Ever have a “Why didn’t I think of that” moment? While checking out the web page for our August Customer Spotlight, Estes Public Relations, I came across a blog of theirs titled ‘Estes PR’s Guide to Summertime Cocktails.’ Who doesn’t want suggestions for cool summertime libations? Since there are still a few days of summer left (technically fall begins on September 22nd), check out their recommendations to get you through these final dog days here.
Estes Public Relations has been a partner of Unified’s since August of 2015. Here’s a little more about Estes from their Office Manager, Julie Brooks.
Tell us about your company and what you do
We are a boutique public relations firm that specializes in the lifestyles, spirits, and hospitality industries which include chefs, restaurants, hotels, and products. We also provide social media management for our clients. This year we are hosting a James Beard Taste America dinner in the Louisville market.
What drew your company to make a connection with Unified Technologies?
United Technologies was recommended to us by our IT company, ISC-Kentucky. We have a very old phone system that was getting too expensive to maintain. Once we had a demo of the new system, it was a no-brainer to make the switch.
How has using Unified benefited you and your company?
Having the new system not only saved us money, it totally changed the way we worked. We no longer had to have someone in the office to answer the phones as employees can forward their work phones to their mobile phones or choose to get messages by email. It is “cutting the cord” that tied us to a phone.
The integration with our Office 365 and Outlook automatically sets to “out of office” based on a calendar event. This is great because now everyone has to update their calendars (which has been neglected in the past).
Another example of its utility was when I was able to use the technology of the phone system to help with the James Beard dinner. We did not want to publish direct dial numbers to a national website for the event. We had an extra office phone and I was able to assign that number to James Beard as the number to call for more information. The event sold out immediately. We were then able to change the message to state the event was sold out and to give instructions on how to put a name on the waitlist. No one had to “man the phone lines”.
We also have twice-monthly conference calls that we can record for our reference needs (which comes in handy when employees miss the call). Before setting this up, I called Unified to discuss what I wanted to do and verify that all of it would work. That is probably the best benefit of being with Unified – their customer service is terrific.
If you could describe Unified in one word, what would that be?
Reliable.
