see how long each action has been waiting, as well as the time until a message delay or reminder has before it is due to be acted upon by an agent. 

Startel's Flex Agent Interface

Flex Agent Interface 

Startel has successfully taken their four-square classic agent interface and converted it into a flexible and easy to use tool for agents. Each window (such as on call, info pages, and scripting) can be docked, tabbed, unpinned, or separated into its own window of data allowing users to take full advantage of monitor real estate. 

In addition to this flexibility, the Flex AI is user friendly with on screen buttons and functions making the onboarding of agents a snap. With Flex AI, design a screen layout that gives agents what they need to see when and where they need to see it. Startel predicts by the end of 2022, most agents processing interactions on Startel’s CMC platform will be using FlexAI. 

Startel's GenIMX

GenIMX 

Startel is making significant advancements in products that allow you to increase customer engagement. One of these products is GenIMX with its diverse suite of features. 

GenIMX provides the ability to text enable your customers’ main business line. This product allows agents to interact with customers via text and picture messaging. Using GenIMX for main line texting allows centers to take advantage of another communications channel. 

In addition, GenIMX enables you to offer additional services to your clients such as appointment reminders, event notifications, brief survey services, and sending marketing messages. 

Startel Contact Management Center Rest API

Startel CMC Rest API 

The Startel API is a translator that allows custom designed software to request information directly and in real time from your CMC database. Startel’s CMC Rest API allows you or your customer to create custom applications to meet specialized needs. 

Do your customers want to automate pulling information into their CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software? Do you want to have your own reporting tools, designed by you and your staff? Have great ideas for a mobile app for your business? This tool will get you all of that.

Use the CMC Rest API to customize dashboards that suit your site’s specific needs, develop web-based applications for analyzing and monitoring staffing levels, and build your own tools for managing on-call calendars. 

Startel's Dashboard

Dashboard 

Manage the status of your entire contact center in real-time, from anywhere, with Startel’s browser-based dashboard. The dashboard allows you and your staff to monitor queues, service levels, and the status of each agent from inside or outside your network. 

Visually display workforce performance and service levels in the form of charts and graphs. Details for each agent’s current activity provides management with real-time updates from the convenience of their desktop, tablet, or flat screen monitors displayed throughout the contact center. 

The dashboard is customizable to each user’s role or needs. Once designed, set a customized layout as a view profile, save it as the default of the currently logged in user, or employ it as the default for all users. 

Startel's PocketVantage

PocketVantage 

Now, clients can manage their services from the convenience of their mobile phone with PocketVantage. Designed to be a product contact centers can offer to their customers to track their business, PocketVantage is a virtual portal to the messages saved in clients’ accounts on CMC. 

In addition to accessing messages, your clients can access their current on call information to verify who’s on call now or check on who was on call last night. CMC users’ clients can also login to the app to update member and client statuses, assuring that the correct dispatching protocols are being used. 

Startel's IntelliSite

IntelliSite Web Portal

The Startel Web Portal, also referred to as IntelliSite, is an effective, self-service solution that enables customers’ clients to successfully manage their business. From IntelliSite, users can access their account online from their PC, smart phone, or tablet. And, based on their assigned access rights, make changes to time activated alerts, on call schedules, directories, and members. Users can also access waiting messages as well as past messages previously delivered to the customer.

Startel IntelliSite is ideal for contact centers or telephone answering services. It is an excellent tool that can be offered to the end client as well as a convenient way to preserve your agents time for call handling. 

Startel's Secure Messaging Solutions

Secure Messaging Solutions 

Startel offers two solutions to meet their customers’ secure messaging needs:

Startel Secure Messaging Plus (SM+) is a two-way messaging service accessible as an application on one’s smartphone or tablet as well as via a secure website. SM+ maintains HIPAA (Health Insurance and Portability and Accountability Act) compliance by encrypting data at rest and in transit, offering a way to safely exchange sensitive information between providers and contact centers. Users can control message expiration, send attachments, track message status, and utilize group messaging. 

The Secure Message Gateway (SMG) allows users to send and receive electronic protected healthcare information to the most popular messaging providers. Startel has deployed integrations with TigerConnect, Halo, and pMD, with more being added in the future. The SMG provides the opportunity to work with healthcare organizations that have and established secure message platform with their organization. Agents can seamlessly dispatch and receive replies from these secure messaging providers without having to access additional third-party software. 

