Telephone Technology

 Today's technology can be very intimidating. Even the best technology is only as good as it's implementation. You need a qualified vendor to explain what "new" technologies are and how they can help your business. A good vendor can also help explain what "new" technologies are just "bells and whistles" and don't really help improve your business. Many of these technologies can even pay for themselves!

In New York and New Jersey, Teleco at http://www.teleco4.com is one such vendor. Established in 1978, Teleco has over 25 years experience and can give you the benefit of 100's of installations, so you don't waste time and money chasing after the wrong solutions.

Here are just some of technologies that exist today.

Remote Administration

Remote administration is one of the most valuable technologies available today. This allows your vendor to make programming changes or do diagnostics remotely, via modem, to 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 your vendor to perform that task for you. In NY and NJ, Teleco at http://www.teleco4.com , will do it for FREE if you have a Maintenance Contract with Teleco! Through remote administration, your vendor 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.

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 alleviates repetitive questions that your receptionist or operator is frequently asked. Simple IVR is a feature of all voice mail systems.

Complex IVR can be used to give more information, for example. At a major NYC transit company, Teleco set up an IVR system to give callers bus route information. Riders can information on schedules, stops, fares and more. Callers can even order a handicapped accessible bus to be at a certain stop at a certain time. This has freed the bus dispatchers from answering dozens of calls a day and provides riders with easy 24 hour access to the needed information.

In another IVR solution, Teleco set up a retail store locator for a major high end clothing designer. Now, potential customers can find the retailer nearest them that carries the clothing line they are interested in by entering their zip code. The system tells them the nearest 5 locations that they can buy the clothing line they want. This IVR system handles hundreds of calls
a month from all over the country. Now 24 hours a day, in any time zone, potential customers can get the information they need find what they want to buy.

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 correctly. Callers can get very frustrated with long waits and lack of information while they are on hold.

Teleco http://www.teleco4.com 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 a back up destination, such as the main operator, when they have been on hold too long or if there are too many callers waiting in the 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 well and to be user friendly.

Teleco's 25 years of experience is crucial in making sure your ACD works as hard as your do.

Speech Recognition

Speech recognition Auto Attendant allows callers to speak the name of the person they want rather then pressing the number. This can improve call processing and give a very high tech impression of your company. Internal users can also use speech recognition instead of key press for voice mail functions such as delete, forward, save, rewind, replay, etc.

Direct Inward Dial: DID

DID is one of our most popular features. DID has been used by large businesses 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 telephone, 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 friends and family or to important clients.

This lets callers get right to the correct person without having to go through an operator or auto attendant and this can greatly improve call processing.

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 software such as Outlook or Act, checking your voice mail from your computer, or any computer on the internet for that matter. CTI includes some of today's most complicated technologie. Call Teleco today to see what CTI can do for your business!

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 far away cities. Most phone systems only support 3 or 4 person conferencing. Teleco's systems can use an optional conference bridge to get 6, 8, or more people together on a conference call; it's the next best thing to being there. And the conference bridge amplifies and balances all callers so there is no volume loss associated with old fashion conference calls.

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 or at a hotel 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.

OPX allows you to "login" to your office system from almost anywhere and take your intercom, office lines and features with you. OPX works through an analog dial up connection, ISDN, or over the Internet using a high speed connection.

You can even use this technology to link multiple offices together into one seamless telephone system whether they are around the corner or around the world.

Live Record

How often does a customer say to you "I didn't say that!" Wouldn't it be nice to have a record? 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.

In a recent installation at tile and marble company, 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 many 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!

Many of Teleco's 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'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, customers saved enough by canceling their answering services to pay for an entire new telephone system!

This feature is standard on the NEC IPK and the Toshiba CTX.

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. If you're checking your voice mail, the soft keys may say, forward, delete, or rewind. If you making a call they might say conference or transfer. If your phone is idle they may just say how many new and old voice mails you have.

Just some of the soft keys featured 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 messages*

*example is for the NEC IPK with Release 4000 software. Release 4000 software is not standard and requires hardware at an additional charge.

Live Monitor

Live monitor allows you to listen to a message 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. This feature is standard on the NEC IPK and the Toshiba CTX.

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 multiple locations together, and running your entire 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. Teleco's 25 years of experience can save you time and money and make sure that you get all the benefits of this exciting technology. VoIP is available on the NEC IPK and the Toshiba CTX. Please read http://www.teleco4.com/VoIP.htm for more on Voice over IP.

Commercial on Hold

Commercial or Advertising 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. Teleco can provide you with a profession Commercial on Hold player with a customized sound studio production for only $300. Call 800-Teleco-4 today for more details.

Printed Telephone Tags

Teleco professionally prints labels for your new telephones for free. Many dealers don't or charge an extra fee. Printed labels ensure that everyone know what each and every button on your phone does. But, don't forget, you can always call Teleco's toll free technical support or arrange for additional training sessions. This is especially important for new employees.

About the Author

Over 10 years in the telephone system and network services field. An expert in both telephony hardware and services.

 Andrew Taub

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