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— Healthcare
General Manager Brendan James says that initial approach to creative problem solving set up a relationship between the two organisations that has lasted more than a decade
“They’ve been awesome to work with over a long period of time,” says Brendan.
Vet Services has four clinics in Dannevirke, Waipukurau, Hastings and Napier, employing over 160 staff, including close to 50 vets. The business provides a range of services to both the rural and urban communities in the region, combining production animal and specialist equine care with companion animal support. While the large animal practice was originally the backbone of the business, increasing urban development in Hawkes Bay and the wider region has seen enormous growth in the pet practice.
Brendan says Now has played a significant role in supporting the expansion of the business.
“After Now helped facilitate setting us up with fibre connections, it just grew from there,” says Brendan.
“They've been an integral partner for us around communication because we're a little bit old school in terms of the way the business works. People still want to pick up the phone and talk to somebody to book their animal in for an appointment or just get some advice.
And whilst online booking is continuing to grow, I'm not sure that the connection over phone will ever not be relevant.”
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One of the things which has worked really well, and is extremely important, is the interaction between Now and the team we outsource our IT to. They work really closely with Now’s technical team, making sure that the IT integrated properly with the phone system.
Given that frontline role, having a reliable phone system has become a significant part of Vet Services’ customer service focus.
“I've been with the business for 13 years, and the first couple of years before we started working with Now there were issues with not enough lines or the stepping not working properly or people simply not being able to get through,” says Brendan.
“There's nothing worse than ringing a business and you get stuck on hold, or no one has answered your call for five minutes. It's a sure-fire way for someone to hang up and pick the next provider on Google.”
“So, the client experience for us is really, really important and the phone system is a huge part of that.”
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Brendan says Vet Services’ reception team also play an important role in helping manage appointments and assess the urgency of requests for bookings and call outs, with the reporting available from Now allowing the business to regularly monitor demand.
“Given the nature of how we receive contact from clients – largely over phone – those sorts of metrics like monitoring missed calls and how long people are on hold for have been really, really helpful,” says Brendan.
“It also helps for us to work out how we resource properly in different areas. There might be one particular extension that gets nailed or gets hammered repeatedly – and there are some – this helps us figure out how we take the lumps out of the workflow.”
Vet Services also operates a practice management system which runs the whole business, looking after client records, running the point of sale and inventory systems, and managing an integrated general ledger.
“That sits across the whole business, and everybody works off that one system,” says Brendan.
“One of the things which has worked really well – and is extremely important – is the interaction between Now and the team we outsource our IT to. They work really closely Now’s technical team, making sure that the IT integrated properly with the phone system.”
“I have been involved in other projects, where you got a bit of a disconnect between those two parties. You feel like as a client, you're stuck in the middle, going, ‘how do we get this solved?’ It means we don't have to worry about it because we know that the relationship is good enough between the IT provider and Now that they sort it between themselves.”
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Now was also involved in the major building upgrades Vet Services have recently completed in Napier and Waipukurau.
“Now’s teams were integrally involved in both those projects, especially the Napier one, because we went from a 230 square meter clinic to a 650 square meter clinic,” says Brendan. “So right through the design stage, understanding the cabling requirements and data outlets and how that was going to work, Clare, the Now account manager, was a huge part of that.”
The business is also currently designing a 24-hour surgery, which will require round the clock phone coverage, as well as a new hold prompt system to direct clients to specific services or introduce them to seasonal campaigns and other support messages.
“And while it might sound like a small feature, having an extension number through the app on your mobile is awesome because you don't need a whole lot of hardware. Having it look like the call’s coming from landline – keeping the vet’s mobile numbers confidential – has been really helpful, too.”
“Overall having a good, reliable phone system, is integral to how we set up our client experience and affects our customer service satisfaction hugely.”