Startel's new SoftSwitch

SoftSwitch 2.0 

Startel’s second generation SoftSwitch continues to be installed and deployed across all three of their platforms. Startel’s SoftSwitch has solid stability due to years of coding and development expertise. It is a native SIP platform, enabling the integration of SIP-trunking and utilizing the latest VoIP protocols while allowing the use of analog, T-1, and PRI circuits. 

The SoftSwitch routes calls based on skill level, queue priority, and user-defined scenarios. It also provides real-time status of contact center activity via the Startel dashboard. The SoftSwitch 2.0 call return feature allows callers to opt out of queue requesting a call back when an agent becomes available. When on the request, the caller’s “call” remains in queue and holds the caller’s place in line. When the agent answers that call, the agent is prompted to accept the call back call and the agent is connected to an outbound call to the number left by the caller.

Startel's Total Billing Solution 3

Total Billing Solution 3

The pandemic has pushed consumers and companies to look for increased options for paying bills online and collecting payments more efficiently. This push has made Startel’s Total Billing Solution a popular tool. With the newly rolled out payment portal, companies can access statements, view invoices, and pay bills online at their convenience. 

The addition of the USAePay autopay integration, streamlines the user interface and eliminates the need for clients’ staff to learn the ACH transaction process of their organization’s financial institution. 

Startel 365

Startel365 (currently under development)

Startel’s newest development centers around the Startel365 browser-based agent interface, a 100 percent browser-based interface. This interface—that uses advanced scripting to guide agents through processing calls—needs no software footprint on the agent’s PC. That means no VPN, no remote desktop connection, and no softphone application. 

The planned functionality of this browser-based application layers over the current CMC database and CMC services. This has allowed Startel to overlay an interface using the latest in web design. 

Once developed fully, Startel365 will make onboarding of new agents faster by reducing training time. The browser-based tool is user friendly and is visually easy to navigate. Anyone with experience browsing the web can be trained in hours, not days, making them able to answer and process calls quickly. 

Startel365 is being designed with contact center clients in mind. This product started with a vision to help contact centers and answering services, with specialized customers, better serve their clients by significantly expanding support for automation and integration with the end customers CRMs, ticket management systems, and other third-party software. 

If your clients prefer to have your agents enter data directly into their own software, 365 will be the answer. With 365’s automations and integrations, agents can use the 365 interface for scripting and inputting information gathered from callers. And once saved, the data will be seamlessly inserted into the end customers’ software systems. Agents will no longer have to learn the intricacies of each client’s individual systems or programs. 

Startel

Learn more at Startel.com.

Articles

Vendor Profile: Startel

Startel contact center software that delivers happiness to your customers

For forty years, Startel has been providing cutting-edge solutions to the answering service industry. Including Alston Tascom, also celebrating forty years, and Professional Teledata (PTD) at thirty-seven years, they have a combined 117-year history of serving the market. Yes, they were not around when the telephone was invented in 1876, but in the last forty years, they have seen some major changes in the industry.

When Startel was founded in 1980, the world was connected by copper wire, all controlled by AT&T and Ma Bell. Every single answering service needed to be near or within a quarter of a mile of a phone company’s central office. Today they have thousands of providers and can have agents working from anywhere in the world. With 2020 being a year that everyone will remember, they are thankful for the huge strides telephony and their software platforms have made in the last forty years.

While technology and telephony have shaped the design of their software, founder Don Berry’s vision and passion for the industry and their customers is still alive today at Startel. His desire was to create a system to connect the world and keep the needs of the customer as the beacon that guides them. Don made sure that everyone on his team was aware that gaining customers and maintaining lifelong relationships with them and meeting their needs in a timely and professional manner were the keys to the future success of Startel. 

Flagship Platform—Startel CMC

With the acquisitions of PTD’s PInnacle and the Tascom platforms in the last few years, they experienced many “Wow, I wish our platform did that” moments within their company and from their customers. As a result, they have taken those “wow” features and incorporated them into the Startel Contact Management Center (CMC). With their upcoming CMC 16.0 release, customers will be presented an entirely new way to manage actions—or as some call them, priorities. Dispatchers will be able to see a live view of all the actions in queue and how long until the next dispatch step will be completed. Many more enhancements and must-have features are packed into the 16.0 release, so stay tuned for details.

