The Customer
Visionary Eye Specialists (VES) is a general ophthalmic practice. Since 1998 it has offered screening, diagnosis and management for most eye conditions from clinics in the southern Sydney suburbs of Miranda and Hurstville. The combined talents of three eye surgeons, four university-trained orthoptists and six management and reception staff care for patients of all ages, including infants and children.
Challenges
Cataract surgery, glaucoma diagnosis and management of macular degeneration make up the bulk of the Visionary Eye Specialists’ workload. Additional services include assessments and screening for diabetics and pilots, and treatments for children with reduced vision or squint conditions.
Joanne MacKenzie, the Office Manager for Visionary Eye Specialists, explains the importance of their telephony system: “We have deliberately created a caring environment, supported by state of the art equipment, because we understand that problems with vision, and undergoing eye surgery in particular, can be challenging for our clients. And quality medical care starts with their first call into our practice.”
Visionary Eye Specialists’ existing phones and switchboard were “not user friendly and had complicated functions that we didn’t need or couldn’t use”, said Mackenzie. And each call to a staff member in the other clinic was an external call which compounded the cost of each quarter’s phone bill.
“One of the systems I looked at was too large for us. We had to find something that was practical and easy to use,” MacKenzie said.
THE SOLUTION
Nexgen recommended the NEC SV8100 IP communications server, and
12 handsets, as a reliable system that was designed and priced specifically for smaller businesses like VES. With voice and data over a single, flexible network, this was a strong solution for a multiple site practice.
For Nexgen, this was a standard configuration for a rapid installation. MacKenzie confirmed that the “setting up in both clinics went very smoothly. Nexgen came to us and were excellent in explaining the functions and how to make the most of the central server.”
THE RESULTS
MacKenzie now simply logs onto the server to make any additions or changes to extension allocations, contact lists, speed dial numbers and so on. Where she would once have had to go to each individual handset, she now simply uses the server dashboard and clicks on each phone to activate a change or a required function.
VES can now record and update helpful ‘on hold’ messaging such as its ‘remember to bring with you’ list.
No matter which clinic the staff are working from on any particular day, with the single network “we don’t have to search for anyone or call out, we just buzz them. And that saves a lot of mucking about,” MacKenzie said.
The inbuilt voicemail is another plus. “We used to have to ring message bank to retrieve a missed call. Now we just hit a button because it’s all held within our server. And in the same way, it’s just one button to turn on night mode.”
The clean, efficient system not only has the functionality to match VES’ business needs and streamline its workflows but the practice is also saving money. Irrespective of which clinic makes or takes a call, each transfer becomes a free internal call to an extension. Thus eliminating the charged, external carrier calls. And, with the equipment and usage on a combined plan, VES is saving approximately 25 percent a quarter on previous carrier charges.
With the Nexgen NEC system having been in place for a year, MacKenzie has nothing but praise for the quality technology and the service provided: “Everyone in the practice is really happy. The system is very easy to use and it has run fault free from the start. And Nexgen has been amazing. Their customer service is remarkable. I’d recommend them to anyone.”
