Fitra Group Phone System Success Story

RingCentral Professional spoke with Khalidah Kanteh, the CEO of the Georgia-based Fitra Group, which includes a corporate and home-based childcare service.

What is the Fitra Group?

KK: Basically it has a lot of different parts. There are marketing, childcare and import/export sections. With the childcare section, what we do is provide 24-hour childcare for corporations if they don't have their own on-site childcare, and of course we have licensed day-care providers that provide care for families. We also do business-to-business marketing for other companies. Then there's the import/export section, and that's mainly for products that we need to facilitate our business.

I noticed that you use the RingMe feature on your Web site. How is that working out for you?

KK: I'm so glad that you mentioned that because the Click-to-Call Me feature has helped us out so much. We actually put it on the day-care section of our Web site, so with the name being so generic we get a lot of people that type it directly into their browsers and when the page comes up, they don't have to search around for contact information. They just click the RingMe button and they get someone on the phone right away. That really grabs a lot of people.

How do you use RingCentral?

KK: It's actually worked out very well for us. I think we've had it about 2 years or so by now. What we were looking for is something to provide us with the ability to link up with a Virtual PBX so that we could always be in touch with each other and we wouldn't have to rely on cell phones. We were looking for one number to roll over to each individual person.

To the child care providers?

KK: Yes, the child care providers and the general staff. We have about 16 staff members. We're in Georgia but our staff are located in four other areas as well: Texas, California, Milwaukee, and New York City.

How many childcare providers do you have?

KK: At this point, about 3,600. What we do is we contract with licensed childcare providers in the state of Georgia. When providers get their licenses they can't automatically get [business] so they contact us, put their information online, and we get them set up.They roll over to RingCentral when they decide that they're ready to work for that day. Mainly, if someone wants to work for that particular day, then we'll go ahead and put their number into the system.

How is your service set up? What do the callers hear?

KK: If someone is looking for someone in one part of town, and they press that particular extension, it'll forward to one of the staff members who can find them a childcare provider in that area.

What about some of the other features, such as the Call Logs?

KK: Oh, wow, that really helps quite a bit. One of the things we absolutely love about RingCentral is the daily and weekly Call Logs. In the past, we had some trouble doing follow ups with customers who called in. We couldn't determine who that person at such-and-such number was, but since there's a daily Call Log we can determine that information based on when they called. It really helps us locate people and follow up with them. We retain customers that way.

Do you use RingCentral to screen callers as well?

KK: Yes, that actually helps quite a bit because I know that in the past we have had telemarketers contact us. They would block their ID and we couldn't tell who it was so we ended up talking to them or getting unnecessary faxes, but now we can see who it is and it really helps out a good deal.

Do you block them then?

KK: Yes, we do.

How do you use the Internet Fax?

KK: When a parent wants to fax in a registration. For security purposes, some don't want to do it online.

Is there anything other feature you find particularly useful for your business?

KK: Oh yes, the international calling feature. It's really wonderful. Our staff actually calls in and tells us the price of calling someone in a different country. They know exactly how much it's going to be and they can tell how long they've been on the call, and that obviously helps out when we're doing audits. It really helps out quite a bit.

Do you monitor calls?

KK: We did in the beginning. Of course, the person who handles the quality assurance wanted to know what's going on and who's doing what. She would monitor calls and see what people are doing and how long they're on a call.

Do you use the Answering Rules so that calls are forwarded to different phones at different times of the day/days of the week?

KK: We're looking to hire some people who aren't in the US to work at nighttime, daytime for them, and still be able to take calls. The Answering Rules will help us in this situation.

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