San Francisco SPCA

Founded in 1868, The San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) is a community-supported nonprofit dedicated to saving, protecting and caring for cats and dogs. As well as providing immediate care to animals that are homeless, ill or in need of an advocate, staff and volunteers also work to educate the community, reduce the number of unwanted kittens and puppies through spaying/neutering, and improve the quality of life for animals and their companions.

The care that the SF SPCA and its community of supporters provide makes the difference between neglect and nurturing, hurting and health, loneliness and a loving home. Effective communications is the lifeblood of this nonprofit that relies exclusively on donations to provide its many services.

“We look at ShoreTel as a business partner. Through the ShoreTel system, we’ve been able to save over $100,000 a year, which means we are able to bring in more cats and dogs, find them homes, save more lives, and provide the community with greater resources.”
— Tina Ahn, Director of Development/Communications, SF SPCA

The SF SPCA was losing upward of 38 percent of calls, and staff was concerned this might negatively affect adoptions and lead to a life-or-death situation in the event of a medical emergency. As part of a new hospital facility, the organization decided to deploy a cost-effective IP-based communication system that would integrate communications across all three of its buildings and include a call center to better serve the community.

After evaluating competing systems, the SF SPCA chose a ShoreTel UC system with about 200 phones across three sites. Benefits include:

• Integration with overhead paging, improving emergency response by quickly involving an available doctor.
• Improved customer service helping to increase the number of donations.
• Savings of about $100,000 each year.
• Dramatic decrease in calls going on hold or dropping.
• Increased productivity due to integration with Microsoft Outlook.
• Participation in the annual Macy’s adoption event is now less expensive and more efficient than in previous years, thanks to ShoreTel.