VOICE APPLICATIONS-Cell phone as an extension

It has not been until recently that ‘APPLICATIONS’ have been used in the same sentence as ‘VOICE’. With the emergence of IP technology and more so with the stability of hosted VoiP services, the application has been more prevalent when looking at and deploying new voice solutions. Over the next few months I will be covering some of the applications I am seeing businesses deploy. These applications are being purchased as they have an immediate impact on how companies can communicate better as well as work more efficiently. Most of these applications are  standard with the solutions Intervale provides. If not standard with the solution they are purchased with additional licensing.

CELL PHONE AS AN EXTENSION

Mobility has become one of the major topics of conversation in regards to deploying new voice technology. The reason being that companies want the mobile or remote work force to be as reachable as those that are in the office. Making an employees cell phone act as an extension is one way businesses are accomplishing that. This application allows a mobile device (iPhone, Blackberry, etc) to act as an extension of the phone system. The application is usually downloaded from a secure web site or emailed to the user to download directly to the mobile device. Once applied the user can take advantage of system features like conference calling and transferring calls. The user also can make calls so that the outbound caller ID is that of the business and all incoming calls can be sent to a main line and extension or direct inward dialing number. In both cases the user can be accessible without having to give out a cell phone number. This also allow businesses to keep some control as well as a view to a mobile extensions call flow and will help make transitioning contact information much easier in the case of turn over. The major advantage of this application is makes it so the mobile user can be part of the corporate voice solution without the need of a desk phone, in turn reducing the cost of ownership and increasing user availability.

Addressing Your Companies 10 year old phone system

So many companies purchased or upgraded phone systems around the Y2K time frame. Primarily due to the change in software that was needed to support the code change for the year 2000. Although that does not seem to long ago, if a company did purchase a phone system at that time, it is coming up on 12 years. If the phone system was upgraded, than a company may be using technology that is over 15 years old. What makes that statement great is that the technology that was installed by manufacturers like Nortel and Avaya over a decade ago is still working and supporting that business. But the one thing a lot of companies have a hard time doing is making the leap to the next generation of technology that is available to them in today’s market place. One way to put it in perspective is to have that same company look at their computer network, is there any piece of hardware on that network that is over a decade old? Very rarely, matter of fact in most cases you are hard pressed to find anything over five years old.

 

What I am seeing as a telecommunications integrator is that in some cases the systems are starting to fail, but in more cases, companies are starting to see how the new features and ways to communicate with co-workers and customers actually have a fit in their day to-day business activities. When talking about a phone system upgrade with a prospect or existing client, it is crucial to spend time educating them on what is available to them. Most of these businesses have not even thought about technology when it comes to telecommunications in over a decade, so some of the catch phrases like ‘voice over IP’ or ‘Unified Messaging’ instantly may equate to dollar signs, as those technologies were very expensive for companies to purchase a decade ago. Now, in most cases they are included or are a software license, what also makes it more comforting for a company that is looking a new phone solution, is that they are hearing or have heard already about different organizations they deal with upgrading and getting positive feedback.

For all companies that are looking at systems over 10 years old now is the time to start testing the waters as to what is available, how certain solutions are delivered and supported as well as feature and functionality. I say now is a good time, because that system you have had for 10 years or more is still working, and you want to give time to make the right decision, not the decision you have to make when a system has failed.

Advantages of Voice over IP for the SMB-Cost Reduction

A Voice over IP solution can and will reduce costs in certain areas for the small and mid-size business, I have high lighted a few Cost Reduction areas that a Voice over IP solution will address:

Monthly Costs: In most cases a Hosted iPBX will be able to utilize an existing data connection to provide voice services. This way you can reduce the cost of using traditional voice services like a T1 or copper lines by using one product to deliver two services.

Move/Add/Change: A Voice over IP system will reduce the need for calls to the phone company. Moving a phone is a simple as unplugging the device and plugging it back in at the new location. Web interfaces make tasks like name changes and password resets a lot easier to navigate so that the customer can do most of these changes without the assistance of their vendor.

Mobile Phone Cost Reduction: Applications like a soft phone, which is a software license that resides on PC or laptop, allow users to make calls through the companies phone system, no matter where they are located. As long as they have a hard-wired data connection the end-user can 4 digit dial the office or make calls as if they never left the office. This can greatly reduce the use of cell phones for road warriors or international businesses. For example, a one week trip to China, using your cell phone only for conference calls and site to site communications could easily get into the thousands of dollars. Utilizing this technology would reduce that cost to the cost of the soft phone license and save the organization thousands of dollars as most f the calls can be made from the hotel or remote office utilizing the system not a cell phone.

