With the business continuing to grow, RTL Trades needed to streamline operations.
“We were at that stage where we had to change something, because we either had to employ more people, or we had to put systems in place so we could grow more efficiently,” said Smythe.
RTL Trades selected RingCentral RingEX as the ideal UCaaS solution to improve its ability to manage an increasingly diversified and expanding business.
Unlike many organisations where the focus is on consolidating communications, the primary driver for RTL Trades to upgrade to RingCentral was to empower and improve the productivity of its tradespeople out in the field.
RingCentral is deployed in head office and via the RingCentral app on each tradesperson’s own mobile device, allowing RTL Trades to decommission corporate mobiles and cancel expensive mobile plans, saving the company 30% on its annual telecommunications spend and making it much simpler for people to use one device.
This has also enabled head office staff to contact field tradespeople directly by sending text messages through the RingCentral app from their desktop, reducing the need to check an additional device throughout the day.
RTL Trades uses RingCentral’s AI-enabled transcription features to easily capture information from both internal and client meetings and phone calls.
“It’s very easy for us to copy and paste these RingCentral transcripts into Simpro, which we save against the work order or use to generate a new quote,” said Smythe. “We’ve got exactly what was said, and exactly what needs to be done. That’s a game changer.”
RTL Trades set up individual call queues so that an unanswered call doesn’t go to voicemail; it first goes back to the office, then to that person’s manager. There is also a centralised record of every call made and received.
“We’ve got these guys out in the field that should be making money on the tools. The last thing I want them to do is keep answering the phone – but if someone calls, we will definitely answer,” said Smythe.
After-hours calls are now handled using a calendar-based roster system. The RingCentral administration portal automatically assigns that number to the person who is on call. That eliminates the need for a physical handover of the ‘on-call bag’, as calls are routed directly to that staff member’s RingCentral app on their mobile. Any unanswered calls are routed to a queue with six other backup people assigned to take the call.
This approach has streamlined after-hours call management, improved responsiveness, and removed the need for manual processes.
