Thursday, January 31, 2013

Office Telephone – Must have Cordless Phone Features



In a simple fashion a cordless phone can make your business run better. Before you need to be glued into your desk during a phone call which means multi tasking is close to impossible. However with a cordless phone you can take back your freedom and do what you need to do even while on the phone. This type of office telephone equipment is especially beneficial for staffs whose work involves running up and down the office whilst still be able to receive and make phone calls.

There are many cordless office telephone available in the market today, however not all handsets are equal and you need to meticulously pick what best suits your requirements but generally speaking you need to consider the following features below as they need to be standard across models.

Range – Probably one of the biggest concerns in using a cordless office telephone is the range. On average a cordless phone has a range of 25 to 50 meters. It is best to acquire the top end range to prevent any disruption during a call to be able to receive a call wherever you are in the office. You can also purchase a range extender if the model you acquired has insufficient coverage.

Battery life – Another important factor is the battery, on average a regular cordless phone has a talk time of 3 to 4 hours pretty much like any smart phones today. It is best that you consider purchasing models with extended battery life especially for staffs that are always on the phone and do not have time to set it on the base station for charging.

Multiple handset capable base station – If you wish to acquire cordless phones for multiple staff it is best that you acquire a model that supports multiple handsets in a single base. Blatantly this will make your overhead cost lower. 

Grip – As simple as it is the grip of the phone is also important. You need to be able to place between your head and shoulders comfortably otherwise it will depict the whole purpose of having a wireless telephone if you cannot use two hands to do other things.

Clear display and chunky buttons – Since you will not have a display that will par the size of desk phones it is best to choose a model that offers a clear display or better yet a color display to prevent eye fatigue and the large chunky buttons will facilitate ease of use.

How to Choose an Office Telephone Provider



If it is not too much to say, businesses cannot possibly run without a good telephone system. Phones act as one of the main doors that let clients into your businesses. A good phone will act both as your internal administrative medium especially for multi-branched businesses and as the primary communication media for sales and support services. With that said it is just a must to choose a good and trustworthy provider because a large portion of your success will rely on it.

Qualities of a good service provider

Trustworthiness – Although it is hard to determine the trustworthiness of any company that you deal with you can find cues and clues that will suggest they are worthy of your business. For starters an office telephone provider must always meet their deadlines especially if they are the one that set it. For an instance they told you that they will send you a quote within the day then they should send it within the day. If it is not possible then it is better they inform you ahead of time not when you are already on the phone complaining.

Remember it is better that the service provider tell that they will try with no promises made than to tell that they can only to find out they cannot. A trustworthy office telephone provider must always put your expectations on top.

Flexibility and options – a good provider should give you the flexibility and the luxury to choose what is best for your business. It is a big “no no” for any provider to only offer you the most expensive system if the in fact the lesser expensive system will do the job for you. Choose a provider that will give you all the possible options with all the pros and cons of each solution.

Flexible or no contract – It is just logic that if a service provider is confident that there service is good then there is no reason for a customer to switch. It is best to choose a telecommunications company that has no contracts, so if anything happen you can easily bail out and switch companies.

Unparalleled customer service – Being in the telecommunications industry it is a must for them to have outstanding customer support mechanism. It is a must for them to have the best phone etiquette and fast response because your business heavily depends on your phone system.

Continually growing – With all the technological innovations today call rates and other phone system associated costs are continually decreasing. It is a must for a provider to pass on the savings to the customers through promos, call cost reduction and so on.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Customizing your Cloud PBX Office Telephone



Giving a personal touch to your cloud PBX office telephone system is indeed worth it. Not only that you will have the phones that you’ve always wanted but it will also improve your callers experience with your business that can help lead to better conversion rates.

Cloud PBX office telephone systems can easily be custom program according to your likes and needs because the systems runs over an open source programming language. Your service provider can easily structure a solution that suits your needs and your preferences that will give a personal touch to your cloud PBX office telephone system.

Phone system customization ideas

Personalized greeting message – give your callers something to smile about with a greeting message of your choice. Be clever and creative step up from the traditional greeting message and put a twist to it. It will help lighten things up and can improve customers’ outlook towards your business.

Diversified menu system – tired of answering calls due to a different department? A customized menu system with multiple sub levels is the solution for you. Not only it will save your staff’s time but it will also improve customer involvement towards your service. Get you customers straight to the right department and person with just a few press of a button.

