Effective immediately, all client invoices are available as Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) files at no additional charge. For more information contact billing AT extendcomm.com

Extend Communications Inc., of Brantford, ON has been honoured with both the prestigious Call Centre Award of Distinction, as well the exclusive 2004 Award of Excellence for the sixth consecutive year, by the Canadian Call Management Association (CAM-X). The Industry’s Trade Association for providers of Call Centre Services including Inbound Order Desk/Help Desk and Web Enabled customer assistance recognized Extend Communications Inc. for their outstanding achievement at their 40th Annual Convention, held recently in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

The Call Centre Award of Distinction was created in response to overwhelming requests by Call Centres across Canada for a tool which could be used to measure the skills of their professional Call Centre Agents.

After six months of testing, an independent panel of judges scored call-handling skills for “enhanced service” applications, focusing attention on customer relationship management (CRM), courtesy, etiquette, and the use of proper call techniques, as well as response time and accuracy, the cornerstones of the Call Management Industry.

“Extend Communications Inc.’s showcase of top-notch customer service serves as a benchmark for all message service companies.” Says CAM-X President Lillian Lyle. “In an industry that relies on person-to-person communications, the value of efficient, accurate service cannot be underestimated. The Award of Excellence serves as a testament to their training methods and we congratulate their employees for their achievements. The Canadian Call Management Association congratulates the employees of Extend Communications Inc. for their attention to detail, their dedication, and their overall commitment to providing their clients with top-notch service.”

Founded in 1964, CAM-X began as a national trade Association representing live answering services. The Canadian Call Management Association now encompasses companies across Canada offering specialized and enhanced operator based services including: call centres, contact centres, inbound telemarketing (order entry), paging, voice messaging, emergency dispatch, fax, and internet services among others.

Extend Communications Inc., a telephone call centre and wireless messaging company headquartered in Brantford, announced today its expansion into the Greater Toronto Area with the purchase of 100% of the shares of All Call Communications, based in Georgetown.

“The All Call operation was a perfect fit within our ongoing expansion plans”, said Scott Lyons, President of Extend. “This acquisition gives us a solid client base in the GTA, and will open up further opportunities for our company in that market”, he added. All Call is a multiple winner of the Canadian Call Management Association’s Award of Excellence, and has been providing superior service for more than 20 years. As a 24-hour inbound call centre, Extend answers over 2 million telephone calls per year on behalf of over 750 clients. Calls vary from selling mail order products and lottery tickets, to dispatching a variety of service, medical, and emergency personnel.

Extend Communications Inc., of Brantford ON has been honored with the prestigious Call Center Award of Distinction by the Association of TeleServices International (ATSI). The industry’s Trade Association for providers of Call Center services including Inbound Order Desk/Help Desk and Web Enabled customer assistance recognized Extend Communications for their outstanding achievement at their 60th Annual Convention, held recently in Vancouver, BC.

The Call Center Award of Distinction was created in response to overwhelming requests by Call Centers across the United States for a tool which could be used to measure the skills of their professional Call Center Agents.

After six months of testing, an independent panel of judges scored call-handling skills for “enhanced service” applications, focusing attention on customer relationship management (CRM), courtesy, etiquette, and the use of proper call techniques, as well as response time and accuracy, the cornerstones of the Call Management Industry.

“The Award of Distinction is an impartial third party performance measure. Winning it indicates attention to detail, dedication, and commitment to customer service. The Award of Distinction was conceived to celebrate excellence in customer service for those Call Centers responding to the more complex requirements of e-commerce and consumer response.” Says ATSI President Steven Diels. “ATSI congratulates Extend Communications Inc.”

Now Call Centers across the United States have the opportunity to test the proficiency of their agents in true Call Center applications that did not fit into the original Award of Excellence profile offered by ATSI since 1996. The two programs will be run annually, giving both types of Call Management Centers an opportunity to `measure their skills’ against very demanding criteria.

It’s been just over a month since 50 million people had to go without power for several hours and even days in parts of Canada and the United States. At Extend, years of experience, training, planning, and a fantastic effort by staff paid off. Our emergency generators kicked in automatically and ran throughout the crisis. Many staff members showed up for work when they weren’t even scheduled to be there. It was hot, and call volumes were double and triple the usual amounts. Callers were patient if they experienced a few extra rings on the line – and we didn’t miss a single phone call.

HOW DO I CALL FORWARD MY PHONE WHEN I DON’T HAVE HYDRO?

As you may know, a “regular” residential style telephone does not require electricity to operate. Business telephone systems are plugged into hydro, and unless you make plans ahead of time, you will have no phone service during a power outage. This also means that you cannot forward your phone to us if the power is off!!

WHAT TO DO: – Keep a regular telephone on hand around your office. This must be one that doesn’t require electricity (ie. Not cordless, etc). – Find your telephone system in your basement or equipment room, and look for the phone jack that it is plugged into. You can unplug the phone system and plug the regular phone into this jack. Call forward using *72 like usual. You can also talk to your telephone supplier about a “power fail” set. This type of set can be installed in your office for use during power failures. Please don’t hesitate to call us if you have any other concerns about what procedures should be in place on your account to deal with hydro outages. With a little bit of advance planning, our staff can help you minimize the effects of this kind of crisis.

Marie-Lauren Gregoire
REPORTER STAFF

One business extended itself through the dark hours of the night as Cambridge, Ontario and most of the eastern United States were plunged into darkness during the massive power outage Thursday.

Extend Communications on Water Street operates 24 hours a day and they did not stop during the blackout. The communications company which provides essential services to many companies throughout the area was prepared for the power loss.

Extend answered calls for medical and oxygen supply, propane and ice supply companies and electrical and mechanical companies for repair and service for generators during the emergency. It also answered calls for obstetricians, midwives and veterinarians whose work goes on despite a blackout. The company also received a lot of calls for elevator companies as people found themselves stuck in one.

“A lot of companies rely on us to take their calls. A lot of companies, as soon as it happened, were calling us to say ‘are my calls coming through, will they be answered?” said Todd Lyons, vice-president of Extend.

“We’re always going to do our best to make sure we’re here and open.”

The call volume was very high during the hours of the blackout. Calls increased more than 50 per cent from 4 p.m. Thursday to midnight Friday. Lyons brought in more staff to deal with the barrage.

Call centre staff had to deal with a wide range of emergency calls. There were calls from nursing homes wanting propane delivery from their fuel companies and a Toronto communications company needing a generator.

He complimented his entire staff for the long hours they put in and their calm in dealing with hundreds of stressed customers.

“We’re used to some fairly urgent calls so for our business it was more than usual but not mind-boggling to us because we’ve always been a part of dispatching emergency calls,” said Lyons.

The generator powers some lighting in the building and the computers run on battery backup power. Extend ran for 23 hours on emergency backup power.

“Anyone who provides a service like that should be ready for eventualities like that,” said Lyons. “We helped out companies in other cities where their services weren’t as prepared as we were.”

Emergency situations like this one can test a company’s employees.

“It’s the staff,” said Lyons. “I can buy a generator but it’s having a dedicated team to work the equipment.”