Holdcom is proud to recognize Somerset Medical Center as our Client of the Month for November 2007. Since 1992, Holdcom has provided the Medical Center, as well as its satellite facility – The Sleep For Life Center – with professional Message-On-Hold services.

Located in Somerville, New Jersey, Somerset Medical Center is a 355-bed, not-for-profit hospital specializing in emergency care, cancer care, cardiac care, maternity services, surgery, sleep medicine, stroke care, inpatient treatment for eating disorders, sports performance services, and rehabilitation services. In January 2007, they opened The Steeplechase Cancer Center, a $28 million outpatient facility, which houses radiation oncology, the sanofi-aventis Breast Care Program, oncologists' offices, complementary medicine services, and their own clinical research team. They also expanded their sleep medicine services in January of this year, opening the new 20-bed Sleep For Life Center in Hillsborough, New Jersey - one of the largest and most high-tech sleep disorders facilities in the nation.

Viewing the Message-On-Hold program as a valuable complement to their traditional public relations and marketing efforts, the Medical Center utilized this highly effective medium to aggressively promote their new cancer center and sleep center. Annually, Somerset Medical Center updates their on-hold program on a quarterly basis to reinforce their key messages and announce their latest developments to their callers.

“Of all of the marketing avenues we use,” cites Kathleen Roberts, Director of Marketing and Public Relations, “I get the most feedback regarding the on-hold messages, proving that people are indeed listening to them when they are on hold. Programs throughout the hospital are constantly asking me to mention them in the Message-On-Hold because they, too, recognize this as a great way to make people aware of our services.”

In addition to enjoying the benefits of on-hold messaging, Ms. Roberts also appreciates the company that provides the service for her facility.

“We have always experienced a high level of customer service from Holdcom,” she states. “They are very quick in their turnaround time for our new messages and always do a very professional job with the recordings, which is very important because the quality of the messages is a reflection on the Medical Center.”

We congratulate Somerset Medical Center as our November 2007 Client of the Month. To learn more about them, visit their website at www.somersetmedicalcenter.com.

Employee Spotlight

For over a year now, Brian Lenning has been a member of Holdcom’s Technical Support team. In addition to assisting clients with their Message-On-Hold equipment installation, Brian evaluates and resolves technical issues, and often goes the extra mile to solve equipment related problems. He’s even been known to make house calls! Brian is also responsible for the timely distribution and updating of new MOH programs to our remote load customers. Internally, whenever a staff member has a computer question or challenge, Brian is there, from training to fixing to maintenance, he is truly “Mr. TS” (tech support, that is).

From a young age Brian was fascinated by technology, and today, when he is not custom building his own computers, he collects Japanese slot machines (Pachislos) and traffic signals and equipment. Obviously Brian spends lots of time on his computer and much of it on Ebay feeding both these hobbies.

One of the most important tips Brian offers is that we need to keep our computers (home and office) more organized, and that we periodically defrag our hard drives to avoid sluggish computers. In Brian’s fast paced world of technical challenges, he understands the importance of maintaining and streamlining our system operations, so we can all function a little more smoothly!

We have all at one point during the day said, “I’m hungry”. Those with kids and families hear it all the time, especially after school or around 5 or 6 o’clock at night. Think about this the next time you hear that phrase… "Hunger" is the physical sensation that results from not having had enough food to eat. Food insecurity is defined as a lack of access to enough food to fully meet basic needs due to lack of financial resources. Hunger is the worst-case scenario of food insecurity.

Eva’s Kitchen in Paterson, New Jersey has been opening its doors to serve hot meals since 1982. All who visit the kitchen are fed, and no one is turned away. Unlike a soup kitchen, there is no “chow line” with guests filing in order to receive a meal. Each visitor to the kitchen is greeted and seated by one of the many volunteers, always with respect and dignity.

This season, HOLDCOM is giving back to the community by sponsoring a Food Drive, the proceeds of which will benefit the Kitchen at Eva’s Village. We’ll kickoff the drive on Monday, November 26th, and it will continue until Friday, December 21st. All proceeds will be delivered to Eva’s Kitchen on Wednesday, January 2nd 2008.