Flex Agent Interface (FAI)

They took their four-square classic agent interface and converted it to be flexible. This new design allows agents to process calls easily and quickly by allowing them to move vital information where they need it. Designed with dockable windows, FAI allows agents to take full advantage of large and multiple monitors. Join the FAI revolution and design a screen layout that gives agents what they need to see when they need to see it. 

Secure Messaging Solutions

In today’s mobile and fast-paced world, the use of secure messaging applications has become the preferred channel of communication among business and institutional professionals as well as technicians in the field. It’s quicker, more efficient, and less invasive than a phone call. Startel offers two solutions to meet their customer’s secure messaging needs. 

Accessible from the web or an application downloaded to one’s smartphone or tablet, Secure Messaging Plus (SM+) offers a secure, HIPAA-compliant way to safely exchange sensitive information via text. SM+ users can maintain HIPAA compliance with data encryption in transit and at rest. Users can also control message expiration, send attachments, track message status, forward messages, and reply to an entire group. 

The Secure Message Gateway (SMG) allows users to send and receive electronic protected healthcare information to the most popular messaging providers. They have deployed integrations with TigerConnect, Halo, and pMD, with more being added in the future. The SMG provides the opportunity to work with healthcare organizations that have a secure message platform they prefer to keep. Agents can seamlessly dispatch to these other secure messaging providers without having to access a third-party solution. 

SoftSwitch 2.0

Their second generation SoftSwitch continues to be installed and deployed across all three of their platforms. SoftSwitch has solid stability due to their years of coding and development expertise. They are developing new features and functionality to the SoftSwitch, and as their clients’ teams get comfortable with the interface, they’ll be able to handle some of the programming themselves. The SoftSwitch is a native SIP platform, enabling the integration of SIP-trunking and utilizing the latest VoIP protocols while allowing the use of analog, T-1, and PRI circuits.

SoftSwitch routes calls based on skill level, queue priority, and user-defined scenarios. It also provides real-time status of contact center activity via the Startel dashboard. SoftSwitch 2.0 boasts a new call return feature that allows callers to opt out of queue and request a callback when an agent becomes available. Upon the request, a call is generated to hold the callers place in queue. When the agent answers, the agent is asked if they will accept the callback call. If accepted, the agent is connected to an outbound call to the number left by the caller. If the agent does not accept, the call goes to the next available agent. 

Total Billing Solution 3

Total Billing Solution (TBS) has had some enhanced features added this year. The pandemic has pushed consumers and companies to look for increased options for paying bills online and collecting payments more efficiently. Last year they rolled out ThePaymentPortal.com as a hosted, online, secure e-commerce site where a company can access statements, view invoices, and pay bills at their convenience. Many TBS customers incorporate the payment portal into their billing process.

This year they rolled out USAePay autopay integration. This streamlined interface eliminates the need for clients’ staff to learn their organizations’ banks’ ACH transaction process. Most importantly, USAePay has lower card transaction processing fees than the existing interface, which puts more money in their customers’ pocket.

What’s Next?

In August they held their first virtual Startel user group event and were joined by almost 300 of their customers. They shared many new products currently in development, including a first look at their cloud-based solution, Startel365. They are excited to have a new and innovative cloud solution being released. More details will be coming in 2021.

Startel

Learn more at Startel.com.

Articles

Vendor Profile – Startel

Startel contact center software that delivers happiness to your customers

The Unification: Startel, Professional Teledata, and Alston Tascom

It was only two years ago when three companies with long, rich histories in the evolution of software for telephone answering services were united. Startel and Alston Tascom’s resumes go back to 1980, while Professional Teledata started in 1983.

Since the merger in September 2017, Startel, Professional Teledata (PTD), and Alston Tascom (Tascom) have expanded their product offerings and expertise. Here’s a look at some of their latest innovations.

Secure Messaging Gateway Powered by Startel

As messaging technology has grown and evolved, healthcare organizations have been presented with many secure messaging applications from a wide variety of providers. In some cases, a single organization may have multiple platforms used in various departments and locations.

The secure messaging gateway, powered by Startel, allows users to send and receive electronic protected healthcare information, or ePHI, to the most popular messaging providers—OnPage, TigerConnect, DocbookMD, Twistle, Mediprocity, DocHalo, pMD, HipLink, Telnyx, Imprivata, TelmedIQ—from one HIPAA-compliant application.

