Building a feature rich and scalable phones system for a growing multi location dental practice
A cloud based PBX managed by Ashcor Technologies and utilizing ClearlyIP sip trunks, Fax to Email service and phone hardware/software was installed.
Call routing for each location was based on the local phone number and individual routing calendars. Call Queue functionality was implemented to allow the receptionist to efficiently handle a larger volume of calls and cut down on the number of unanswered calls.
Overview
Green Pond Dental Associates, a growing dental practice in New Jersey, needed a reliable, feature-rich, and scalable phone system (PBX) that could serve multiple office locations.
Challenge
Provide a reliable, flexible, low-cost, and feature-rich managed phone system that can accommodate multiple office locations in different geographic regions.
Green Pond Dental Associates had an established location in northern NJ and had just purchased a practice in south Jersey. The requirements were to have an easy-to-use and reliable phone system that would enable employees in both locations to handle not just their locations’ phone calls but also take calls from other locations during busy periods or when other locations were shorthanded.
The system needed to make the employees as efficient as possible while providing a 24/7/365 communication avenue for patients.
Solution
An AshCorTel cloud base PBX combined with SIP trunks and software from ClearlyIP.
A multi-location PBX, or private branch exchange, is a telephone system that allows multiple users at different locations to communicate with each other. This type of system is often used by businesses with multiple office locations to enable employees to easily connect with one another, regardless of their physical location.
These systems can be installed locally on the business premises or hosted virtually on a cloud server. Either design will accommodate multiple locations however in order to have the maximum uptime and eliminate the possibility of local communication issues at the hosting location affecting the overall system performance, a cloud-based system was designed and implemented.
There are several benefits to using a cloud-based PBX system, including:
- Cost savings: Because cloud-based PBX systems are hosted and managed remotely, businesses can avoid the upfront costs and ongoing maintenance expenses associated with traditional on-premises PBX systems.
- Flexibility: Cloud-based PBX systems can be easily scaled up or down to accommodate changes in the number of users or locations.
- Improved reliability and uptime: Cloud-based PBX systems are typically highly reliable and have minimal downtime, as the system is managed and maintained by the provider.
Overall, a cloud-based PBX system can provide businesses with a flexible, cost-effective, and reliable solution for managing their internal and external communication needs while not requiring any single location to be online.
Hosting the PBX on a virtual server in a secure data center allows for optimal uptime and uninterrupted service regardless of the state of the local office. Even if one or all of the office locations are down or experiencing loss of local power or internet services, the PBX will continue to receive and route calls.
During local outages, calls can be rerouted to other offices or softphone applications on cell phones or computers in any location.
Inbound calls are routed according to the number the patient called, the day of the week, and the time of the call. Softphone applications allow the doctors to receive/return patient calls after hours through the PBX. This allows the doctors the convenience of using their personal smartphones without showing their personal contact information. Since they are using the app to call through their office PBX, the receiving party sees the office CallerID and not their personal information.
Calendars and schedules can also be set on the PBX so that the doctors can rotate who is on emergency after-hours call without needing an expensive after-hours call service.