Teles Properties Integrates Eleven Offices and Mobile Staff with RingCentral Office

Teles Properties was named one of Inc. 5000’s “Fastest Growing Companies” in 2013. Why? Because in 2007 Teles opened a unique high-end boutique for luxury real estate that has demonstrated innovative support for its agents and professional service for its customers. With over 40 employees and more than 300 agents, Teles Properties has eleven offices located on the California coast from Orange County to Monterey.

Gene Maggio, Director of Technology at Teles Properties, was managing multiple offices which all had different phone systems. With the company’s rapid growth and constant expansion, the requests coming to IT became tedious and difficult to manage.

“We started growing and we started opening new offices, we were trying to come up with a way to get everything consolidated and connected,” says Gene. “We needed a way to transfer calls between offices, to expand without spending a lot on infrastructure, and to give our agents flexibility with their preferences.”

Some of the systems being used in the offices were so out-of-date that Gene had to search eBay in order to find extra headsets for his new employees. “We were growing really quickly, and recruiting a lot of agents, but one of our biggest headaches was adding a phone number or a new user into the system,” explained Gene. Whether it was the cost to get a technician to come set up a line, or the dying hardware that dropped calls, Gene knew that it was time to update all of Teles Properties’ phone systems.

After trying eight various services throughout the company’s different locations, Gene finally found the perfect fit. RingCentral provides Teles Properties with the cloud business phone solution it needs. Whenever a new office opens, Teles Properties can have everything up and running all in a single day.

Unifying all of the offices together wasn’t possible before Teles switched to RingCentral. “We didn’t have a central number to direct people to, but now with RingCentral we do. It takes callers to an automated list of our services so people can be easily reached,” says Gene. “Calls can be transferred between offices, and our staff is finally connected.”

The real estate industry is extremely mobile and demands flexibility. “With RingCentral we can forward calls to any device and use the mobile app, even internationally using Wi-Fi, or on airplanes. Most of our agents don’t work in the office, and they need access to voicemail, our office directory, and they really appreciate the fax to phone feature of RingCentral,” added Gene. “Our agents also need be available 24/7 but they don’t always want to be answering their phones. RingCentral allows them to set office hours and respond and with personal preference on flexibility.”

Agents are also using RingCentral’s Business SMS to their advantage. Sometimes customers want to ask single questions and find it easier to text. This makes the agent more accessible, and they can keep a record of their conversations.

Overall, the switch to RingCentral has made the tech side of things easier for Gene, and the company can focus on its growth without worrying about its phone system.

“We have been able to consolidate five services all into one business phone solution using RingCentral, all of which can be managed remotely while on a mobile phone,” explained Gene.

Originally published Apr 14, 2014, updated Aug 07, 2020