On hold messages – Entertain your customers whilst on hold by playing trivia, music or important company news and announcements. This will allow you to hit two birds with one stone entertain your callers whilst opening doors for an up sell. Who said that waiting on hold need to be boring?

Custom ringtone – It is often an office problem when a phone ring, all staffs tend to check their phone distracting them from what they’re doing. Why not set a custom ringtone for each of your staff? This will help lighten up your work environment whilst improving staff focus and overall workflow.

Custom ring pattern – did you know that you can enjoy a customized ringing pattern pretty much how a queue system works. You can either ring all your extension all at the same time or perhaps design a pattern where the first phone rings for a certain period the proceeds to the other then to the next. It all depends on how you would like it to be.

Apart from the features the capacity of a cloud PBX office telephone system can also be custom program to suit your needs. Technically speaking every component of the phone from the ground up can programmed according to your preferences.

Cloud PBX Office Telephone – Busting the Myths



It is a sad fact that the telecommunications world has been shrouded by multiple myths and misconception that often leads to confusion. It is a burden for all business owners to secure a reliable cloud PBX office telephone system because of such erroneous information. It is true that all phone system has their own pros and cons but some information over the web are just simply absurd.

Common myths busted

Low quality voice calls – Probably the most sought after myth is about the quality of cloud PBX office telephone. Most people think that since it is more affordable and uses the internet quality will suffer. It is true that this type of phone system rely heavily on the internet however internet connection these days are not like what it used to be back in the 1990’s. Today it is easy to secure a good and stable connection and often times exceeds what is needed by such system.

Unsecure calls – It is a must for any business to have a secure office telephone system especially when dealing with private and sensitive information like credit card details and health concerns. Cloud PBX office telephone systems are capable of doing just that. By using a technology called encryption data are transmitted securely. In fact it is easier to create a physical connection to the copper wires of a traditional telephone than breaking into an encryption and converting packetized data into an analog form for retrieval.

Unreliable – Another common myth is about reliability. Common individuals think that since there is on premise hardware running the system issues of reliability may arise. For starters not all technological solution are 100% guaranteed even the well established on premise PBXs are also facing down time and maintenance issues. The same with a cloud PBX office telephone but the difference is the level of fail-over back up. In a traditional phone when the system is down its down and there is no way for your business to make and receive calls. With the latter it can be custom programmed to transfer a call to a mobile, another office number or voice mail so can still be connected to your customers.

Cost and charges – Another myth is about the cost, well for starters it is obvious that this one is clearly busted. VoIP solutions are well known for the savings that it can generate. Calling charges and upkeep cost are significantly lower not because of some magic trick but rather because of innovative call transmission and system management.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Phone System Tips for Starting Businesses



Starting a business is indeed a daunting task; you have to start from the ground up working on every elements of the business. It takes time and a lot of resources before you can be fully operational. However this doesn’t mean that you should stop in pursuing your goals. A business is both rewarding financially and emotionally once you’ve established it.

One important aspect that you need to take a little more time in deciding is choosing a phone system that will suit your business. These days two options are prevalent, the traditional PBX and a cloud PBX either of the two can be beneficial but only you can tell what will suit your needs best. Whichever of the two phone systems you choose there are features and functionality that are a must have in both solutions.

Telephone number – Obviously you need a number for your customers to call you at. However having a plain number might not always do the job. For businesses that need national presence it is advisable to acquire a 1300 number or a 1800 number. These are also termed as a toll free hotline that helps in extending your national presence. It works like a collect call service so callers need not to pay anything when you phoning your business thus removing cost barrier.

IVR – Whether you want to use it for your professional greeting message, on hold messages, menu system or out hour’s mode one way or the other an IVR or interactive voice response will come really handy. It will lessen the work load of your staff whilst improving your caller’s experience.

Multiple phone lines – For home use one line is enough to handle all phone calls however home and business are two different things. You need multiple lines or channels to handle simultaneous phoning. On average a telephone system with 5 handsets will require at least 2 lines for incoming and at least another two for outgoing not unless your service provider offers unlimited outgoing channels.
Call transfer and call forwarding – It is also essential for a phone system to transfer calls between extensions and to an external number like a mobile or a land line. The same way an automatic forwarding account is also helpful especially during holidays and as a fail-over mechanism.

Business PBX have tons of features available be sure to discuss it with your service provider and identify what features will be helpful in providing your products and services.