Well Care Home Health is a home care agency headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, with six additional locations throughout eastern North Carolina. Well Care provides skilled nursing and therapy care to more than 5,000 patients across its service area, delivering critical medical interventions so that patients (many of whom struggle with mobility and transportation) can remain in their homes.
 
The Problem
 
Well Care was struggling to operate its satellite locations using traditional telephone technology. Costs were high and administration was challenging. More importantly, the company wanted to maximize its entire workforce by enabling employees to answer calls made to any site. It was critical for call transfers to be seamless to improve customer experience and avoid confusion and concern among callers.
Well Care wanted to move from landline service to voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) technology. In particular, the company wanted a VoIP system that offered opportunities to take advantage of new features, making it easier for staff to communicate internally by telephone.
 
The Solution
 
Well Care turned to Teleco of Wilmington for help. Teleco of Wilmington had been a trusted communications provider of Well Care for more than 15 years and had built a strong rapport with the company. Teleco of Wilmington introduced Well Care to a Scalable Cloud Communications Solution from Star2Star Communications. After a careful analysis, Star2Star was found to meet and exceed all of Well Care’s requirements.
 
The Result
 
Well Care has been using Star2Star phone service for more than six years with tremendous results. According to Wanda Coley, COO of Well Care, “The system really works for us! Star2Star has provided reliable, clear calls. The quality of calls over VoIP is excellent, and we haven’t experienced downtime.”
 
Star2Star consolidated Well Care’s locations into a single account, reducing costs and simplifying management. Star2Star call groups allow for routing calls to a group, rather than an individual. “It’s easy to transfer calls from office to office, allowing for use of all resources to answer phones,” Coley said.
 
Well Care has also taken advantage of Star2Star’s rich suite of advanced communications (UC) features. One example is conference calling, which is important when operating multiple locations. “We often use the conference feature for internal communication. We have our own conference lines through Star2Star so we don’t have to use a third party,” she said. Another example is presence management. “We use StarScope 2 extensively. It’s easy for our receptionists to see who’s on the phone, and it’s much easier to transfer calls with the drag and drop function.” 
 
To provide care in the home for its clients, Well Care relies on mobile employees. The Star2Star mobile app, Find Me/Follow Me call routing, and other mobility enabling features really help power Well Care’s mobile workforce. The customer does not know their call is being routed, ensuring customer service and satisfaction is maintained “Everything is seamless to the caller, even if they are in another state,” she said.
 
Well Care has benefited from the inherently low maintenance and management requirements of Star2Star.
 
“Having Star2Star has made our phone system much more efficient,” Coley said. “When we move staff around in the office, we are no longer required to make a service call to move the lines.” Well Care also appreciates Star2Star’s low maintenance and reliable hardware. “Overall, our maintenance costs have been reduced, especially due to fewer service calls,” she said.
 
Star2Star’s virtually limitless scalability has helped foster Well Care’s constant growth. “Star2Star is very beneficial to a company in growth mode. It’s easy to expand the system to a new location,” Coley said. “Our IT manager is able to handle expansions internally using the Star2Star portal. Once the StarBox Cloud Connection Manager is set up, it’s seamlessly networked to the other offices.”
 
Joey Stone is currently the General Manager and Vice President of family owned and operated Teleco. Founded in 1983 as a full service telecommunications service provider, Teleco has partnered with Star2Star Communications to offer the latest in communications technology solutions and the latest Voice over IP technology. Joey and his team work with businesses of all sizes to customize systems for specific requirements from simple phone and voicemail systems to wireless networks and remote capabilities. To learn more about Teleco visit http://www.teleco-ilm.com. Joey is available for free demonstrations and consultations by calling (910) 791-7000.