The COVID-19 pandemic has put healthcare systems worldwide to the ultimate test, with organisations either persisting or failing.

With healthcare professionals in short supply, nursing agencies like Australia’s Caring For You had to step up to ensure they can meet the urgent needs of their clients.

One particular area of concern for the nursing agency was its communication channels, which were limited only to voice. Hence, long wait times during phone calls often frustrated their clientele, recalled Torben Wick, Business Analyst, Caring For You.

“Our operators had to handle voice interactions separately from other channels, such as email, which led to inefficiencies and increased response times,” he said.

Additionally, the lack of integrated voice capabilities made it difficult to track and analyse customer interactions, leading to a disjointed view of the customer journey, and hindered the ability to provide personalised and efficient support.

This was when Caring For You decided it was time to adopt a new communication platform and eventually partnered with Zoom.

Zooming in on convenience

After adopting Zoom’s Contact Centre solution, Caring For You was able to streamline customer interactions without customers needing to press any dial buttons or go through lengthy IVR menus, thanks to advanced voice routing options.

Furthermore, Zoom’s integrated platform helped Caring For You’s operators in handling voice interactions alongside other channels within a single software solution. This streamlining of communication channels is said to have improved efficiency, enabling operators to switch between different channels and ensuring a consistent and convenient customer experience.

“The adoption of Zoom’s solutions has transformed our ability to provide exceptional customer service across various channels, including voice. It has enhanced our responsiveness, reduced wait times, and enabled a more integrated and efficient approach to customer support,” remarked Caring For You’s Torben Wick.

Zoom’s platform was also instrumental in Caring For You’s business continuity, particularly during a six-hour power outage incident.

During that time, the nursing agency leveraged Zoom Phone’s quick backup capability, recalled Philip Zammit, Head of Customer Experience, Asia Pacific & Japan, Zoom.

“By diverting phone traffic to other locations and employees working from home, Caring For You was able to continue allocating shifts and answering calls without any interruption,” Zammit said.

In the meantime, as Caring For You expanded its operations and established offices in different states across Australia, they faced the challenge of educating customers on contacting their respective local support teams.

To address this, existing customers had to update their contact details for Caring for You to the new local number for each state’s office. Doing so manually, Zammit said, such as calling up each existing customer in the database and getting them to update the number on address books, would have taken a long time to complete.

“Zoom Contact Center automated the process by routing customer calls to the landline of the offices in their respective states. This helped Caring For You ensure a personalised experience for customers in each state, with operators that had the necessary local knowledge, whether it was onboarding new customers or helping existing ones transition,” the Zoom executive explained.

Positive results

Across its business operations, Caring For You reported significant improvements since the adoption of Zoom’s communications solutions.

The use of Zoom Contact Center, for example, provided them with valuable metrics and insights that helped measure and improve key operational aspects. 

“We can easily track and analyse metrics such as wait time, call resolution time, and agent productivity. This data allows us to identify any bottlenecks or areas for improvement in our operations and make necessary adjustments to enhance efficiency,” Caring For You’s Torben Wick said.

The contact centre solution also facilitated better workload distribution across Caring For You’s team. Since they can now monitor call volumes and agent availability in real time, the nursing agency was able to allocate resources more effectively, ensuring that the workload is evenly distributed among our staff members.

Previously, Caring For You was using another videoconferencing platform; however, it did not provide the company with the flexibility and scalability it needed, whether for internal team meetings or for engaging with clients, Wick said.

“Zoom’s scalability has been a major advantage for our company. The platform seamlessly accommodates various meeting sizes, from one-on-one conversations to large-scale webinars and conferences. Whether we need to hold internal team meetings or engage with external clients, Zoom’s scalability allows us to scale our meetings effortlessly and efficiently,” he shared.

Caring for the future

Caring For You is determined to use all available tools to continuously innovate and improve its services, including the ongoing development and optimisation of the AI web chatbot.

“We aim to design the chatbot in a way that seamlessly combines personal interaction with intelligent AI responses. By leveraging Zoom’s platform, we can integrate the chatbot into our customer support channels and provide tailored assistance based on individual needs and preferences,” Caring For You’s Torben Wick said.

The nursing agency also plans to explore the use of Zoom’s analytics and reporting features to gain deeper insights into its customer interactions.

“By analysing data on customer preferences and feedback, we can make data-driven decisions to further enhance our personalised services and improve the overall customer experience,” Wick added.

As for Zoom, it is set on helping organisations across a wide range of healthcare services, aiming to improve the patient experience and increase accessibility of care while keeping costs low.

“Hybrid models of care that offer both online and offline options will become the core delivery model for healthcare organisations in the near future. But organisations need to understand that while patient care is the heart of the business of healthcare, it is only one part of the equation. It is equally important to initiate the digitalisation of other essential functions that keep the industry moving, such as vendor meetings, employee relations, as well as hiring and onboarding,” Zoom’s Philip Zammit said.

The Zoom executive further noted that customers can expect greater AI capabilities across their business solutions, as the company constantly explores new use cases.

“With AI’s capabilities to automatically process data quickly, human-to-human interaction becomes more meaningful, and processes become streamlined. This is key to helping the business of healthcare become more effective and impactful for healthcare workers and patients alike,” he concluded.