The last couple of years have led to some complex changes and new technology demands for a wide range of companies. In every industry, business leaders have become increasingly reliant on flexible, cloud-based solutions to keep employees connected in an unpredictable world.
Non-profit organisations are no exception. With admirable ambitions to make the world a better place, these groups need to ensure their teams can stay connected wherever they are if they hope to achieve their goals. For Alta California Regional Center (ACRC), continuing to support adults and children with disabilities during the pandemic meant making a rapid shift into the cloud.
With the help of Avaya Cloud Office by RingCentral, ACRC was able to embrace a more flexible environment for collaboration and communication, while keeping users safe.
Here’s what happened with the Alta California Regional group and Avaya worked together.
Making a Sudden Transition Into Cloud
The Alta California Regional Center supports over 25,000 Californian clients with intellectual, developmental, and physical disabilities. The ability to serve these individuals is dependant on a flexible and reliable cloud communication solution capable of offering exceptional functionality at a price a non-profit corporation could afford.
ACRC had explored the potential benefits of cloud communications in the past (during 2017), but had failed to implement any transformational new solutions. However, when doors began closing in 2020, the group found itself with no option but to transition rapidly into the cloud to support staff members now working remotely.
As an existing Avaya customer, the California non-profit found Avaya Cloud Office by RingCentral to be the ideal solution for their needs. The group rapidly began rolling out the Avaya Cloud Office technology for more than 600 employees, distributed across 9 locations.
According to IT Engineer for ACRC, Phil Adams, Avaya was an obvious choice, as the brand wanted a reliable, well-known player in the industry. As an existing Avaya customer, the organisation already trusted the company to provide them with a fantastic cloud solution. Adams described Avaya as “great to work with” from beginning to end.
Cost Benefits and Simplified Service
Avaya Cloud Office has had a significant positive impact on ACRC. The organisation has seen a fantastic return on the transition from a CAPEX to OPEX model, reducing the smaller hidden expenses they had to deal with on a regular basis (Such as license and maintenance fees).
According to Adams, the non-profit group’s employees have everything they need to work effectively with Avaya Cloud Office, and the toughest parts of managing communications are already handled. The ecosystem even comes with solutions for disaster recovery. If any office suddenly goes dark, the phone system will continue running no matter what.
Avaya’s system can even accelerate and enhance communication where it’s needed most. The technology will also send an immediate update to everyone in the company when something significant happens to communication functionality.
As an additional benefit, Avaya Cloud Office also features built-in reporting and analytics, which the non-profit organisation had lacked for some time previously. Adams says it’s good to know what’s going on with the phone system, when the organisation’s busiest times are, and when calls are going in and out. This knowledge makes it easier to provide a higher level of service to clients.
Built-in analytics also provide the company with specific in-depth information about a single call or certain phone setup, for a deeper understanding of what really influences performance. According to ACRC, the solution allows the team to really focus on what matters most: clients.
Exceptional Reliability and Security
According to Tara Miller, the General Services Manager for ACRC, the organisation is usually hesitant when adopting new technology for staff. However, the Avaya Cloud Office feature-rich technology stack and easy implementation made it a no-brainer.
Avaya’s technology offers an easy-to-use application environment, where service coordinators can maintain a high level of productivity and efficiency. Every individual employee in the Alta California Regional Center can access their own conference bridge with full collaborative functionality built-in for enhanced team work.
The wider company can also create groups for service coordinators who might be working together in specific units of the organisation, such as early childhood or adulthood. Once these groups are established, managers can easily communicate with full teams at once through the Avaya Cloud Office environment. The executive management team also gains access to its own separate group for getting work done and communicating at speed.
ACRC has also introduced advanced texting functionality and video conferencing for the unit of the group responsible for serving hearing-impaired clients. This ensures the team can offer more of the specific services individual clients need.
With Avaya Cloud Office, ACRC can also ensure one number offers all the functionality they need. Service coordinators have the freedom to make calls from any device, from tablets to laptops, and it will always look like the call is coming from a trusted and verified number for clients. Before now, many clients would allow incoming calls to go to voicemail simply because they didn’t recognize the number the call was coming from.
Clients would also call the employee’s desk phone for further guidance, but these devices weren’t always equipped with call forwarding. Ultimately, there was a lot of back and forth which had a negative impact on productivity and client experience. Now, service coordinators can more effectively customize their communications environments with different features, wherever they are, and there’s no mixing of business or personal communications.
Alta California Regional Center is an important resource for tens of thousands of people in search of the right help for their care journey. With Avaya Cloud Office and the cloud technology powered by RingCentral, the group was able to navigate remote collaboration during the pandemic, and pave the way for better frontline work.
