The June 2026 Issue of TAS Trader

Map Communications: Make more when you sell to us!

How Secure Messaging Helps Attract New Clients

by Laura LaLuzerne

When potential clients are looking for an answering service, many may be pleasantly surprised to learn about the communication options call centers offer beyond simply answering calls and taking messages.

Today’s contact centers provide a seamless extension of a client’s office by answering calls 24/7, delivering fast, accurate responses to callers, and holding messages for the office. They also support dispatching time-sensitive messages and, when needed, escalation services for urgent calls.

Secure Messaging is Your Strategic Advantage

With so many businesses offering similar services, secure messaging offers a distinct advantage in the competitive contact center market. No matter the type of business, every client benefits from protecting their customer and business information.

As you begin to market encrypted messaging, a few of the many types of businesses that benefit from using a secure messaging app include:

  • Financial services
  • HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) companies
  • Law firms
  • Medical personnel
  • Property management
  • Real estate

In short, any business that handles sensitive client information gives you a great opportunity to add new clients and increase your profitability.

Why Protecting Messages is Important

Offering encrypted messaging demonstrates a contact center’s commitment to safeguarding clients’ and callers’ sensitive information while enabling secure, remote communication. It also helps prevent data breaches and ensures compliance with key data protection regulations, including HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), which is required for healthcare communication in the US, and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), which is the security law in Europe, among others. Secure messaging with SOC 2 certification signals that the app developer takes data security seriously.

Using a secure messaging app maintains message confidentiality and ensures messages remain private in several ways. Access to the application is restricted using biometric technology, such as Face ID, or passcodes with varying length requirements. To further enhance security, the platform provides end-to-end message encryption and does not store messages on devices. If a device is lost or stolen, messages can be remotely disabled without deleting them.

Important Benefits of Secure Messaging Apps

As you offer secure messaging to new and existing clients, there are more benefits for your clients and callers. Here’s a breakdown of the top features to look for:

1. Security – Protect messages using passcodes and biometric access. Messages should have end-to-end encryption and should not be stored on devices.

2. Cost Savings – Using a smartphone app reduces costs by consolidating devices and eliminating pager fees. Features for shared devices allow multiple users to access a single device and retrieve their messages without sharing logins or inboxes.

3. Time Savings – Speed up the process of sending messages with quick phrases features that each user can customize. Persistent alerts help ensure recipients are aware of new messages.

4. Ease of Use – An intuitive, familiar interface helps users quickly start sending secure messages. Each user should be able to customize the app experience with preferred notification and sound settings.

5. Urgent Notifications – Being able to designate a critical message as high priority, with a unique sound set by each user, is crucial.

6. Remote Disabling of Devices – If a device is lost or stolen, the app should be remotely disabled to prevent unauthorized access.

7. Improved Collaboration – Messages should sync between a user’s mobile devices, tablets, wearables, and desktop apps. Using both mobile data and Wi-Fi ensures users are always connected and have current information.

8. A Single Focus – Message threads keep specific conversations centralized, making it easy for users to refer to them anytime.

9. Attachments – Messages that include photos, videos, and audio recordings keep users engaged without forcing them to switch to a different application.

10. Complete Audit Trails – Each message should include a detailed history with timestamps of who sent, read, and replied to messages.

Although not exhaustive, this list highlights essential features that both users and administrators prioritize and require in a secure messaging platform. Many of your current and new clients would benefit from adding secure messaging capabilities. Look for clients who use pagers, as a secure messaging app can help replace them and consolidate devices, saving costs for businesses.

Laura LaLuzerne is the Marketing Coordinator at Amtelco.


Featured Sponsor: Sartel

Startel

Headquartered in Irvine, California, Startel is a leading provider of unified communications, business process automation and performance management solutions and services for small to mid-size organizations. Since its founding in 1980, Startel has established a loyal customer base from a variety of industries, including contact centers, education, government, healthcare, insurance, telephone answering service and utilities. Customers depend on Startel’s solutions and services to increase business efficiencies, identify performance opportunities and deliver quick, secure and accurate communication 24/7 x 365.

In 2015, Startel Corporation and Professional Teledata merged. In 2017, Alston Tascom also merged with Startel


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Industry News

Peter Lyle DeHaan Releases Book Offering 60 Prescriptions for Healthcare Call Center Excellence

The Healthy Medical Call Center Now Available in Multiple Formats to Help
Leaders Boost Staff Retention, Quality Service, and Patient Satisfaction.

Acclaimed call center author Peter Lyle DeHaan announced the release of The Healthy Medical Call Center: 60 Prescriptions for Leadership, Quality, and Patient
Satisfaction, the fifth installment in his much-admired Call Center Success Series. The book is now available in ebook, audiobook, paperback, and hardcover formats.

The Healthy Medical Call Center offers sixty proven prescriptions specifically designed for healthcare call center leaders who face the daily challenges of staff
retention, quality service, and patient satisfaction. This comprehensive guide provides a practical roadmap for operational excellence in today’s demanding healthcare communication environment.

The book is directly applicable to a wide range of healthcare contact centers and medical call centers, including hospital switchboards, telephone triage operations,
medical answering services, and healthcare insurance call centers. Written for call center directors, operations managers, supervisors, and aspiring leaders, DeHaan’s
latest work addresses the unique pressures and opportunities within medical communication settings.

“Healthcare call centers are the critical first point of contact between patients and care providers,” said Peter Lyle DeHaan. “This book provides actionable strategies that leaders can implement immediately to improve their operations, support their teams, and ultimately enhance patient satisfaction.”

Drawing on his extensive experience in the call center industry, DeHaan delivers practical, field-tested advice that healthcare communication leaders can apply to
transform their operations. Each prescription addresses real-world challenges with clear, implementable solutions.

As the fifth, and final, book in the Call Center Success Series, The Healthy Medical Call Center continues DeHaan’s mission to equip call center professionals with
the tools and insights they need to excel in an increasingly complex industry.

About Peter Lyle DeHaan
Peter Lyle DeHaan is a seasoned business author specializing in the call center industry. Through his Call Center Success Series and other works, he has established
himself as a trusted resource for call center professionals seeking to improve their operations and leadership capabilities. For more information about Peter Lyle DeHaan, visit https://peterlyledehaan.com/about-peter-dehaan/.

Book Details
The Healthy Medical Call Center: 60 Prescriptions for Leadership, Quality, and Patient Satisfaction is now available in ebook, audiobook, paperback, and hardcover.

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Quote for Consideration

I know what I have given you. I do not know what you have received. -Antonio Porchia