Tampereen Lääkärikeskus Oy

A few years ago, Koskiklinikka faced a problem that is still an everyday ordeal in many health care centers. The appointment numbers for physicians' offices became backed up after weekends, in particular, and for customers, the response times became annoyingly long.

According to customer service manager Johanna Kurki, Monday mornings were the worst, but occasional peak volumes were experienced during other days as well. "Preparing for those peaks was, however, difficult since no up-to-date data was available on the number of incoming calls," Kurki recalls.

Customer service a top priority

In addition to the Tampere city centre branch, Koskiklinikka has branches in two suburbs as well. The total number of physicians who see clients at Koskiklinikka is 250, and the number of other personnel is approximately 150, making the clinic also a nationally sizable health care provider.

Approximately five years ago, the company made a clear strategic decision to make customer service development a top priority. The appointment systems were among the key targets,” Kurki says.

The selected solution was Aastra Solidus eCare supplied by Elisa, together with the MX-ONE voice server. The appointments of branches that had been separate earlier were merged into a shared phone and information system that provided customer service representatives with real-time information on the appointment status of the branches and also on the volume of incoming calls.

Based on the call queue shown on the screen, an appropriate number of personnel can always be assigned to customer service. During quieter times, these same resources can perform other tasks, such as updating the calendars of physicians on duty and call customers about possible rescheduled appointments.

Effectiveness and cost savings

An important addition was also the online appointment system, which is continuously gaining in popularity, according to Kurki. The application of text messages, chat and callbacks is also on the list for future developments.

System upgrades will offer a number of other new features that Koskiklinikka will utilise as needed.

“Practice has shown that a well-functioning appointment system is the key to the operations of the entire medical clinic. When the upstream of contacts functions smoothly, it is also a lot easier to organise the rest of the work and to manage processes. Customers will experience this as better and more flexible service, whereas for us it means internal effectiveness and cost savings since unnecessary work can be avoided,” Kurki elaborates.

“And, of course, this also offers us a competitive edge. If a customer's call is not answered quickly enough, they will call another clinic,” she says.