Tag Archives: VOIP

VoIP Phone Systems Or Traditional PBX Phone Systems: Which Will You Choose?

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Call center workers using a cloud-based phone system or VoIP Phone System

VOIP is the way to go for your business communications

Premise-based PBX phone systems are no longer the go-to option for businesses like yours. There are various reasons why failing to upgrade to a cloud-based phone system from an on-premise PBX phone system can significantly hinder your business.
Some of the disadvantages of using a PBX phone system include restrictions on customer service, increased downtime, and a limited amount of features.
Disadvantages Of PBX Phone Systems
The majority of consumers who are searching for products and services on a daily basis will prefer to communicate with a company that has a reliable and strong customer service. Does your current PBX phone system have the ability to answer some of your most important customer service questions?
How many times does one question need to be transferred?
How long does a customer have to wait on hold?
Do customers ever end the phone call because they were tired of waiting on hold or being constantly transferred?
If you are using a premise-based PBX phone system, you may not be able to find the answers to any of the above questions. You are likely not getting the type of features and resources you can get from a cloud-based phone system. When you use a cloud-based phone system, you will be able to use features like call recording, queue management, call reporting, etc.
Another disadvantage of an on-site PBX phone system is the high amount of downtime. When your PBX phone system fails, this means you will have to wait for your provider to arrive at your workplace to repair the problem. There is no guarantee that the provider will be able to repair the problem the same day. If your system is down, you will not be able to take phone calls or receive phone calls. No one wants to go through this as a business owner or manager, right?
When you use a VoIP phone system in your workplace, you will have a system that has been securely established. You will be able to use the same type of service that police officers, emergency responders, and other emergency services use. If a cloud-based phone system has been beneficial and reliable for them, we think this system can be the same for you.
If you have been looking for ways to cut some of your business’s unnecessary costs or if you have been looking for ways to improve conferencing and other communication methods, you may want to think about making the switch to a cloud-based phone system. Switching to a cloud-based phone system can become one of the best communication solutions your business has ever made.
We know you will not want to deal with complications, stress, and headaches in your workplace on a daily basis, right? We think you deserve to have a telecommunications system that will allow you to work easily and effectively.
When you have a cloud-based phone system, you will not have to be bothered with the constant technology talk and the blaming of who caused damage to the system. When you have a problem when you are using a cloud-based phone system, the only thing you will need to do is call the support number of your cloud-based phone system provider. After you make the phone call, a professional will handle any issue that you may have. You will not have to worry about downtime or unnecessary costs on repairs that could have been avoided.
On-site PBX phone systems were once the only option for businesses to use. Since this is no longer the case, don’t you think it is time for you to see how a cloud-based phone system can contribute to the current and future success of your business? Contact us today for a consultation.

The Benefits of Voicemail to Email

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Phone keys mobile communication - Voicemail to email concept

Can you get your voicemail when your not in the office?

Voicemail is an important part of business communication, but it can be a nuisance to manage. Why should you have to replay all your messages to find the one you need to hear again? What do you do if you press the wrong key and accidentally delete an important message? The good news is that there’s a VoIP feature that lets you receive all your voicemail in your inbox. This feature, logically, is called voicemail to email.
Messages in your inbox
When you enable the feature, your VoIP system forwards each message to your inbox as an audio attachment. The subject line and text will tell you when it arrived, what number, and the caller’s name if it’s available. You can choose to delete messages from your voicemail automatically when they’re sent, or to leave them there. Leaving them gives you extra flexibility, but auto-deletion guarantees your voicemail will never be full.
Once the messages are in your inbox, you can employ all the tools that are available for managing email. You can sort them into folders, mark them as high-priority, and forward them. You can set up filters to highlight messages from some callers and mark others as spam.
Sometimes an old voicemail message is the only place you have an important piece of information, such as a caller’s phone number. Being able to get back to it easily can save a business deal.
The limit on your messages is only the limit on your inbox. That’s usually a very generous cap, but voice attachments are large, so you may need to delete or archive old messages.
Messages as audio files
The attachment holding the voice message is an audio file, usually in MP3 or WAV format, so you can treat it as an independent file. This is useful for archival purposes. You can save the attachment as a file, delete the message from your inbox, and have a permanent record. This way you can save as many messages as you want, organizing them into folders using any scheme. For instance, you can save all voice messages from a supplier and save having to ask questions they’ve already answered.
Transcription to text
You can choose to have the VoIP system put a text transcription of each message into your email. This will save time when reviewing your messages, especially if you’re in a noisy environment where it’s hard to make out what the caller said. Copying down phone numbers while listening to voicemail is seriously annoying. Having the number in the transcription is much easier.
Not all voice transcriptions will be equally useful. If the signal-to-noise ratio is poor, the transcription could be spotty. Even so, it will often give you enough of the message to tell whether it needs your immediate attention or not. Sometimes the transcription could even pick up words that you have trouble identifying.
Extra convenience
Letting your VoIP service send your voicemail to your email makes the messages far more convenient to handle. All your communications are in one place. You can review the messages at your desktop as well as your phone.
If you know your associates are using voicemail to email, you can be more confident that they’ll get your voice messages and notice them. People are apt to ignore or lose messages on their phones, but if they’re getting them in email, they’ll pay more attention to them, and you’re more likely to get a response on the first try.
SystemsNet offers hosted PBX and VoIP, with features including conferencing, auto attendants, “follow me,” voicemail to email, and much more. Contact us to learn how you can have a better business phone system.

