Central Health
Central Health’s Joint Technology Team Boosts Collaboration by Harnessing RingCentral Glip™
Glip empowers us to resolve issues in a timely manner. In fact, it has brought our teams closer together by easing collaboration and making it easier to interact.
Veronica Milholland
Systems Analyst, Central Health
Since its founding in 2004, Central Health and its partners have been dedicated to creating and implementing a coordinated, patient-focused healthcare system in Central Texas. As stewards of taxpayer funds, the Central Health enterprise, comprised of four organizations and its affiliates, is continually seeking ways to optimize patient care, including its supporting business systems.
How Central Health piloted Glip with the IT teams
The enterprise Joint Technology team is responsible for Tier 1, 2, and 3 IT/IS service and support. The teams include User Support, Application Support, Infrastructure Support, and Project Management. Until recently, the teams experienced regular challenges with real-time communication within and across teams.
As Angela Schmiedeke, Systems Analyst Supervisor at Central Health responsible for the Application Support team, explains, “People within the group communicated via the ticketing system and email, making assumptions about which tasks needed to be completed by which team.”
INDUSTRY
Healthcare
HQ
Austin, Texas
YEAR FOUNDED
2004
EMPLOYEES
1,100
Using real-time communication to improve performance
The Joint Technology team piloted Glip by evaluating functionalities and identifying opportunities to optimize productivity prior to enterprise-wide implementation. Now team members post questions and can tap into pooled knowledge for answers. As a result, IT support is becoming more efficient and effective in cross-team and inter-team support of customer issues and requests. “Glip empowers us to resolve issues in a timely manner. In fact, it has brought our teams closer together by easing collaboration and making it easier to interact,” explains Veronica Milholland, Systems Analyst at Central Health.
Glip has empowered us to get real-time answers and expedite customer service.
Angela Schmiedeke
Systems Analyst Supervisor, Central Health
Improving escalation, increasing knowledge, and cross-team collaboration
Schmiedeke and her peers are using Glip to its full potential to drive efficient ticket resolution. “We’ve created Application, Infrastructure, and User Support escalation chats and added everyone in the department. We also have a space for general technology questions. By pooling our knowledge and coming together in an easily accessible common space, we can quickly communicate about and resolve issues,” says Schmiedeke.
For instance, if an infrastructure issue arises, specialized teams are notified within seconds so that customers can be alerted and kept up to date. Once a technician is on the scene, the technician uses Glip to communicate with the group to orchestrate a resolution. “Glip has empowered us to get real-time answers and expedite customer service,” continues Schmiedeke.
Central Health’s User Support team uses the RingCentral Contact Center™ system and leans heavily on Glip to improve service and increase fast access to experts.
“An agent in the User Support team can reach out to the Application Support or Infrastructure team via Glip for fast resolution of the problem, often while the caller is still on the phone,” explains Milholland. Thanks to Glip, complex problems are resolved faster than ever.
In addition, Glip enables the Joint Technology team to build team members’ knowledge. Because impacted teams see answers in the shared space, they are more prepared with the answer the next time the question arises. Project managers create Glip chat groups to share action items and informational updates. The Data Warehouse and Development teams utilize Glip to troubleshoot tools and processes related to their automated jobs that push and pull data. There is also a chat group for Joint Technology leadership to keep each other apprised of current topics and to share staff feedback collaboratively and in real time.
Glip as a process partner
The Joint Technology team is so pleased with the impact of Glip that it has integrated Glip into its core processes. Before any issue can be assigned to another team, it must be entered into one of the escalation chats to determine whether anyone can resolve it or advise on next steps.
“Glip has provided an avenue for systemic transformation within the technology department for Central Health. We are now able to quickly communicate on issues and are becoming more proactive in our approach to the technology issues and needs of our internal customers. The ability to rapidly have expertise from multiple IT disciplines engaged immediately on problems occurring in the environment is allowing us to be more effective and efficient with our limited resources. I would give RingCentral’s Glip product high marks as an instant collaboration tool,” says John Clark, Chief Information Officer at Central Health.