Wilmington University‘s IT team needed a contact center solution that could handle call volume across multiple departments without pulling staff away from Microsoft Teams. They chose Landis Contact Center and have been running it across IT support, financial aid, and public safety ever since.
Jared R. Wise and Ian Gibason from the Wilmington University IT team shared their experience.
Getting Up and Running
The implementation went smoothly. Ian described the deployment as fast and issue-free, with the system operational shortly after the demo. Landis support engineers stayed involved throughout onboarding and remained accessible afterward.
“They were consistently helpful throughout the deployment and afterward,” Jared said. “Anytime we had a question or encountered an issue, they would step in and make sure we had everything we needed to keep moving forward.”
The one area that required more effort was building out the IVR flows. The university needed different configurations for different departments, and getting those right took time. Landis’s IVR widget made the process more manageable.
“Creating the IVRs was the hardest part,” Ian said, “but the widget feature Landis provides made it much easier. Having that flexibility allowed us to quickly build and adjust IVRs to meet our needs.”
How the System Handles Calls
Wilmington University handles a high volume of calls across IT, engagement services, financial aid, and public safety. The platform’s multi-queue support lets the team route calls by department, which is particularly useful at the start of each semester when call volume spikes.
The university made a choice to route callers to live staff as much as possible rather than automated IVRs. The goal was to make sure students reached a person quickly.
“We wanted to make sure that when students called in, they could speak to a live person right away,” Ian said. “That’s a big part of our philosophy.”
However, the tradeoff is a high number of call transfers. Callers reach a person fast but sometimes move through several departments before getting to the right one. The team is working to reduce unnecessary transfers.
Call Tracking: Work in Progress
One of the team’s priorities is better visibility into each call’s path through the system. They want to see how many times a call was transferred, which departments handled it, and how long each leg took. That data would help them identify where transfers are happening unnecessarily and give them something concrete to work with in staff training.
“One of the biggest complaints we hear from students is that they feel like they’re being transferred too much before reaching the right person,” Jared said. “If we could have more detailed insights into the transfer process, we’d be better equipped to address those complaints and improve the overall experience.”
The platform provides a baseline view of call routing today. Landis is working with the university to explore what additional tracking is possible.
“The team at Landis has been very open to discussing how we can enhance call tracking,” Ian said. “We’ve had conversations about working with Microsoft to implement some of these improvements, and they’ve been receptive to our feedback.”
Landis Listens!
As our valued clients share their feedback and feature requests, our engineering teams use this to shape the development of the product. The call tracking mentioned above is one of those features.
Landis Contact Center now includes information on where calls are transferred to.
CRM Integration on the Roadmap
Wilmington University uses Ellucian platforms, including Recruit and Advise, to manage student data. Integrating those systems with the contact center would let staff see a student’s profile before or during a call, making it easier to route to the right department from the start.
“If we could bring those systems together, we could streamline our operations,” Jared said. “If a student calls in, having immediate access to their profile in Ellucian would help us route their call to the right department faster and with more accuracy.”
A follow-up call with the Landis team is scheduled to explore how that integration would work.
A Feature They Weren’t Using
During a check-in with the Landis customer success team, Jared and Ian learned about call wrap-up features they hadn’t been using. Their agents were occasionally missing the wrap-up window and losing call outcome data as a result. The platform already had a way to retrieve and update that data after the fact.
“It ensures that even if an agent misses entering the wrap-up data, they can go back and fix it without losing critical information,” Ian said.
Knowing about the feature changed how the team handles wrap-up tracking day to day.
Quarterly Check-Ins
Wilmington University meets with the Landis customer success team on a quarterly basis. Those sessions give the IT team a regular opportunity to flag issues and discuss what to work on next.
“These meetings give us the chance to talk through any issues we’re seeing, but more importantly, they allow us to have forward-thinking discussions about how we can continue to optimize the system,” Jared said.
Both Jared and Ian described the relationship as collaborative. Landis has been transparent about where the platform stands today and where improvements are planned.
“Landis doesn’t just sell you a product and walk away,” Ian said. “They’re a true partner. They’re committed to making sure we’re successful, and that’s reflected in how they handle every interaction.”
What Wilmington Would Tell Others
For organizations evaluating a Microsoft Teams contact center, Jared and Ian’s recommendation is straightforward.
“For any organization looking for a Microsoft Teams contact center solution, we would absolutely recommend Landis,” Jared said. “The solution is intuitive, powerful, and it integrates seamlessly with the tools we’re already using.”
“What really sets Landis apart,” Ian added, “is their dedication to customer support. They don’t just sell you a product—they become your partner. Whether it’s through custom solutions like the IVR widget, regular check-ins, or simply being there when we need help, Landis is always focused on making sure we succeed.”
