Short Staffed?
Consider outsourcing some of your administrative tasks to us. We can handle your phones, respond to your emails and chat, and keep your customer experience running like a top!
Wake County Public Health Case Study
Wake County Public Health Case Study
We recently helped several counties manage their inbound call volume by ramping up quickly when the COVID vaccine wait list was published. Our staff received exceptional reviews from residents, and our client was able to show that they stepped up when the demand called for it.
“We’re helping out these call centers that are so overwhelmed. We actually got 90,000 phone calls in one day. The county would have their systems shutdown, but we were able to handle it”.
An Extension of Your Office
It was a typical weekday for a medical practice for whom we answer calls during their lunch break. We fielded a call from the wife of a truck driver. She was calling on behalf of her husband- who was a regular patient of the practice that we answer for. The truck driver was working nearly 4-hours (250 miles) away from home and was being held by a NC State Highway Trooper because his medical status card was not legally acceptable and had expired in the NC State DMV database. He needed to have the correction handled immediately so that he could be released and get back to work.
Although his DOT physical was performed months earlier, the problem was that the required DOT Physical paperwork had either not been received by, entered or properly filed with NC State DMV and as a result of this his CDL status was currently listed as inactive and void- unlicensed.
This was a surprise to the Truck Driver who had sought out a qualified provider and scheduled a DOT physical. (A DOT physical can only be performed by a licensed medical examiner which must be listed on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) National Registry.)
Realizing the challenge of locating someone to handle this during lunch- the call center agent took immediate action to help this guy out. The first call was to the doctor’s cell phone but there was no answer and a message was left in voice mail. Then immediately the next call was to the unlisted office phone number.
By chance- a staff member answered, the agent explained the situation and was transferred to the doctor’s assistant who was in the room with the doctor. The operator quickly apprised them of the situation.
With the doctor and the doctor’s assistant on the line the agent then conferenced in the truck driver on his cell phone who then put the State Trooper on the phone- we connected them all together.
From when the initial call was answered at the call center- when the wife called, until we connected them all together was a total of 21 minutes. A total 4:50 minutes of hold time at the office while getting the doctor’s assistant & doctor to the phone.
We’re here to be an extension of your office, bridging the gap for 24-hour service, to do our best to assist and help serve you well especially with emergencies and times of urgency.
Bringing Out the Best in Us
Like so many businesses around the world, The Daniels Group has changed. Prior to the Pandemic, we were humming along with double-digit growth and feeling the wind at our backs. Then, literally overnight, we found ourselves in a new economy.
The Daniels Group has two main divisions; commercial printing and a 24/7 call center. Soon after the lock down was issued by Governor Cooper, both of our divisions were classified as “essential businesses” by The State of North Carolina. In a matter of hours, we had all of our call center operators setup remotely. Our call volumes went through the roof as our customers closed their offices and sent all of their phone calls to us. We became the trusted voice for medical offices, home health organizations, non-profits, and hundreds of other businesses.
Meanwhile, our print production area was put on a daily disinfecting schedule and we setup safe-distancing protocols for our workers. Little did we know things were about to change.
A Call Center customer of ours referred a nearby textile manufacturer to us. They were re-tooling to make reusable, medical grade masks. Could we answer their phone inquiries once they launched their product? “Sure!” we said.
Soon after launch, the CEO of their company was interviewed on a morning cable news program. If we told you how many masks they sold that day, you wouldn’t believe us. Needless to say, we ramped up quickly. We hired several more customer service agents and away we went!
Our Client Care Team cleared a backlog of thousands of customer emails and, after a few short weeks of handling all of their customer service needs (phone and email), we were asked to bid on handling their warehousing and order fulfillment.
Last week we sent our truck to the manufacturing plant to pick up our first round of masks. We are going again this week for another load. Our warehouse is humming with activity. Our fulfillment staff has expanded and we once again feel the wind at our back.
We feel that one of our greatest strengths is our ability to adapt to market needs. If your business has also changed, maybe we can help you too.
We are live 24/7 – Covid 19 Phone Back Up
For over 70 years, you have relied on us for live operator answer and alarm monitoring services. The absolute safety and security for our partners, employees, and community have always been at the very top of our priority list. We are taking every precaution to protect our clients and employees.
Recent technology enhancements allow us to provide work-from-home options for all of our staff members, who adhere to rigid guidelines that protect sensitive information and expand our capacity. In addition, we are carefully monitoring call volume and traffic patterns to ensure that we can respond to your callers quickly, even as these needs change by the minute. Finally, we are expanding already routine tests to our critical infrastructure (power, phone and internet connections) so that we never lose our connection to you.
We want to be a resource and backup to our customers and the larger community and we are looking for ways to offer that assistance.
We remain ready and willing to support any of your business needs, and we understand that those needs are constantly changing. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns about how we can work together to navigate this crisis.
Innovation runs in our DNA
From the Asheville Chamber of Commerce’s Business Buzz:
January 9, 2019
The Daniels Group has come a long way since Ernest Daniels started his one-man company on a Pritchard Park bench in 1948.
