Making The Connection: One Business to Another

Intercon Messaging is a Canadian-owned contact center that has served a diverse client base for over 25 years.  Focused initially on niche services for the Alberta oil and gas industry, our business has expanded to meet the demands of other markets, from GPS and lone worker monitoring to help desk and technical support. All of it was made possible by advances in communication and call management technology, like Amtelco’s Infinity and Intelligent Series platforms.

Our business has a long history with Amtelco and their products. Next to our agents, Amtelco’s call management technology is at the heart of our business. It’s the foundation that supports our customer service experience, which all started in the late 90s as we increased service capabilities and the demand for a computerized solution rose.

In fact, our relationship goes so far back that Nicole Coleman once said, “I remember the old days, going back 20 plus years, where the traditional Infinity call screen never really changed, and the layout of the program would be burned into the old CRT style monitors when you shut down your computer.” Now, that’s really going back a few decades to the era of screen savers!

Over the years, we have regularly updated and upgraded our system, moving from the traditional call management system to Amtelco’s Intelligent Series. Before deploying Amtelco’s IS scripting, we managed vast amounts of information and call types by splitting the client’s call management instructions into sub-accounts. Back at the start of it all, we manipulated standard features to suit our specific needs. For instance, our agents used the legacy Infinity dial list feature not to make a quick call but to choose the actual call type, which would then switch the agent to the appropriate sub-account with instructions.

Early in the game, we realized scripts would significantly reduce the time needed to train operators to answer and route calls. So, in 2008 we programmed our first account in Intelligent Series. This has been a game changer, specifically with the ability to use our own databases and tables to tailor accounts for our clients. Gone are the days of multiple sub-accounts featuring a basic message ticket, special area and numerous information pages. Now, we use features like stored procedures that allow us to view messages on the account without exiting the script. Overall, the Intelligent Series has improved the customer service journey, allowing us to increase consistency in our service and manage more complex client requests.

Throughout our time using Amtelco products, we have experienced many benefits. For example, when we first utilized the inbound email functionality, it allowed us to efficiently process incoming client emails on a single platform; and more recently, effectively deliver only the essential information to an agent with email parsing. Same with the data transformer, it made the process of updating contact information a much less laborious process.

Not only has Amtelco technology impacted our programming and agent team, but it has also found a special spot in the hearts of our training department. As a standard feature, we have consistently utilized call distribution; but in and around 2008, we started to focus on building a robust distribution matrix. This allowed our training team to control what call types reached what agents, effectively supporting the department in creating a customized education program that meets the individual training needs of each agent.

Another feature that our team and clients have come to appreciate is the Intelligent Series web application, which empowers our clients to have control over keeping their directories and on-call schedules up to date, as well as retrieving and listening to their own voice-logged calls.

Moving into the fall of 2022, we are currently cutting over to Genesis to increase our access to web-based solutions, ramp up our disaster recovery capabilities, and make working from home easy and seamless. We’ve enhanced our customer service and streamlined our agent processes by completing regular upgrades and remaining aware of new releases. Every move we have made with Amtelco’s products has been positive as they have increased our value to our clients and helped us grow our business.

Last but certainly not least, we must touch on Amtelco’s training programs and networking opportunities at the annual NAEO (National Amtelco Equipment Owners) conference, as it’s invaluable and where the real gold lies, in our opinion.

Amtelco’s educational seminars and advanced workshops were instrumental in helping us learn IS, starting with the most basic step, the flowchart and call tree. Beyond learning from other people and seeing how they do things, it was also beneficial to put faces to names, which made it less intimidating to reach out and ask for help on the forums. “I am not sure I can adequately put into words how much the training and networking have benefited us. We’ve learned how to use various features in different ways, gaining a deeper understanding of how it all works together,” says Alana Nikiforuk. “Sometimes just knowing that you aren’t the only one struggling with something is a comfort.”

We also can’t forget to mention the lifelong friends we have made at Amtelco, from field service to sales to management; they are all knowledgeable, friendly, and supportive and often go above and beyond to help us when we need it the most. At the end of the day, we can confidently say that Amtelco is truly an extension of our work family.

As technology has changed and increased in efficiency and effectiveness, we have actively evaluated technological advancements and adjusted our business practices to find the best way to provide reliable communications to our clients. Amtelco has always remained at the forefront of our success by providing the advanced technology to deliver effective and timely customer service.

Nicole Coleman, the author of this article, is the Marketing and Business Associate for Intercon Messaging.