REST Centres, REST short for restoration and empowerment of social transition, is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing shelter, support, and opportunities for homeless youth in the Peel Region of Toronto. With a mission to help young people in need, REST Centres is committed to providing a safe space for individuals to regain their footing and work towards a brighter future. By offering a range of services, including emergency shelters, transitional housing, and case management, REST Centres has become a vital resource for young people struggling with homelessness.
In REST Centres, every interaction matters, especially if we speak about helping young people in urgent need: without a place to sleep that night. We talked to the REST Centres IT Manager, Busola Koyi, who is responsible for all the software used by the volunteers to deliver the best communication strategies. Let’s see how their team approaches such a challenging task and how MightyCall helps them keep track of every interaction.
Why REST Centres chose MightyCall
The first phone system that REST Centre used was net2phone, and while it allowed them to receive calls on one line, other than that it was quite problematic. It had no integrations and the routing was not effective, so they decided to look for another communication system for their organization. REST Centres considered a number of VoIP providers, including RingCentral and Grasshopper, but Busola explained the importance of cost control in their decision-making process:
While some of them [VoIP providers] were good in other things, they refused to provide a guarantee on minutes, so they refused to guarantee my cost. In essence, you could wake up with a bill of $2000.
MightyCall’s transparent pricing and reliable service provided the guarantees REST Centres was looking for, leading them to choose MightyCall as their VoIP provider. MightyCall offered a wider variety of features included in the plan too, while others oftentimes pushed add-ons to bring prices higher. Busola also mentioned that the variety of MightyCall features had all they needed. The MightyCall team does deep analysis about what features are actually in demand, creating an ultimate all-in-one offer for different businesses.
The MightyCall-Salesforce integration
Another factor that is making REST Centres’ experience with MightyCall better is the Salesforce-MightyCall integration. It proved to be a significant advantage in a way that they can call their clients directly from Salesforce. There’s simply no need in switching between the platforms. Busola commented:
The Salesforce [integration] allows us to connect the profile of the client directly with the number and click without having to go through any hoops. So, think of it as a direct one-screen time-saving mechanism, it pretty much does it all.
The MightyCall-Salesforce integration boosted REST Centres’ communication process, enabling them to focus more on their clients and keep track of their clients’ changes on file, avoiding all the possible inconveniences that could occur without their CRM and phone system being integrated.
Multiple phone lines advantage
MightyCall’s ability to provide multiple phone lines was another essential factor for REST Centres. The strategy on mixing local and toll-free numbers can depend on many things. Some need them for different departments, others for special purposes like a separate line for advertising purposes, but in REST Centre’s case they use different lines for different audiences.
Busola explained,
So local lines are what people call the most. We also got the toll-free line from MightyCall. And the local line is the one most use and the clients use, whereas the toll-free line is the one our stakeholders such as the donors, the government, agencies and fellow nonprofits use.
By offering separate lines for clients and stakeholders, REST Centres could organize their communications and ensure that their outreach efforts were as effective as possible. Call routing tailored to each line’s use also helps them direct calls to the people responsible for the correspondent spheres.
The best MightyCall features according to REST Centres IT Manager
For REST Centres, the first standout feature of MightyCall is call recording. Depending on the business’s needs, call recording can be turned on for both incoming and outgoing calls. Once it’s done, there will be audio recordings of the correspondent calls in the call log. The use of call recording is truly endless: you can oversee and train staff, keep important information on hand or even use it for review collection. In REST Centres, Busola said, they use call recording mostly for keeping the history of the youths who contact them:
Our primary clients aren’t donors, they’re not the government, our clients are youth that are looking for home or shelter. So, the thing is we have cases for them where we use call recording for. Each client has a file and each file has a history. So, we need to know what has been happening over time, which is from the time before [our youth clients] first experience homelessness to the time that they got a job, to the time they’re moving out to the time they don’t need us.
The second feature that the REST Centre finds useful is SMS capabilities. Different ways of communicating is a key for some people.
Many of our clients text us a lot. But MightyCall has the SMS feature which allows us to receive SMS, especially when [the teens] don’t want to talk. Like, for example, many of them would like to just notify us that they received the package. So sometimes we send our packages to them and all they just need to do is confirm.
SMS has proven to be a powerful feature in many ways: some MightyCall clients use it for sales, informing, advertising and follow-ups. As we see in the REST Centres example, for some customers it can just be a preferred way of communication, so businesses might lose some leads if they don’t have access to it.
MightyCall team performance reports
During the pandemic, many REST Centres staff members had to work remotely, making it essential to monitor their performance and maintain efficient communication. MightyCall’s team performance reports provided a solution to this challenge. Busola described the benefits of this feature:
In the pandemic, a lot of our staff had to work from home remotely, and we had to check up on their performance. The good thing was MightyCall allowed us to do that. Because we could see how many calls we picked up.
With this information readily available, REST Centres could ensure their team remained responsive and supportive of their clients, even while working from home. For better management purposes, it’s recommended to schedule regular performance checks to constantly track any fluctuations and analyze their reasons. Busola shared that they don’t check the reports very often, but they always do it during the assessment period. MightyCall reporting in this case is a great source of additional insights into necessary management adjustments.
MightyCall’s impact on REST Centres’ mission
REST Centres’ work is critical to the well-being and future of countless homeless youth. By choosing MightyCall as their communication system, they have been able to optimize their outreach and support efforts, enhancing the services they provide to the citizens of Toronto. Busola summarized the organization’s commitment:
Our job is not done until there is no homeless youth on the street. So, it will be very happy once all the youth are in-house, and they have their lives back on track. That works for us all.
By utilizing MightyCall’s features, such as the Salesforce integration, multiple phone lines, call recording, SMS capabilities, and team performance reports, REST Centres has been able to maintain effective communication with their clients and stakeholders. This, in turn, has allowed them to focus on what truly matters – transforming the lives of young people in need.
The MightyCall team is proud to have REST Centres among our customers and thrilled we can be of help. If you’re interested in contributing to REST Centres’ mission, here’s the link for tax deductible donations.
