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Situation:
In 1964, Dick Robinson
founded the Connecticut School of Broadcasting (CSB) in Farmington Connecticut.
Dick's love of radio inspired him to share his love with others who had aspirations
in the entertainment business. CSB started with a few classes in radio broadcasting
performance and production and evolved over the years to include courses in television
and related audio and video editing and production. CSB is now the oldest and largest
school for radio and TV broadcasting in the U.S. with 19 locations coast-to-coast
and nine more on the way. So whether you are in Boston MA ,or Pomona CA, you can
expect the same high level preparation for a career in broadcasting.
Challenge:
While becoming a
multi-location school was a boon for CSB, it was also a challenge. Overseeing operations
for a school this size is daunting. Working telecommunications systems ranks high
on the list of concerns for David Banner, chief operating officer of CSB, but can
be lost in the shuffle among technology concerns, safety issues, and advancing the
school's vision. Banner needed a company that had the reach and ability to manage
telecommunications needs for a number of sites throughout the country with the customer
service expertise to make each site feel like they're the only one.
DiscountCall Solution:
CSB's relationship
with DiscountCall began when Randy Berlin, president of DiscountCall, was asked
about DiscountCall's ability to provide phone systems and service outside of its
Atlanta, GA location.
DiscountCall supplied
the school with voice and data service and support at each of its 19 campuses and
provided Samsung phone systems and low-voltage cabling for nine of those campuses.
To do this, DiscountCall utilized their nationwide network of telecommunications
service providers and technicians. Not only did each site receive a custom installation
but DiscountCall negotiated one rate for phone service. This allowed CSB to receive
below average phone rates for cities where the cost of business is higher, such
as Boston, MA or Universal City, CA.
Working with DiscountCall
was very easy, flawless, and without issue, said Banner. We began a pretty aggressive
expansion 14 months ago and we were looking for a company, like DiscountCall, to
take this part of the expansion and run with it. Randy and Rob (Michael) were great,
and the customer service was great. They made that part easy.
DiscountCall also
helped solve an issue that had arisen as a result of of CSB's growth. Previously,
prospective students calling 1-800-TVRADIO (CSB's phone number) would have to go
through a series of prompts that corresponded with each campus (dial 1 for New Haven,
2 for Boston.) However, this process becomes tedious if the campus you are trying
to reach is further down on the list of prompts. Finally, CSB reached a point where
they had outgrown this system. To solve the issue, Rob Michael, director of operations,
installed an area code routing system. Now when future TV stars call CSB from their
home number, the call is routed to a CSB campus in the same area code (most likely
the campus of interest.) For area codes with multiple CSB campuses, calls are routed
to the prefix (first three numbers after area code) closest to caller. The process
was completed with minimal cost to CSB and ensured that callers were always connected
to their campus of interest.
Results:
DiscountCall has
become a one-stop shop for all of CSB's telecommunications needs, not only providing
phone equipment and voice and data service, but also maintaining that equipment
and dealing with issues as they arise. The DiscountCall solution has prevented CSB
from having to deal with the hassle of finding a phone vendor for each campus. They
have also created a more efficient and effective way for CSB to reach potential
students.
If you are interested
in learning more about how DiscountCall can achieve similar results for your company
contact us.
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