SureCall

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior IT manager at a sports organization that works with amateur and minor hockey leagues. We sit atop a network of 13 member branches, each representing a province/territory across Canada. 

What challenge were you trying to address with SureCall?

We have a registration database that manages over 700,000 unique individual records for all minor amateur hockey, whether they be players, coaches, officials, or authorized volunteers. However, the database is approaching the end of its useful life. It’s 13 years old as of this year, and there are significant challenges to maintaining it—including support requests. We rely on SureCall to help us take on our large volume of support calls.

What was the scope of their involvement? 

SureCall’s primary focus is to provide additional management and maintenance support for our helpdesk. It’s a bilingual service that has offered us additional bench strength and far more capacity as we’ve seen a significant influx of tickets over the last two years.

Their team is on the frontline, taking care of emails, hotline calls, and ticket submissions as they come in Monday through Friday. Based on their skill set, they triage between each ticket accordingly. They’ll resolve some issues outright if they know how, and they’ll escalate other complex issues upward when required. 

What is the team composition? 

We have a primary account lead who acts as the main liaison between ourselves and our team of 10–20 support staff agents.

Then there’s another individual who has seconded to us multiple times with more dedicated, specific support. She’s a bilingual resource who’s become very familiar with our platform and effectively acts as our own support staff member.

When she isn’t seconded, she serves as the team lead for our frontline agents on the call side. She’s responsible for overseeing overall queue management, training for new skills, getting the team up to speed on scripts to troubleshoot issues where appropriate.

How did you come to work with SureCall?

I inherited this team when I joined the organization, so our operations staff actually made the decision. My understanding is that we needed to outsource some of our call center support to address our tickets in a timely manner. SureCall had offices in Calgary, which was advantageous because we’re Calgary-based, too, so we went with them after doing our due diligence. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’re within the range of $75,000–$100,000 CAD (approximately $57,300–$76,400 USD) for the total cost. That includes a monthly agreement for a set number of hours as well as incremental fees for additional needs like seconded support, ad hoc requests, and current state process documentation.

What is the status of this engagement?

The full roll-out started in October 2019, and we’ve continued to expand on their scope and services throughout my tenure, here.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

In general, we can say that our overall resolution time for tickets has decreased, and we have fewer active tickets in the queue. They allow us to resolve tickets much more effectively, which frees up our more skilled resources to take on complex/escalated issues.

How did SureCall perform from a project management standpoint?

All of SureCall’s activity is tracked in Freshservice, which we review internally and can act upon. They’ve operated within that framework, too. The team is responsive to our needs and has evolved given the challenges that we’ve faced during COVID-19. 

We’ve had so many moving targets and variables with respect to the messaging that we’ve communicated to our members, and they’ve been able to adjust on the fly. Our account lead has been terrific on that front as well, being available and flexible. Whenever we run into situations that require more immediate support, she provides help within a quick turnaround time and communicates expectations clearly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The biggest factor has been their commitment to being our partner rather than just a service provider. They’re invested in this process and have shown great care in providing both quality work and continuous improvement. I truly believe that we’re an important account for them because they understand the gravity of working with a major body like ours. We’re a widely recognizable brand. The work that they do is a direct reflection on our organization, and they take that responsibility seriously.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve had a lot of moving targets. The required responses have changed at different times, and we haven’t always seen the best output. Sometimes the advice provided isn’t the right one, which requires rework and escalation on our side. 

With that said, we’ve had an evolving set of circumstances over the last eight months, and SureCall has always taken our feedback very seriously. They’ve acted on them, and we’ve seen incremental improvements as we move forward.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We get the most out of the engagement when we’re upfront and candid with our support needs. Our account liaison tries to truly understand what our requirements are before presenting adequate solutions. 

It’s much more than just getting a simple, generic support package. Rather, they take the time to scope out the work, clearly establish objectives, and understand the desired outcomes, which are directly reflected in the solutions that they put forth. Then, they schedule periodic checkpoints to adjust to feedback.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a coordinator for a city government organization. I work on fleet management in the department of transportation.

What challenge were you trying to address with SureCall?

Our program is small, but operates 24/7 and my work schedule is primarily Monday-Friday, 8–5. We needed someone to be able to talk on phones when my team isn’t available.

What was the scope of their involvement?

SureCall is our go-to when we needed to address our urgent member needs. We’ve had members who aren’t able to access their account to reserve a vehicle, or who have gotten in an accident, or who have otherwise needed after-hours support. The team is available to walk them through procedures to solve any of their issues in a professional manner.

What is the team composition?

Marcella (Client Experience Representative) is my primary contact who I go to with any updates or changes in the program. I’m not sure the exact number of people she works with, but she always passes on the information I provide her. 

How did you come to work with SureCall?

A few years back, our software provider was bought by another company, so we needed to find a new vendor to provide our reservation system. That company referred SureCall to us. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about $140 a month with them. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since October 2016.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Around 70% of my time is dedicated to working on this program. To have an actual live person talking on the phone to our members when I’m not available is invaluable. They’re extremely professional and reliable. You can’t beat the peace of mind they offer. 

How did SureCall perform from a project management standpoint?