Secure Messaging Plus 

In today’s mobile and fast-paced world, the use of secure messaging applications has become the preferred channel of communication among business and institutional professionals as well as technicians in the field. It’s quicker, more efficient, and less invasive than a phone call. Because of that, Startel offers Secure Messaging Plus.

Accessible from the web or an application downloaded to one’s smartphone or tablet, Secure Messaging Plus (SM+) offers a secure, HIPAA-compliant way to safely exchange sensitive information via text. Users experience all the benefits of texting, but in a secure manner and environment. With Secure Messaging Plus, users can:

  • Maintain compliance: Stay HIPAA, GLBA, and SOX-compliant with messages and attachments that are encrypted in transit and at rest on devices using SM+ as well as on the servers which house the content prior to expiration. Startel also undergoes an extensive annual HIPAA audit to ensure it has met or exceeded compliance standards.
  • Control message expiration: Set messages to expire at a predetermined time or when marked as read or filed. Messages that do not have a defined expiration will expire within the originating subscriber’s default number of days, not to exceed thirty. This feature offers users an additional layer of security.
  • Send attachments: Securely send and receive attachments such as voice recordings, audio, and image attachments for better collaboration with colleagues. This is a key feature for physicians and staff to consult on patient files.
  • Track message status: Subscribers can know when a message from their device has been sent, viewed, read, and filed. Using SM+ in conjunction with the Startel CMC, messages and their content are fully tracked, archived, and encrypted. Administrative personnel can generate real-time reports based on several criteria, including duration of time and subscriber use.
  • Forwarding of messages: Prior to sending a message, users can indicate which messages can be forwarded. Administrators can also enable certain accounts to not allow message forwarding.
  • Group response and messaging. When replying to a group message, users can choose to reply directly, either only to the sender or to the entire group.

Flex Agent Interface 

Startel took their agent interface to the next level with Flex AI (FAI). This new design allows agents to process calls easily and quickly by allowing them to move vital information where they need it. Designed with dockable windows, FAI allows agents to take full advantage of large and multiple monitors. 

Startel recognizes the continued need for simplicity and efficiency within their community. Classic AI will still be available in future CMC versions to support the needs of those call centers who choose not to transition to FAI.

SS 2.0 Deployment

The Startel softswitch routes calls based on skill level, queue priority, and user-defined scenarios. In addition, it also provides real-time status of contact center activity via the Startel dashboard. The softswitch resides on a Linux server and uses software to route calls, eliminating the hardware needed in legacy switches and creating a more reliable platform with fewer points of failure. The softswitch includes Startel’s embedded voicemail and voice logger solutions, eliminating the need for separate servers and expensive cards for integration.

In Startel Softswitch 2.0, a new call return feature allows callers to opt out of a queue and request a callback when an agent is available. Upon the request, a call is generated to wait in queue. When the agent answers, the agent is asked if they will accept the callback call. If accepted, the agent is connected to an outdial attempt to the number left by the caller. If the agent does not accept, the call goes to another agent.

The Startel softswitch is more reliable, because it uses servers with redundant drives and power supplies, and there are fewer points of failure. A second softswitch server provides redundancy and disaster recovery for the switch, voicemail, and voice logger, and it can even deploy at a second location, giving additional options to enhance business continuity.

The dashboard gives an organization a real-time view of traffic and SLAs via a PC on the network, a remote PC, a smartphone, a tablet or even a large flat-screen TV mounted in the contact center.

Organizations now capture more accounts by offering services that their competition cannot. The Startel softswitch uses open architecture software protocols, which enables companies to develop integrations into third-party software.

Secure web access to voicemail, voice logger, and system dial plan provides easy access for programming and enables remote diagnostics, soft fixes, and software uploads.

The Startel softswitch is a native SIP platform, enabling the integration of SIP-trunking and utilizing the latest VoIP protocols while also allowing the use of analog, T-1, and PRI circuits as well.

