COOK PAGING SELECTS IN-TOUCH II
MELVILLE, NY, Dec. 10, 1999 --
In-Touch Management Systems, Inc. announced today that Cook Paging has
selected the In-Touch II paging and billing management system. Alan J.
Hills, In-Touch's president, made the announcement.
Cook Paging, located in San Rafael, Calif., about 10 miles north of San
Francisco, is the largest privately held carrier in the western United
States, serving customers from Canada to Mexico. Established in 1984,
Cook Paging has now expanded to nine regional offices in California,
Oregon and Washington. Broadcasting on UHF and VHF networks, Cook
Paging provides a full range of paging, dispatch and answering service
products in a variety of specialized markets.
According to Michael Montague, vice president - Operations/Customer
Service for Cook Paging, his firm needed to consolidate its billing and
management systems.
"In our California offices we were using a 'pick' batch system for
billing with no Glenayre interface," Montague said. "Everything was
entered manually in a central location from paper. Each local office
handled the Glenayre programming. It was very difficult to cross check
the billing system to the live pagers in the terminals."
In-Touch II gives Cook Paging the ability to interface with the Glenayre
terminals at the same time they update the billing system. Cook Paging
has much better control over inventory and can ensure accurate billing
for those services 'live' in the paging terminals. In-Touch II also
provides user-friendly reporting drawn simultaneously from both paging
terminal and billing data.
There are a number of In-Touch II features that are proving useful for
Cook Paging. The 'agent access' module allows the company to reduce its
call center workload by giving resellers and large corporate accounts
the ability to activate and exchange pagers. Because the company's
direct access system is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week,
these important customers are more effectively served.
"Since billing and paging terminal activity is now 'real time', we are
better able to report timely sales activity to our field offices and
make necessary marketing changes," Montague said. "Absolute inventory
control is now possible, again due to the 'real time' nature of
connecting/disconnecting pagers in the terminals and billing system
together."
In-Touch II allows Cook Paging to post payments and charges directly to
the customer's account in all of their offices, rather than forwarding
paper to a central billing location. This avoids delays and ensures the
customer's next invoice is correct. Cook Paging has a clear, timely
audit trail of all activity by centrally controlling the daily
reconciliation process. In-Touch II also enables Cook Paging to cross
check daily cash register totals for each office.
Cook Paging is currently setting up a central customer care billing and
support center to handle all inbound customer calls.
"We now have a single database housing all customer billing and
inventory records," Montague said. "The In-Touch inventory database
allows us real time access to all pager models and colors in stock
company wide. We avoid unnecessary ordering of additional inventory.
We also plan to aggressively promote 'agent access' in West Coast
markets where we have acquired numerous local DID blocks.
In-Touch Management Systems, Inc., based in Melville, NY, was founded in
1982 and is an industry leader in developing software and supplying
computer management systems for the paging/NPCS industry. The company's
In-Touch II system integrates seamless switch/terminal interfacing,
billing, inventory, and accounts receivable functions for paging
operators. In-Touch II is designed with no limits open architecture and
hardware/operating system independence, allowing maximum flexibility and
seamless scalability. Today In-Touch Management Systems services
paging/NPCS carriers and resellers throughout the U.S. and in 17
countries in Europe, Central America and South America.