How We Support the Communications Challenges Faced by Charities
Charities and other third sector organisations face unique challenges in terms of their telecoms requirements. But with budgets stretched, telecoms is often overlooked, despite being one of the most important aspects of any charity
Budget Restrictions
Budget restrictions are one of key challenges charities face in regards to their telecoms requirements. Working on a restricted budget often means compromising on communications, whether it’s outdated phone systems with minimal functionality, slow broadband, or unreliable infrastructure that’s prone to downtime.
At SCG, we believe that there’s an effective solution for any budget. As well as working closely to agreed budgets, we can help find better deals for charities on their phone systems, internet connectivity and energy, often reducing overheads whilst replacing outdated systems.
Availability and Staff
With the often sensitive nature of calls received, agent availability is crucial in charity contact centres. As well as creating caller dissatisfaction, missed calls can lead to missed donations and prevent vulnerable people from getting the support they need.
As staff that man charity phones are often part-time or volunteers, they may in some cases be less knowledgeable about the technology they are using. Excellent call handling is also key in these environments to ensure that callers are getting the support they need.
At SCG, we provide phone systems that ensure callers can get through to an appropriate person, or leave a message to request a call back we are committed to ensuring that customers get the best from our products. That’s why we deliver full training and support on any phone systems we install. During training, we’ll show you how to use features such as call recording that are vital in monitoring and improving staff telephone manner.
Multiple locations
Charities often have various locations and support centres where they take calls. When someone dials in, it’s important that they can be transferred to the appropriate person quickly and efficiently, particularly in environments such as support helplines.
With remote working and flexible hours also on the rise (particularly in these environments), it’s important that callers can get through to the right person without having to redial.
At SCG, our phone systems can be set up to completely support multiple locations and remote working with features such as transferring calls to mobiles, ‘follow me’ features and direct dialling inwards (DDI).
Bristol Mental Health Charity Case Study
Bristol Mind, a Bristol-based mental health charity needed a fully functional phone system they could rely on. The system needed to be installed on a stretched budget with zero downtime.