TBS Payment Portal

ThePaymentPortal.com is a hosted, online, secure e-commerce site where a company’s accounts can access statements, view invoices, and pay bills at their convenience. It is an optional feature for Professional Teledata’s accounts receivable billing system, Total Billing Solution 3 (TBS3). The system requirements to run ThePaymentPortal.com are:

• Total Billing Solution version 3.1

• Advantage Database Server version 11.1

• An updated TBS3 license, one for each database

• A USAePay account for each TBS3 database to collect payments online

The Customer Spot 

The Customer Spot (TCS) is the self-service customer portal where Startel, Professional Teledata, and Alston Tascom users can create new cases, track existing cases, access the knowledge base for relevant company and product resources, and stay up to date with company news and announcements. 

Custom Branded Resource 

Need some marketing materials to help grow your brand? Startel has created a variety of marketing materials that they will brand for customers to grow their contact center, call center, or telephone answering service. This is possible because Startel knows they are not just a vendor to their customers—they are a valued partner. Startel recognizes that their customer’s success is tantamount to their own success.

Startel

What’s Next? 

Stay tuned for Project Nova and more exciting innovations from Startel.

News

Startel Announces Retirement of Wayne Scaggs

Startel contact center software that delivers happiness to your customers

Startel, Professional Teledata, and Alston Tascom, leading providers of contact center solutions, announced that Wayne Scaggs will retire as the company’s director of corporate strategy effective January 1, 2019.

Scaggs joined Alston Tascom (previously known as Conrac Alston) in 1979 after leaving Bell Helicopter. He began his career with the company as a field service engineer and progressed through the organization in a variety of roles until he had the opportunity to purchase the company in 1994. He served as the president of Alston Tascom until September 2017, when Startel, Professional Teledata, and Alston Tascom merged.

“As I reach forty years with Alston Tascom, I have given this decision a great deal of thought and concluded that the time is right for me to take this step,” said Scaggs. “I’m grateful to have had such a long and fulfilling career, and I’m confident that Startel has the right strategy and team to drive our business forward. I’m looking forward to retirement and spending time categorizing my world money collection from 153 different countries and traveling with my wife, Joanne.”

“On behalf of the company, we thank Wayne for his tremendous contributions and almost forty years of dedicated service to Alston Tascom,” said Brian Stewart, president and CEO of Startel. “Those of us who have had the privilege of working with Wayne know that Startel is a better company because of him. We will miss Wayne, but we wish him the very best in this well-earned retirement.”

Startel

For more information, call 949-863-8776 or visit www.startel.com.

News

Startel and Professional Teledata Successfully Complete HIPAA Assessment

Startel contact center software that delivers happiness to your customers

Irvine, CA—June 11, 2018—Startel and Professional Teledata, leading providers of contact center solutions, today announced that the companies successfully completed their Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) assessment. This marks Startel’s fourth and Professional Teledata’s first assessment for HIPAA compliance and reinforces the companies’ commitment to protecting consumer data and privacy.

SecurityMetrics, a global leader in data security and compliance, performed the third-party compliance assessment. Following an evaluation of Startel and Professional Teledata’s office locations, data centers and software solutions, it was determined that the companies implemented policies and procedures to fulfill its obligations under HIPAA and Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH). Both companies received scores of 100 percent for compliance posture of administrative, physical and technical safeguards as well as organizational requirements.

“We are thrilled with this year’s compliance achievements,” said Startel, Professional Teledata and Alston Tascom President and CEO, Brian Stewart. “HIPAA security and compliance are top priorities for us. We look forward to continuing to deliver contact center solutions and services that help our customers grow their business and safeguard electronic protected health information.”

“Startel and Professional Teledata successfully implemented policies, procedures and safeguards designed to comply with HIPAA,” said Brand Barney, Senior HIPAA Security Analyst at SecurityMetrics. “Throughout the audit, we took into account the size, capabilities, cost and probability of risk when evaluating the security measures implemented by Startel and Professional Teledata.”

The full HIPAA report is available to customers upon request. The companies will also sign Business Associate Agreements with clients who require HIPAA compliance. Next year’s audit will include an assessment of Alston Tascom’s operating environment, data center and solutions.

Startel

Startel, Professional Teledata and Alston Tascom are leading providers of unified communications, business process automation, and performance management solutions and services. With a combined ninety plus years of experience, the companies have established a loyal customer base in healthcare, contact centers and a dozen additional industries. Startel, Professional Teledata, and Alston Tascom leverage their unique solutions and industry knowledge to empower organizations to improve agent productivity, reduce operating costs and increase revenues. For more information, call 949.863.8776 or visit www.startel.com.

