Clark Fork Valley Hospital Takes Control of Its Phone System
Clark Fork Valley Hospital and its Family Medicine Network in Plains, Montana, moved to Granite Tech’s UNIFI360 Hosted Phone System after a network change with their previous service provider, and put their staff through cybersecurity awareness training. Today the hospital’s own IT team makes phone changes without calling a vendor, on a flat-rate system with support included.
Every phone change meant a call to an outside vendor
Clark Fork Valley Hospital runs a hospital and a Family Medicine Network of clinics with roughly 250 employees. Its previous phone system was managed from the outside by a Missoula company, so the hospital could not adjust its own system. Even routine modifications meant contacting that vendor and paying for the work.
In a hospital, the phones carry patient calls, scheduling, and the back-and-forth between departments and clinics. When the people who know the building best cannot make a simple change, small requests wait in someone else’s queue. When the hospital’s service provider made a network change, CFVH used the moment to rethink the phone system instead of rebuilding the old arrangement.
The old system was administered by an outside company, so routine changes depended on that vendor’s schedule.
Routine modifications carried a cost every time, which made ordinary upkeep expensive.
The hospital’s own IT staff had no way to make changes themselves, even though they run the rest of the environment.
A network change with the previous service provider meant the phone setup had to be revisited either way.
A hosted phone system the hospital runs itself, plus training for staff
Granite replaced the externally managed setup with UNIFI360, Granite’s own hosted platform for business phone systems. It is a flat-rate hosted system with support and administrative capabilities included, so the hospital pays a predictable amount and owns its day-to-day changes.
The second half of the project addressed people rather than equipment. Staff went through security training on the PII Protect platform, which pairs short lessons with phishing simulations that keep cyber threats in front of employees.
Open each service to see what it does and what it meant at CFVH.
UNIFI360 is a cloud-hosted VoIP phone system that Granite builds, hosts, and supports. It runs as unified communications as a service, so there is no on-site phone server to maintain. At CFVH it replaced the system that had to be changed through an outside company.
The admin control panel puts system changes in the hands of the customer. The IT team at CFVH can now make changes on their own without having to call on a provider, which was the single biggest complaint about the old arrangement.
Call tracking and reporting came with the platform, giving the hospital’s administrators a view of call activity on the system they now manage themselves rather than asking a vendor for it.
Support is part of the flat rate, not a charge per request. When the hospital needs help beyond its own changes, Granite’s support team handles it under the same agreement.
Granite’s security awareness training program for CFVH staff runs on PII Protect, a user-friendly platform with phishing simulations. Practice emails teach employees to spot the messages that real attackers send, which pairs well with email security filtering on the technical side.
What changed for the hospital and its clinics
The hospital and clinics gained operational efficiencies and long-term cost savings by moving to systems they can control internally. Here is what that looks like in practice.
The IT team makes changes on its own schedule instead of waiting on an outside provider.
Flat-rate pricing with support included replaced paying for routine modifications.
Owning routine upkeep removes a recurring cost the old system built in.
Changes that once waited on a vendor now happen when the hospital needs them.
Phishing simulations keep employees practiced at spotting suspicious messages.
The project laid a strong foundation for ongoing collaboration with Granite.
What the CFVH team says about the switch
Granite also supports other Montana healthcare teams, including Northern Rockies Orthopaedics.
Healthcare IT and phone systemsFour steps from first call to a system you control
Every Granite voice project follows the same opening path, whether the organization is a rural hospital or a single clinic.
Quick response
A Granite team member gets back to you within one business day.
Discovery call
30 to 45 minutes on your current system, who manages it, and what each change costs you today.
Written proposal
Scope, pricing per phone or seat, and timelines in writing before anything moves.
Documented onboarding
Your team learns the admin tools so day-to-day changes stay in your hands.
Questions about the Clark Fork Valley Hospital project
Clark Fork Valley Hospital and its Family Medicine Network use the UNIFI360 Hosted Phone System from Granite Tech. It is a flat-rate hosted system with support, an admin control panel, and call tracking and reporting included.
Yes. The admin control panel lets internal IT staff make changes without calling a provider, which is exactly how the team at Clark Fork Valley Hospital works today. Granite support stays available for anything beyond those day-to-day changes.
Staff completed cybersecurity awareness training on the PII Protect platform. It combines training content with phishing simulations, so employees practice recognizing suspicious emails before a real one arrives.
Granite prices voice per phone or seat on a standard agreement, and UNIFI360 includes support in the rate rather than billing per change. After a discovery call, Granite sends a written proposal with scope, pricing, and timelines for your organization.
Still calling a vendor for every phone change?
Request a short call to talk through who manages your phones today, what each change costs, and whether a hosted system your own team controls is a fit. If it is, a written proposal follows.
Or email CustomerCare@granite.tech