Amica Mutual Insurance Company has over 40 offices across the country in which employees receive incoming claim calls and make outgoing sales calls throughout the day.
The company prides itself on its award-winning customer service, so ensuring branch employees can conduct these calls privately and free from distraction is of paramount importance.
Additionally, some field office personnel reported instances where discussions held within private offices were overheard by employees throughout the surrounding open-office areas.
SOLUTION
After trying other sound abatement treatments without achieving the desired results, Amica’s facility management leadership tasked Ron Rivet from the IT team with finding a solution to the problem. Rivet found that sound masking - the process of adding an unobtrusive background sound to an environment - might be a viable option. Rivet met with Biamp, makers of the patented QtPro™ sound masking solution, to learn more and experience a live demo. Impressed with QtPro’s capabilities, Rivet suggested that Amica integrate the system into branch locations as a test.
QtPro was installed in two renovations. Each location had two hard-walled private offices along a wall, as well as a collection of soft-walled, floor-to-ceiling supervisor offices in the center surrounded by cubicles. Small, barely visible emitters (speakers) were installed in the ceiling tiles throughout and were connected by cables above the ceiling tiles to a QtPro control module residing in the branch equipment room.
CONCLUSION With the implementation of QtPro, Amica now enjoys greater speech privacy in private offices and customer service calls alike. Music is sometimes played through the emitters along with the masking, and the system meets Amica’s paging needs as well.
QtPro will now be included in all future branch relocations and renovations and has been installed in most pre-existing locations.
A graduate of DeVry Institute of Technology, Doug has been in the Technology industry since 1976 and actively oversees Fearing’s daily operations. Along with his wife, Lois, and three others, Doug started Fearing’s in a 600 square-foot facility in Portage, Wisconsin. In the 25 years since, the company has grown to over 30 employees with offices in Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Doug likes to say he’s a “TV Technician with a dream� going back to his history with the family’s original business-Fearing’s TV and Appliance.
Doug values time with family, watersports, hiking, snowshoeing and skiing. In addition to being a devoted member of his church, Doug serves as Board President for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County, Board member of Schools for Haiti and Scripture Chair of the Gideons-Portage camp.
A graduate of MATC, Lois oversees Fearing’s daily book keeping along with various HR responsibilities.
Along with Doug, Lois is deeply connected to community outreach, serving as a Board member and Fundraising Committee Chairperson for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County. She also serves on the Schools for Haiti Fundraising committee. In addition, Lois’ ongoing passion and commitment to provide care for the elderly comes from her 10-year history of working in a Reedsburg, Wisconsin Nursing home.
Lois enjoys singing, hiking, sunny days on the pontoon, and spending time with her 4 grandchildren.
Ehren drives Fearing’s technology by continually seeking out trends to enhance capabilities while supporting Sales, Engineering and Installation teams. Throughout his years with Fearing’s, Ehren’s talent and vision have joined forces to create a wide variety of projects and strategic solutions that exceed expectation.
Ehren loves music, family time, movies, nature, sustainability efforts and electric vehicles.
With 10 years with Fearing’s and over twice that long in the industry, Ben continues to lead, coordinate, and develop the Commercial AV team.
By consistently delivering an outstanding experience and outcome, Ben contributes to the Fearing’s legacy of long-lasting partnerships that truly make a difference. Whatever the Commercial AV need may be, Ben and team deliver at the highest level.
Ben is an avid fisherman and photographer. He enjoys coaching his sons and other youth.
Chris has been with Fearing’s for 20 years and in the industry for over 2 decades. As a Certified leader in Sales Acceleration and trained in EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating Systems), Chris successfully utilizes his skills to lead the Fearing’s Salesforce. Chris and team are motivated and driven to develop new client partnerships while continuing to reinforce loyal long-term relationships with ongoing Service excellence.
Married for 19 years with 3 children, Chris enjoys skiing, hiking, fishing, boating, hunting, camping and golf. He’s also been actively involved as a Youth Football and Softball coach for his family and others.