Whenever we need to make changes, I’ll submit an email to Marcella with everything they need to know. She’ll email me back to make sure everything is correct, and we’ll move on from there. It’s very efficient. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Every time I call SureCall, they get my name and phone number right away, just in case we get disconnected. I find that to be the most important, because I never have to explain what I need more than once. It’s super beneficial to me. 

Also, they always listen and check-in with me. They’re great at follow-ups, which is something I really appreciate.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would like to be able to pay them in the United States rather than internationally. It’s a really minor thing, but if I have to think of something, that’s it.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

SureCall is one of the most professional companies I know of. They’re very attentive, they have great follow up, and great communication skills. Their team representatives are always taking notes, so if you ever have any concerns, you’ll always know what happened on the phone call. Overall, SureCall is going to do the job you need them to do.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the business manager for the marketing and analytics branch of a pizza chain in the northern Alberta Region and several other territories.

What challenge were you trying to address with SureCall?

SureCall handles all of the takeout and delivery orders that happen over the phone in our Edmonton area because of the dense population and complicated delivery routes, which they help us to manage.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The SureCall team worked closely with us and a team of developers in Ohio when we first started to create our order management platform, but that company actually went bankrupt and we had to redevelop the UI and backend system.

From there, they trained our team to make use of that system and worked to make sure that we were fully aware of the different aspects of the software that we would need to make use of to be successful, and they have handled fielding all of our calls ever since.

What is the team composition?

Right now, I’m dealing mostly with Marcela (Client Services Manager) and she’s absolutely amazing. In the past, we’ve worked with Bryce and a bunch of his team on the development side because we were doing a lot of testing and rounds of feedback.

How did you come to work with SureCall?

We are an Edmonton based company, and that was extremely important to us. Even though you can find cheaper services in places with lower minimum wages, we really cared about keeping the jobs local, so we decided to go with them.

How much have you invested with them?

Our average spend is between $40,000–$50,000 a month, so over the years, we’ve probably spent around $3,700,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in May 2013, and we’ve been working with them ever since.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We did a lot of quality control in the first few years of the relationship in order to make sure that we were training the agents correctly and that they had all the knowledge they needed, so we reviewed a lot of phone calls and ran a lot of statistics about their handling time and what the upsell dollar amount was.

Overall, SureCall has been extremely consistent on their training and the metrics that they hold their staff to, so the relationship has been very easy for us to manage and we really haven’t had to micromanage their business at all.

How did SureCall perform from a project management standpoint?

They have integrated very well into our business operations. We vetted a bunch of other companies before we moved on with SureCall, and the reality is that nobody could have handled what we needed to throw at them better.

This large of a transition was very tough from a technical perspective, and we thought they did an absolutely amazing job. That included everything from training the team to use the interface to providing feedback on how we can do things better and more efficiently. It really was an amazing relationship.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Confidence is everything. We have always been confident in their team’s ability to scale up and down and handle different user interfaces. They are smart enough to provide feedback when it is needed and when they have ideas about what could make the job better and our operations easier for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think they should be doing anything differently.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Our company has stress-tested SureCall so heavily that there is almost nothing that you can do that would be worse than something they’ve already handled. If you are looking to make a transition and you need help, this is the company you want to rely on.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a food processing company based in Ontario.

What challenge were you trying to address with SureCall?

We needed help managing our relationship with consumers who call us about products.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re our external call center, so they’re responsible for receiving calls from consumers with inquiries, complaints, and concerns. Their team can answer any questions relating to our products and help manage our responses by providing information on our behalf. 

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact there is Christine (Director of Business Development, SureCall). There’s also someone new working on our account now.

How did you come to work with SureCall?

We did a search, spending time examining several vendors. Our team wanted a partner with a good reputation that had knowledge of our industry. There weren’t too many candidates that could handle our needs efficiently. After adding them to our shortlist, we were quite impressed with the meetings we had with them. So, we ended up hiring them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started collaborating in April 2018 and are still working together.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

With them on our team, we had a strong advantage when it came to technology and process implementation. They were able to integrate calls from different sources, like phone, web, and email into one reporting platform. We didn’t find that with too many vendors.

They’re very clearly prepared and knowledgeable. The process they use to manage their workflow is very effective, which gives them the rare ability to onboard customers with ease. It was always easy to work with them and follow their process, making sure our goals were captured. While it did take some fine-tuning, it’s never been a difficult process. They know what needs to be done to obtain the right outcome. 

How did SureCall perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re experienced, which was really helpful. Whenever we need something, the whole team rallies to make it happen. They’re able to be proactive in advising us on areas of improvement. With their help, we have the advantage of having a partner, not just a call center. In order to communicate, we use phone or email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re knowledgeable, responsive, and open to new ideas. We have an annual check-in with their team and always find that they’re very productive in connecting with consumers. Of course, there were a few things we needed to fine-tune in our first year, but that happened quickly. Our team felt a strong sense of urgency and mobilization from them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything right now. Our first year as partners was a learning experience on both sides, as we were trying to get a grasp on what our business represented. If you ask me in another year, I might have constructive criticism. For now, however, I’m satisfied.