{"id":43738,"date":"2020-10-15T22:59:07","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T22:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onesaas.local\/case-studies\/netsuite-sms-integration-cuts-customer-support-time-half\/"},"modified":"2024-03-27T20:06:38","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T20:06:38","slug":"netsuite-sms-integration-cuts-customer-support-time-half","status":"publish","type":"case-studies","link":"https:\/\/messagemedia.com\/nz\/case-studies\/netsuite-sms-integration-cuts-customer-support-time-half\/","title":{"rendered":"Port Network’s NetSuite SMS integration cuts customer support queue time by 50%"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Port Networks is a local Internet service provider based in Baltimore, Maryland. They provide fast, reliable internet for homes, businesses, vacation rentals, resorts and marinas in their surrounding community. They differentiate from their competition by delivering remarkable customer service at great prices without the contracts, fees, and high price increases that are commonplace among large-scale scale ISPs. Port Networks\u2019 customer support is also delivered by a team of technicians who live and work in the area (not outsourced to a call center halfway around the world). Their guiding mission is to provide customers with an Internet connection they’ll love.  <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like most ISP\u2019s, the bulk of their sales, marketing and customer service communications are centered on phone conversations. Customers call in to respond to marketing promotions, inquire about upgrades to their service or to report any issues or problems. About a year ago, Hugh Bethell, founder of Port Networks, noticed many of the younger employees at the company preferred to communicate and seek information using Twitter, Facebook and SMS – not via email or phone.  <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That\u2019s when I realized that a significant portion of our customers would prefer to communicate with us via SMS. And I realized it was easier, cheaper and much faster than using phone or email<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\nHugh Bethell, Port Networks<\/strong> <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The initial idea was to use SMS as a communication channel for customer service responses, but their list of use cases has expanded as they realized the power of communicating with customers via text messaging. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Port Networks uses NetSuite for most of their business operations including their CRM, quotes, order processing, billing, customer support, payment status, service details, and so much more.  <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We live and breathe within NetSuite \u2013 it is the center of all our customer communications.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nHugh Bethell, Port Networks<\/strong> <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In order to bring a text messaging into the fold, Hugh wanted a solution that was easily integrated into their NetSuite set of tools. That way, they would always have context and details on each customer whenever they wanted to send or receive SMS communications. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They initially tried to use the SMS capabilities from an integrated messaging company that already provided their VOIP service. After playing around with this, it quickly became clear this was not an optimal solution. Hugh was concerned about the cost and complexity of building, testing and maintaining a custom, home-grown API-based integration between this service and NetSuite. He also wanted to be able to natively see all of their customer communications \u2013 email, phone, SMS – from within the NetSuite platform. He needed a solution that could provide a direct SMS integration and display the conversation details \u2013 all within NetSuite. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The solution<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After <\/span>researching <\/span>on the web and <\/span>NetSuite\u2019s<\/span> <\/span>Suite<\/span>A<\/span>pp<\/span>.com web portal,<\/span> Hugh discovered Mes<\/span>sageMedia<\/span>. <\/span>He <\/span>q<\/span>uickly realized<\/span> this was <\/span>preci<\/span>sely <\/span>the type of solution he had envisio<\/span>ned. <\/span>Hugh reached out via phone to <\/span>MessageMedia, a<\/span>nd a<\/span>fter a <\/span>few <\/span>conve<\/span>rsations<\/span> <\/span>and a demo <\/span>made <\/span>the decisi<\/span>on to <\/span>implement<\/span> <\/span>MessageMedia\u2019s<\/span> <\/span>SMS-<\/span>integration <\/span>solution. <\/span>Installation <\/span>of the Mes<\/span>sageMedia NetSuite bundle<\/span> was <\/span>\u201c<\/span>as easy as put<\/span><\/i>ting a <\/span><\/i>kid\u2019s<\/span><\/i> bi<\/span><\/i>ke together<\/span><\/i>, just follow the i<\/span><\/i>nstru<\/span><\/i>ction<\/span><\/i>s<\/span><\/i>\u201d<\/span> said <\/span>Hugh<\/span>. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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