News

Startel Announces Unified Product Advisory Board

Startel contact center software that delivers happiness to your customers

Startel, Professional Teledata, and Alston Tascom announced the members of the company’s unified product advisory board (PAB). The twelve individuals selected represent each of the company’s three user groups: TeamSNUG, PINetwork, and TUG. Their primary responsibility is to provide input related to the company’s strategic product planning.

Startel, Professional Teledata, and Alston Tascom will work with the unified board to help set future product direction. Feedback generated from the PAB will assist the company in building the next generation of products. The following members will serve on the 2018–020 unified PAB:

  • Ryan Ambs, Ambs Call Center, Jackson, MI
  • Kevin Bachelder, Ansaphone Services, Quincy, MA
  • Luis Bedoya, Answering Service Care, Margate, FL
  • Matt Bogan, King’s Telemessaging, Shreveport, LA
  • Kristal Fye, Ace Answering Service, State College, PA
  • Ken Goldenberg, Direct Line Tele Response, Berkeley, CA
  • Jodi Gregory, Clementine, Harper Woods, MI
  • Peter Gross, Sunshine Communication Services, Inc, Coral Gables, FL
  • April Kasza, Allgood Communications, Inc., Pueblo, CO
  • Ray Shaw, Business & Professional Exchange, Beverly, MA
  • John Vaughn, Honest Answering, LLC, Houston, TX
  • Jeffrey Wood, Contact One Call Center, Tucson, AZ

“Our vision for the PAB is to have customers share how they are using our products in the real world and the three companies to share with PAB members our current plans and future directions,” said Brian Stewart, President and CEO of Startel, Professional Teledata, and Alston Tascom. “We are thrilled with the amount of interest we have had in this program and are very pleased with the members who have been selected to assist us in building our unified contact center platform.”

Startel

Overseeing the board is Wayne Scaggs, director of corporate strategy. The unified PAB will meet three times during the next twelve months.

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Startel Announces New Chief Customer Officer

Startel contact center software that delivers happiness to your customers

Startel, Professional Teledata, and Alston Tascom added a new senior-level management position to their leadership team. Effective immediately, Renita Dorty will begin the new role of Chief Customer Officer (CCO) for the three companies.

This new position will be responsible for all aspects of the companies’ customer service strategies and will provide a comprehensive view of the user experience to create initiatives focused on maximizing customer retention, developing more efficient processes, and facilitating client communications.

Dorty has thirteen years of experience in the contact center and telephone answering service (TAS) industry, most recently, as the executive vice president of Nationwide Inbound Inc., a full-service customer contact center that provides professional telephone services and live customer support for companies across North America and Canada.

In her role at Nationwide Inbound Inc., Dorty oversaw the growth of the company from a small telephone answering service to a contact center serving hundreds of companies representing over fifty industries. She is well-versed in all aspects of the contact center industry and has served as president of the Startel National User Group, TeamSNUG.

“I’m thrilled to welcome Renita to our senior management team,” said Brian Stewart, president and CEO of Startel, Professional Teledata, and Alston Tascom. “Renita is uniquely qualified for this new role. She is a highly skilled management and operations professional and has a strong background in the customer service industry. We are thrilled to have her join our team at this exciting time in the development of our unified companies.”

Startel

Startel, Professional Teledata, and Alston Tascom provide unified communications, business process automation, and performance management solutions and services. The companies have a loyal customer base and use their solutions and industry knowledge to empower organizations to improve agent productivity, reduce operating costs, and increase revenues. For more information, call 949-863-8776.

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Call Center Vendors Launch Marketing Resources Center

Startel contact center software that delivers happiness to your customers

Startel, Professional Teledata, and Alston Tascom launched their new marketing resources center, making custom-branded promotional materials available to their customers. The marketing resources center is a web-based repository housing a variety of promotional videos, flyers, infographics, and user guides that can be branded for use by the companies’ clients to promote the solutions and services provided by their telephone answering service, call center, or contact center.

The digital collateral is designed to assist with promoting the key features and benefits of stand-alone solutions such as Secure Messaging Plus, Secure Messaging Gateway, IntelliSite Web Portal, The Payment Portal, and more. “We are excited to offer this needed and value-added service to our customers,” said Startel, Professional Teledata, and Alston Tascom president and CEO, Brian Stewart. “One of the requests that I have personally heard from our customers is for us to help them sell their services and to provide them with tools to assist them in doing so.”