Advantages of Voice over IP for the SMB-Mobility

The mobility feature gives a business the advantage of being available no matter where the employee is operating from. Mobility , as a feature of a voice over IP system, allows for the user to work from anywhere there is an internet connection. It also can allow for a mobile device to act as your extension. This feature gives a company to expand into new markets without having to invest heavily in infrastructure or office space. Also, it can make the road warrior of the office more accessible and responsive. If there is an employee that would like to work from home a few days a week, they can simply take a phone home with them, plug it into their local internet connection and make and receive calls as if they were in the office.  This feature in standard in most systems, but there are some manufacturer’s that have a license charge to gain this feature. Overall, mobility allows a business to be available to clients no matter where the work force that supports them is located.

Voice over IP-Advantages for the SMB

In just about every new opportunity with a potential new customer, the questions will come up,”What are the advantages of voice over IP?” I will go over individual features that I have seen the SMB utilize when upgrading from a traditional phone system to a Voice Over IP platform.

The feature that seems to get the most use and will attribute immediately to a customers productivity is unified messaging. This feature will transpose a voice mail that is left on the phone system to an email. That email will contain a wave file that will be sent to the end users email address. This will now enable that user to listen to that message in their laptop or any phone that accepts email, therefor enabling that user to forward, save and respond to that message via email. Also, all messages will carry the caller ID, so if that user chooses to return the phone call they simply highlight that number in the header of the email and return the phone call.

Employees that are on the road no longer have to dial into their voice mail or wait until they get back to the office to check messages. In verticals like medical and legal, they can eliminate the need to save certain messages in their voice mail box, as that message can now be archived just like an email. Customer service reps can now forward messages within the organization with ease, knowing that other employee will get the message instantly.

Disaster Recovery for Voice-Option 3

Utilizing one of the most traditional and available technologies available, a company can create a fairly reliable back up plan for voice. This technology is copper lines. By installing a block  of copper lines, a company can at least make and in some cases (based on the carrier) receive incoming calls if a phone system or T1 is to fail. In this scenario I suggest identifying a few key employees or departments. Once this is identified, each user should get the following:

1) A single voice jack at their desk or office, use a red or orange jack so it is easily identified by the user

2) An analog phone, either kept at the desk or in a common area.

If the phone system or T1 is to fail, each user can plug-in the analog phone to the identified jack and use the existing copper lines to keep call flow for incoming and outgoing calls moving. Although this is not ideal, and there may be some cost for extra voice locations and phones, it is one way to avoid customers not getting through to a business by utilizing existing technologies.

Different Disasater Recovory Options for Phones-Option 1

If you are upgrading an older system, it may make sense to hold on to that system. The advantages being you the system is already programmed for the organization so it will have a familiar look and feel to the end-user and customers. If you have the 2 or 3 cables run to key employees desks that run back to the older system, it is just a matter of them plugging in the phones to begin answering calls. It makes sense to have these lines terminated on separate jacks as to not create any confusion. By utilizing existing copper lines or dedicating copper lines to the older system you will have the infrastructure in place to keep business operational in the instance of an outage, just make sure that your primary provider can forward calls to a copper line before implementing this solutions.

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The Right Features at the Right Price

Cisco Small Business 200 Series Smart Switches combine powerful network performance and reliability to build a basic business network. These entry-level managed switches deliver the essential network features you need, with the easy-to-use management you want at a great price.

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Small Business 200 Series Smart Switches offer:

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• Security: Keep the data on your network safe from unauthorized access.
• An eco-friendly solution: Use switches to optimize power usage for energy efficiency without compromising performance.
• Peace of mind: Rest assured that all Small Business 200 Series Smart Switches are protected by the Cisco Limited Lifetime Hardware Warranty.

Using your existing internet to upgrade your phone service

With the emergence of managed voice over IP, small business and branch offices can now use existing internet service to provide phone access as well. Most managed VoIP services at most utilize 100k per call, being that cable services basic packages are offer 50mg, there is plenty of bandwidth to support voice services. By using your existing  internet service with a third-party managed VoIP service your company can keep all of its numbers, reduce the cost of keeping copper lines as well as gain the advantages of an internet based phone service. There are some items to consider before doing this, the first being where do you want phone calls to go when the internet goes down.  A good basic DR plan can be put in place so that call with automatically be forwarded off site or to cell phones in the instance of an outage. The second would be your network configuration. Basically, you will need your cable infrastructure to be at least Cat5e and your firewall needs to support VoIP (which if you purchased a firewall 5-6 years ago, there may be a need for a patch or upgrade). Beyond that, these services offer a great, low-cost way to tie in remote users and branch offices for larger organizations. For the small to mid-size companies, it is a great way to gain the latest features while reducing your monthly telecom costs. Visit our website for more information on how a manged service can benefit your business www.intervaletech.com

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