The Benefits of a Single, Consolidated Platform

Published on 10/5/2020

Izzy is not the only choice for software to help manage your support line, but it is the only product that integrates all aspects of a support line.  This post will explain what that means, and how that integration: lowers operating costs, ensures comprehensive reporting and makes your staff & volunteers more productive.

What does other support line software look like?

Other services provide a suite of tools that, in conjunction with 3rd party services, give you everything to launch a support line — but it is less than ideal.  Typically, these rely on an answering service, to direct phone calls, and text/chat software that seems like a tacked on afterthought.

The answering services must be sent updated schedules daily or weekly, so they know where to route calls, and if schedules change, they must be constantly updated with the answering service.  Sometimes this is overcome with a shared cell phone — but this is costly and cumbersome as well.

When a call or text comes in, the supporter can log into the system to use the resource guide.  They will have to ask the user where they are to find local resources, and then copy/paste that information into the chat or speak to it to the client on the phone.

When the call is complete, the supporter must create a new call in the tracking module, enter the date, start and end time, caller’s number, and then fill out the call ticket.  

It works, but it’s a pain for both administration and for the support personnel.

What does Izzy’s integrated platform look like?

Izzy is run entirely from a simple, single dashboard that is intuitive and can be learned in 5 minutes.  

In terms of phone calls, Izzy integrates the scheduling system for call routing, removing the need for an expensive and cumbersome 3rd party answering service.  What does this mean?  It means that when a client calls, Izzy looks at the schedule, and starts dialing scheduled supporters until it finds one available to take the call.  

This makes changing phone numbers, trading shifts, sudden absentees all handled without any need to relay this to a call centre — it’s all taken care of automatically!

Furthermore, Izzy knows when a call is answered, so it automatically creates that conversation in the supporters dashboard.  Geolocation means it already knows to filter resources to within a certain radius of the caller — all the supporter has to do is click on the active call, and start searching for resources.

When the call is ended, Izzy knows this too.  The duration is tracked, the wait time, who answered, and the caller’s location.  All the support personnel must do now is complete the ticket and close it. No more worrying about supporters forgetting to track calls, since Izzy automatically creates it, it remains on the supporters dashboard until they complete the ticket and close it.  This means statistics are comprehensive, immediate, and complete.

For texts and chats, they too are completely integrated, and automatically tracked like phone calls.  This means every single one is tracked, supervisors can also view all active chats at any time, and geolocation is also used to ensure pertinent resources are found quickly and accurately.

How does that help my organization?

The benefits of this integration touches all aspects managing a support line, here are a few of the tangible benefits it provides:

• Supervisors
  • Live view of call activity
  • One schedule drives it all, no need to manage multiple versions of the same schedule
  • Easy to see if anyone is behind on paperwork
  • Supporters can self manage things like phone numbers and shift replacements — supervisors are kept in the loop, but don’t need to manage each one of these requests
• Support personnel
  • 30 – 60 seconds of time is saved per call since the system automatically creates calls and knows things like date, time, duration, location, phone number, etc.
  • Easy to use — the annoying things are done, just find the call, and complete the ticket
  • Send resources to clients with the click of a button, rather than copying and pasting
• Management
  • Every-single-call is tracked
  • Less data-input errors
  • Stops garbage-in-garbage-out reports since it force tickets to be completely filled in
  • Reporting tools are live, no need to wait for data to get inputted

Summary

In short, an integrated platform saves administrative time, improves quality of support to clients, increases supporter enjoyment and improves reporting.  Aren’t those things you’re looking for in your support line software?  Book a Demo to learn more!