architecture-building-business-ceiling-lamp-260931

How Constellation Pharmaceuticals Used Votacall to Design A Phone System That Works for Them

constellation logo

About Constellation

Constellation Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company using expertise in epigenetics to discover and develop novel therapeutics that address serious unmet medical needs in patients with cancers associated with abnormal gene expression.

technology-lens-laboratory-medical-60022

The Situation

Constellation needed a phone system that could support their existing staff and provide enough flexibility for future growth. It was a priority to give employees the ability to communicate their preferred way, rather than tying everyone to traditional desk phones. 

The team at Constellation wanted to talk through their needs with prospective providers so that they could design a system that would fit their unique business, rather than purchase a system that employees would have to adapt to.

The Goal

From Votacall's perspective, the goal was to understand what Constellation wanted from their phone system, and design a solution accordingly.

  • Meet with the team at Constellation to understand their needs
  • Demo the parts of Votacall's solution that would be useful
  • Offer a staggered deployment
  • Provide enough flexibility to give employees multiple communication options

The Story

Constellation Pharmaceuticals began their search for a new phone system by speaking with companies in their industry. The tightly-knit biopharmaceutical community in Cambridge, MA made it easy for them to go to companies with similar communication needs and ask who they were using.

Zac Saunderson, Sr. Service Desk Manager at Constellation, was looking for a provider that could not only provide the functionality that his employees were looking for, but also back that functionality with responsive and effective customer support. His team didn't want to order a "one-size-fits-all" solution and work out any kinks themselves - they wanted to talk through the needs of their business and work with a company that could address them without creating too much work for Constellation's employees.

After being referred by a few reputable biotechnology companies in their area, they reached out to Votacall.

“Votacall really set themselves apart from the other phone companies that we were looking at. From the first meeting, in person, with Andrew, to the implementation with Dan and the team we knew that we had the right partner in Votacall. The experience from the setup of the POC to the implementation company-wide was excellent.”

Zac Saunderson
Sr. Service Desk Manager, Constellation Pharmaceuticals

Zac-constellation-pharmaceuticals-customer-love

During conversations with the team at Constellation Pharmaceuticals, Votacall went to their office twice - the first time was to have a conversation about the company's needs and how they communicate, and the second was to demo relevant aspects of the Votacall solution and answer more technical questions.

Having those two in-person meetings didn't just help Votacall develop a stronger understanding of what Constellation was looking for - it laid the foundation for a collaborative relationship, rather than a transactional one.

One thing that became especially clear during the course of the meetings was that Constellation was looking to offer employees more flexibility than they had in the past. Like many businesses, they had historically relied on desk phones, which meant that employees were tied to a piece of hardware when they wanted to communicate. 

While some employees were comfortable that way, the team was interested in learning about alternatives. They looked into Votacall's "softphone" capabilities, which include the Votacall GO! mobile app and desktop client. For employees who need to make and receive calls but don't see the need for a desk phone, installing software that allows users to log into their extension is a great option.

Additionally, Constellation wanted to ensure a smooth rollout of their new phone solution so that their business wouldn't be disrupted by it. Votacall was able to walk the team through their "cloud hops," which is the onboarding process that's used to address customers' timelines and meet their unique needs.

The Result

Constellation decided to implement Votacall's hosted VoIP solution, and was able to do so in a "staggered" way. Rather than having their new system installed all at once, they asked Votacall to start with a few users so that they could get comfortable, then rolled out the rest of the system once they were.

The company also decided to give employees the option to either have a desk phone, or make and receive calls using Votacall's desktop softphone and mobile app. Roughly half of their employees decided to go with the non-hardware option, which means that those who may want to move away from their desk phones down the road will be able to see what not having one looks like. 

All in all, Constellation was happy to have a provider that could take such a flexible and personal approach to addressing their needs, and the team at Votacall is thrilled to be working with a growing, forward-thinking company.

phone system deployment
& onboarding process
softphone-only adoption