Startel

For more information, call 949-863-8776 or visit www.startel.com

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Startel, Professional Teledata, & Alston Tascom Unify Brand; Revamp Website

Startel contact center software that delivers happiness to your customers

Startel, Professional Teledata, and Alston Tascom revealed their new unified brand to users of all three of the companies’ software platforms at their first combined user group conference in Denver, Colorado.

The new branding follows the 2015 merger of Startel and Professional Teledata and the subsequent September 2017 merger with Alston Tascom. These moves further expand the companies’ product offerings, broaden markets, and enhance technical resources and expertise.

The new brand is visually represented by uniting all three company logos and includes the addition of “Powered by Startel” to the Professional Teledata and Alston Tascom logos.

In conjunction with the new visual branding, content previously found on the three separate company websites is now located on a revamped and unified site, startel.com. The website includes all company product information, a timeline of the combined company history, an overview of the three user groups, and a newsroom of compiled press releases and news features.

The website also includes access to a new self-service customer portal called The Customer Spot, allowing clients of all three companies to open and track cases, access a knowledge base of product information, and order co-branded marketing resources.

Startel

“We were thrilled to reveal the new branding to our clients at our first ever combined user group conference,” said Startel, Professional Teledata, and Alston Tascom President and CEO, Brian Stewart. “We have been making great strides working together as a unified company to enhance the user experience and improve our product offerings and services. This new look will go a long way to reinforce and communicate our efforts.”

News

Dan L’Heureux and Renita Dorty Receive Awards

Startel contact center software that delivers happiness to your customers

Startel, Professional Teledata, and Alston Tascom recognized Dan L’Heureux and Renita Dorty during the companies’ first combined user group conference in Denver, Colorado. Dan L’Heureux is the recipient of the 2018 Allen Kalik Award and Renita Dorty is the recipient of the 2018 Don Berry Award of Excellence.

Allen Kalik Award

The Allen Kalik Award was implemented in 2011 after the passing of industry leader and Professional Teledata’s late president, Allen Kalik. Honoring Allen for his tremendous contributions to the telecommunications industry and the PInnacle Users Group (PIN), this award recognizes individuals whose dedication and leadership have led to the advancement of PIN.

“PIN would not be where it is today without Dan’s commitment and dedication to the group,” said Nate Gefvert, systems administrator of Towne Answering Service and the 2017 Allen Kalik Award recipient. “The merging of the three user group conferences has not been without challenges, but Dan has served as a bridge between the user groups and has helped guide us through the process. I have no doubt that as our community grows, Dan will continue to be an invaluable asset.”

L’Heureux has more than forty years’ experience in the industry. He has served as the executive director of both PIN and the Startel National User Group (SNUG) for fourteen years and twenty years, respectively. Previously, he was the president of A-Alpha, Incorporated from 1977-1997.

“I am humbled to accept this award and join past recipients who I have long admired and respected,” said L’Heureux. “Serving as the executive director of both PIN and SNUG has provided me with a rich network of friends, and the opportunity to stay connected to the TAS industry. With the addition of the Tascom Users Group, I am thrilled to see the three groups come together and happy to have played a role in this year’s combined conference.”

Don Berry Award of Excellence

The Don Berry Award of Excellence was created in memory of Startel’s founder, Don Berry. Individuals who receive this award exemplify excellence in the advancement of SNUG and its members.

“The quality I appreciate most about this year’s recipient is her sense of teamwork,” said John Carey, senior systems engineer of Startel and the 2017 Don Berry Award of Excellence recipient. “Renita is a great teammate but an even better team builder and leader. Our user group is stronger because of Renita and her contributions.”

Dorty served on the SNUG board from 2009-2013 and again from 2015-2018 in a variety of roles, including conference, and membership chairs. She also served as the president of SNUG from 2016-2017. Most recently, she led focus groups aimed to review product wishes and recommend enhancements of the Startel Contact Management Center.

“I am truly honored to receive this award and to be recognized among previous esteemed recipients,” said Dorty. “I have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of this incredible group and serving our membership.”

Startel

Startel, Professional Teledata, and Alston Tascom leverage their solutions and industry knowledge to empower organizations to improve agent productivity, reduce operating costs, and increase revenues. For more information, call 949-863-8776 or visit www.startel.com.