What to donate? Annette Pierce, Kitchen Director at Eva’s, looks for donations of dry or canned foods, such as soups, vegetables, beans, rice, pasta and pancake mix. Kids love canned raviolis! In addition, Eva's requests coffee, juice, peanut butter, crackers and tuna fish, which is very easy to prepare and highly nutritious. Annette also said that supplies and utensils are welcome too.

Whether you’re interested in donating food items or volunteering time, contact us at fooddrive@holdcom.com today. For more information about Eva’s Kitchen, visit www.evasvillage.org.

HOLDCOM is proud to announce it’s recent partnership with CallNotice, a telecommunications provider offering “hosted” (no equipment or software to buy) automated messages such as appointment reminders calls and broadcast notifications. Perfect for hospitals, doctors, auto dealerships, schools and universities, government agencies or any other industry that needs to relay information quickly to a large number of people.

Perhaps you want to announce school closings during inclement weather, or promote a local government candidate for the next election. CallNotice enables you to reach a high volume audience quickly, with minimal effort on your part.

Appointment reminders will reduce the number of “no shows”. Broadcast messages to let people know of weather related delays or change of venues. The possibilities are endless. CallNotice is a cost effective solution to help free up your office resources. And because you can manage your account online, the service is easy to use.

Now, paired with HOLDCOM’s Professional Voice Production services, the service provided by CallNotice is another example of how voice branding can enhance your company’s image. To learn more about CallNotice and browse their Professional Voice Recording Store, visit www.callnotice.com.

HOLDCOM attended the SOCAP Annual Conference in Palm Dessert, CA and benefited from the various educational break-out sessions and key note speakers. Neil Fishman & Andy Begnoche’ represented HOLDCOM and returned with new ideas and positive comments about the event.

Neil commented, “It’s always great to see old friends and make new connections while sharing ideas and learning about Consumer Affairs best practices from industry experts and professionals.”

New this year was a golf outing sponsored by Network Direct. About 60 golfers gathered Sunday for a morning of networking and golf at the beautiful J.W. Marriott resort. Seasoned golfers and beginners joined forces in a round of best ball golf. As a hole sponsor, HOLDCOM was represented by Andy Begnoche’, who commented, “It’s just too bad the winner wasn’t based on how many golf balls you lost! I would have been a sure thing for first place”. The event was such a success that it will be included in next year’s conference.

Also revealed for the first time during the Conference’s Annual Business Meeting was the much-anticipated new SOCAP logo, mission statement, vision, and core values for SOCAP International. Andy Begnoche’ Director of Operations explained, “There was a real buzz around the entire conference about how there was a noticeable change throughout the event. We need to get the word out to the members NOT attending, that SOCAP is headed in a new direction.” Below are the vision, mission and core values:

• SOCAP International Vision:

  SOCAP International drives business transformation through its global community of customer care experts.

• SOCAP International Mission:

  To develop experts who add business value through customer engagement.

• SOCAP International Core Values:

  1. Excellent customer care is critical to the success of business. 2. Customer Care is a specialized profession critical to business transformation. 3. Education and networking are fundamental to developing effective customer care professionals. 4. Member involvement is essential to the success of the association. 5. Fiscal responsibility is vital to long-term success.

Be sure to mark your calendars for the next SOCAP Symposium, which will be in Boston at the Westin Boston Waterfront, April 27-30, 2008; as well as the Annual Conference in Miami at the Loew’s Miami Beach, October 5-8, 2008. You won’t want to miss either of these events, so be sure to register early. If you are not a SOCAP member and would like to join, log on to: www.socap.org/Welcome/Join/memap.cfm.

THE HOLDCOM VOICE is published and distributed monthly by HOLDCOM, as a service to our valued clients. This month’s contributors include Megan Andriulli, Stacey Caropreso, Andy Begnoche,
Steve Brown, Juan Sanchez, Rob Lefever and Harvey Edelman.
© 2007 by HOLDCOM. All Rights Reserved.