technology
Today’s telephone system technology can be very intimidating. Even the best technology is only as good as it’s implementation. Specialized Telephone Systems can explain what “new” technologies are and how they can help your business. We can also help explain what “new“ telephone system technologies are just “bells and whistles” and don’t really help improve your business communications.
We make sure you don’t waste time and money chasing after the wrong solutions. Many of these telephone system technologies can even pay for themselves!
Here are just some of technologies that we have implemented and how they’ve helped our clients.
Remote Administration
Remote administration is one of the most valuable technologies available today. This allows Specialized Telephone Systems to make programming changes and complete diagnostics remotely, via modem or even over the Internet, on your telephone or voice mail system. Most companies today do not have a full time IT staff or even a part time telephone system administration. Remote administration allows Specialized Telephone Systems to perform that task for you and if you have a Maintenance Contract with Specialized Telephone Systems, we do it for FREE! Through remote administration, Specialized Telephone Systems can reset mailbox passwords, change toll restriction, change ringing, perform normal software upgrades, move extensions, and back up your system’s database. This keeps your system running at it’s best and protects you in the unlikely event of a system failure, Specialized Telephone Systems can respond in an instant no matter where in the FL and SC area you are located.
Interactive Voice Response: IVR
IVR allows your callers to get information, such as account balances or store locations, from their touch tone phones.
In simple systems, IVR can be used just to give directions, business hours, a fax number or web site address. This can help alleviate repetitive questions that your receptionist or operator is frequently asked.
Automatic Call Distribution: ACD
ACD, also known as call queuing, places calls on hold until “they are answered in the order received.” ACD is a very common technology, but it needs to be implemented properly. Callers can get very frustrated with long waits and lack of information while they are on hold.
ACD allows supervisors to monitor phone calls and even coach agents without the outside caller hearing. Agents can press a button and alert a supervisor that they need assistance.
Specialized Telephone Systems can provide live ACD monitoring and historical reporting, so supervisors can assign the right number of people to cover the phones at the busiest times. ACD can also be programmed to send callers to an overflow destination, such as the main operator, when they have been on hold too long or if too many callers are in queue. ACD can also send an alarm to a supervisor’s phone when too many callers are waiting in queue.
As with most complex technologies, it takes expertise to understand and explain all of the options available and to set up a system to work optimally.
Specialized Telephone Systems experience is crucial in making sure your telephone system and ACD work as hard as your do.
Speech Recognition
Speech recognition Auto Attendant allows callers to speak the name of the person they want rather then dialing the number. This can improve call processing and give a very high tech impression of your business. Internal users can also use speech recognition instead of key press for voice mail functions such as delete, forward, save, replay, etc. This can make your phone system much easier to use.
Speech recognition has made great strides in recent years dealing with accents, hard to pronounce names, and cell phone background noise, but it is still a very cutting edge technology and needs to be implemented carefully so the callers do not get frustrated with a system that doesn’t work 100% of the time.
Direct Inward Dial: DID
DID is one of our most popular features. DID has been used by large companies and institutions for many years, but now is affordable to almost anyone. DID gives your company a block of contiguous numbers (555-1000 to 555-1099). Each number is assigned to a specific phone, group of phones, ACD group, voice mail box, or fax machine/modem. Each phone can even have more then 1 DID number, so you can give a priority number to your family or important clients.
DID lets callers get right to the proper person with having to go through an operator or auto attendant and can dramatically improve call processing. Your telephone’s display also can show the callers number or the number called to help you decide what calls to take and what calls to let go to your voice mail. DID can be implemented in any of the new telephone systems Specialized Telephone Systems carries. Today, even companies with less then 12 lines can enjoy the benefits of DID.
Computer Telephone Integration: CTI
CTI is a new and up and coming group of technologies. Just some features include, caller ID screen pops, recording calls to your PC, dialing from your PC using your contact management software, logging all of your calls, changing voice mail settings from your PC, checking your voice mail from your computer, or any computer on the internet for that matter. CTI includes some of today’s most complex telephone system features. Call Specialized Telephone Systems today to see what a new telephone system with CTI applications can do for your business!
Unified Messaging
Unified messaging is one of the most popular features today. UM lets you get a copy of your voice mail as an email with a Windows wav file attachment. Optionally, you can just get a notification of the message sent to your email without the attachment. You can even get a text message sent to you when you have a voice mail message. Unified messaging makes it easy to send messages to anyone via email. You can also listen to your messages out of order, store them future use, and access your voice mail from the road without having to call into the office. Combining UM with live record allows you to keep a record of your phone calls for permanent archiving, legal protection, regulatory requirements, staff training, dispute resolution, and much more. Unified messaging is available on most of the telephone systems we sell and is very affordable.