At the time, Ernest was sick with tuberculosis, and had moved to Asheville in hopes that the mountain air would improve his health. Not one to sit still, Ernest took up shop on that park bench and started offering typing services to local businesses.
Then he cut a deal with a local law firm, doing their typing in the mornings for free so he could use their typewriter for business in the afternoons. It wasn’t long before Ernest had saved enough money to buy a typewriter and set up a small “letter shop” to serve the local community. The company branched into call center services in the 1950’s.
“There’s a thread of innovation in our company, and the spirit of the classic American entrepreneur. I guess it’s in our DNA,” said Ernest’s granddaughter Jami Daniels.
Jami, who has been at the helm of the marketing and printing solutions company The Daniels Group for the last two years, said that each member of the family brings their own streak of innovation to the business.
When Jami’s father Jim came home after the Korean War, he grew the business into a commercial printer company. Known as ‘Mr. Asheville,’ Jim was deeply involved with revitalizing downtown Asheville. In addition to being a dedicated Chamber member, he also helped found Asheville Greenworks, the Asheville Downtown Association, and the annual Bele Chere festival, which was the largest free outdoor street festival in the Southeast for 35 years.
“I wonder how he had more hours in the day than me” joked Jami. “I credit a lot of our company’s success on his presence and involvement. That’s how our company has organically flourished.”
When Jim passed away in 2016, Jami took the reins as CEO and since then has carried the family torch into exciting new territory. Under her leadership, The Daniels Group has earned a Woman Business Enterprise certification by the National Women Business Owners Corporation. She has also successfully navigated through the digital revolution by heightening her company’s focus on more physical products.
“Print is tactile, authentic, and real. In an age where everything is digital, it feels special to hold something beautiful in your hands,” said Jami. “It’s also so versatile in terms of textures, cuts, shape, finishes, and technique.”
In 2018 The Daniels Group was recognized by the Printing Industry of Carolinas as Best of Show Winner for the artful packaging they created for Wicked Weed Brewing.
“We’ve never been interested in being commoditized, producing what anyone else could produce,” said Jami.
Today the company is focused on not just the production of collateral, but the management. They offer a marketing portal which is an internal storefront that allows businesses to keep total creative control of their marketing materials while taking care of all the supply chain support.
By using the call center along with the suite of printing, mailing, and fulfillment services, The Daniels Group can offer full service marketing support.
“We’re constantly improving—we might not be perfect, but we’ll be better tomorrow,” said Jami.
Breakthrough Coaching
Today America’s Breakthrough Coach, Brian Biro did a special session with some of our call center staff. Great day, lots of energy!
Are your texts HIPAA Compliant? We have an app for that!
Everyone would probably agree that mobile technology has become indispensable in today’s business world, including the healthcare industry. It’s also become more common for businesses – particularly in a healthcare environment to encourage a BYOD policy.
Some of the main benefits for most businesses and their workforce include less company equipment to manage, easier multi-tasking, time efficiency and time management.
This modern convenience has also created a challenge that is more important than ever– the challenge of keeping your data safe and eliminating outside access to personally-identifying information. Every business needs to maintain privacy of their patients’, clients’ and consumers’ personal data.
For healthcare organizations, HIPAA/HITECH regulations are becoming even more stringent. The Department of Health and Human Services is already auditing healthcare providers in an effort to find medical entities that fail to comply with HIPAA/HITECH regulations.
The problem with mobile devices such as pagers or those used for SMS texting and traditional email is that they use unsecure channels of communication which are not HIPAA/HITECH compliant.
The good news is that businesses, including healthcare could demonstrate HIPAA/HITECH compliant communication by using a messaging app designed specifically for HIPAA/HITECH compliance and not every answering service can do this- but we have an app for that!
Our HIPAA/HITECH compliant messaging app is called miSecureMessages. It is an integral part of a secure messaging solution that can help healthcare organizations and other covered entities comply with the technical requirements of the HIPAA/HITECH Security Rules. By having these additional safeguards in place to protect the integrity of Protected Health Information (PHI) and Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) it will prevent unauthorized disclosure.
miSecureMessages immediately and securely sends messages to smartphones, iPads and mobile devices or any desktop computer. It enables two-way instant and secure communications and it has begun to replace and supplement legacy paging technology, traditional sms texting and traditional email – all of which are unsecure channels of communication.
With the secure technology of miSecureMessages, you can easily reply to, organize and protect your communications all integrated through a convenient app on your smartphone.
Best of all, miSecureMessages ensures that your data remains confidential by encrypting your information with additional layers of security, while being able to receive and respond to important and/or time-sensitive messages. You can even secure message your colleagues and associates securely through this app!
With miSecureMessages, customized reports can easily be generated so you can track and keep a record of all your messages with details and backup documentation. That means we can help you protect your information and your organization with privacy & security.
We ensure that calls are answered promptly, dispatched efficiently, and are fully documented. We have been in the Answering Service business since 1955. We have the power of experience with cutting edge technology.