Multiparty Conferencing
In today’s fast paced business world it’s not always possible to get everyone together for that important meeting, especially if customers or employees are in different cities. Callers enter the conferences and are announced either by name or with a simple beep. You can leave and reenter the conference call at will; it’s the next best thing to being there. And the conference bridge amplifies all callers so there is not the volume loss associated with traditional telephone system conference calls. Conference calling can help you cut down on travel time and expenses and keep you in contact with people all over the world.
Off Premise Extension: OPX
You’d like to work at home, but you need to stay in touch? Running out of desks, but need more employees? If so, then OPX may be perfect for you. Image taking your phone off your desk and plugging it in at home and having access to all the office lines and features. That’s what OPX can do for you and your business. Whether full time telecommuting or just working from home Friday’s in the summer, OPX lets you “move” your office anywhere and take your telephone system with you.
OPX allows you to “login” to your office system from almost anywhere and take your intercom, office lines and features with you. OPX can work through an analog dial up connection, ISDN, or over the Internet using a broadband connection, which is called a VoIP phone.
OPX telephones can be fancy multi-line phones, just like the one on your desk, or simple basic phones. You can even get a virtual softphone that works on your laptop or PDA, so you can take your extension anywhere you go.
You can even use this technology to link multiple offices together into one seamless telephone system.
Live Conversation Record
How often does a customer say to you “I didn’t say that!” Wouldn’t it be nice to have a recording of your conversation? Well now you can with Live Record. At the press of a button you can start recording your conversation right into your voice mailbox. You can even forward that recording to another mailbox or get it sent to your inbox with optional email integration.
In a recent installation at tile and marble company in New Jersey, they always had problems taking measurements over the phone. Now they have a record of exactly what their customers have ordered. Just one problem averted has saved them thousands! Best of all on most telephone systems, Live Record is a standard feature.
Emergency Message Notification
Are you still using an answering service at night? Do you miss important calls after hours? Wouldn’t it be nice if your voice mail could call you at home or on your cell phone and tell you if you have an urgent message? Well now you can!
All of Specialized Telephone Systems voice mail systems can notify you at any outside phone number of an urgent message. The system can even cascade notify running though a list of numbers until the message is picked up. You can even get an email or a text message with optional email integration.
You can’t be in your office 24/7, but now you don’t have to miss important calls. Perfect for service businesses, doctors, lawyers, or anyone that needs to be in constant communication.
In several recent installations in FL and SC, customers saved enough by canceling their answering services to pay for an entire new telephone system!
Soft Key Integration
Soft Key’s are one of the most exciting developments in the past few years and can really make the difference between a good phone system and a great one. Soft Keys are buttons below the LCD display on your phone that change function based on the phone status. If you’re checking your voice mail, the soft keys may say, forward, delete, or rewind. If you making a call they might say mute handset, conference, park, or transfer. If your phone is idle they just say how many new and urgent voice mails you have.
Just some of the soft keys featured in Specialized Telephone Systems telephone systems are call forward, do not disturb, speed dial access, call park, mute handset, quick transfer to voice mail, caller ID recall, voice over, and number of new and urgent messages.
Live Monitor–Answering Machine Emulation
Live monitor allows you to listen to a message as it’s being left in your voice mail, just like a home answering machine. You can then lift the handset and pick up the call. This lets you screen your calls without anyone knowing.
Voice over IP (VoIP)
Voice over IP is today’s hottest new technology, but you need an expert to help you make the right choices. Voice over IP includes several new technologies including making phones calls over the internet, connecting remote users to the main system over the internet, linking telephone systems at multiple locations together, and running your entire office phone system on your offices LAN or WAN. There can be many cost savings and productivity gains with voice over IP technology. As with all new technologies, experience is vital in selecting and implementing the right technology. Specialized Telephone Systems years of experience can save you time and money and make sure that you get all the benefits of this exciting technology.
Commercial on Hold
Commercial on Hold or Message on Hold can tell callers about your business. You can advertise products or services that your customers may not know about, keep callers entertained, or just play a friendly reminder that you haven’t forgotten that your callers are still on the line. Make hold time productive, positive time. Commercial on Hold gives your business a polished, professional sound that plain music on hold just can’t do.
Calling Party Number (CPN)
Using special lines called Prime Rate Interface (PRI) you can control your outbound caller ID on a per phone basis. This lets you show your private line on someone’s caller ID when you make a call from your phone instead of just the main company phone number. You can also set up phones to block outgoing caller ID, very useful for collection calls.
Email Integration
Now you can get a copy of your voice mail sent to your email inbox. You can listen to your voice mail on your computer or on your wireless device. Standard on many of Specialized Telephone Systems phone systems, email integration is a very popular feature and can help you stay in touch with your customers. Never miss an important message again. You can even use email integration to get a text message when you receive a voice mail.