Have You Made The Switch To VoIP In Your Call Center?

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The businessman chooses VOIP button on the touch screen with a futuristic background .The concept VOIP

Are you ready to make the move?

If you are currently operating an in-house call center and you are still using legacy contact center solutions to perform all your communication tasks, we think it is time for you to rethink your situation. When you adopt Voice over Internet Protocol technology, you will immediately be able to notice the difference. Voice over Internet Protocol technology can do amazing things for your business and you will have the powerful tool you need to deliver outstanding customer service and functionalities to your call center.

VoIP services will provide you with the dependability, flexibility, and mobility you need to reach a high level success in the modern business world. A Voice over Internet Protocol solution will route the different voice communications over your internet connection. The solution will also use the same lines that can be merged on your utility bills.

Not only will Voice over Internet Protocol technology give you the opportunity to reduce costs, you will be provided with a variety of capabilities and features that you will not be able to get on the traditional phone systems you are currently using.

Monitoring Tools

If you want to make sure your call center agents are taking the proper approach when they are answering phone calls, you can use the reporting and monitoring tools to listen to conversations. When you hire new employees, you can also use these tools to give them an understanding of what the right approach should be. When you upgrade your communications to a Voice over Internet Protocol call center, you will be equipped with a variety of monitoring and reporting tools that will provide you with the data you need to serve your customers better.

On The Go(Mobility)

You will not have a strong call center if you do not have strong and productive employees. Your call center is going to need to retain your star employees for as long as possible. When you use Voice over Internet Protocol technology, you will be able to retain those employees even if they move or become remote workers. A hosted PBX solution will allow them to do everything they would do if they were actually in the office. Since calls are routed through the internet, your employees will be able to work from any location, as long as a strong internet connection exists. When you can create a great team of remote workers, you will have a strong and productive call center.

UC(Unified Communications)

When you have multiple ways to interact with your customers, they will be more likely to reach out to you because they will be able to contact you using a method they are comfortable with. The right cloud technology will allow you to integrate unified communications. When you properly integrate a Unified communications strategy, you will be able to use messaging, email, chat, social media, voice, and other communications methods to interact with customers. Not all customers are comfortable reaching out to business over the phone, but when you give them more communication options, they will be able to choose their preferred method of communication.

When your Voice over Internet Protocol is going to be provided by an outside supplier or vendor, you will need to make sure you will receive the best services. You are going to need a supplier and provider who will make sure your call center will stay online, even during outages or bad weather. Are you ready to always be there for your customers, especially during the times of the year when calls are constantly coming in? Do not hesitate to contact us today for more information on VoIP.

How Does Voice over IP Work?

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Voice over IP, communication support, call center and customer service help desk

Voice Over IP

You’ve heard a lot about VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol. It saves money while giving you features that the traditional phone network can’t provide. But just what is it, really? How does it work?

The short answer is that it’s digitized sound sent over the Internet. A device at your end samples what you’re saying and converts it to bits. It gets bits back and converts them to sound. But what makes it useful is that you can treat it just like a phone call. You can call landline phones from your VoIP phone, and they can call you. You can make calls between phones from different manufacturers or use an application on your smartphone or desktop computer.

The office VoIP network

An office phone network, whether it’s based on traditional or VoIP technology, is called a private branch exchange or PBX. The Internet version is called an IPBX. Its central equipment can be in the office, in a remote data center, or in the cloud. VoIP phones are connected to the PBX over data connections such as Wi-Fi and Ethernet. Sometimes the phones use the same local network as the computers; sometimes they use a separate network for more consistent quality.

Either way, your phone converts what you say into data and sends it to the IPBX, which is really just a server running specialized software. If the equipment is based in your office, your call goes out onto the public telephone system when it leaves the building. If it’s cloud-based, your voice may travel almost the entire distance as data, saving the cost of a long-distance call.

The conversion to data uses compression techniques, so the bandwidth needed for one conversation isn’t very high. If an office has a lot of phones, though, it needs to have enough bandwidth to let many conversations keep up and should have a router with VoIP-friendly features.

You may have heard of VoIP phones referred to as SIP phones. SIP is one of two common protocols for making VoIP connections. The other is called H.323. The phone has to be compatible with the protocol your exchange uses, but phones from different manufacturers for the same protocol are interchangeable.

You don’t actually have to give up your old phone. Devices called Analog Telephone Adapters (ATAs) let you plug in one or more ordinary telephones and convert their audio signals to data. It’s less expensive than buying VoIP phones, but not all the features are available.

What happens when you make a call?

When you place a call, you might hear touch tones, but they’re just to give a sense of familiarity. The keys you press are converted to data, and the exchange determines whether you’re making an in-office call or outside call. If the call is within the IPBX’s area, it handles the whole connection. It isn’t restricted to voice data in this case; many IPBXs can carry video and documents as well. The ability to combine these is called “Unified Communication.”

If the call goes through a cloud-based service, it may emerge on the public telephone network only at a point local to the receiving party — possibly in another nation. If you’re calling another VoIP exchange, the call may not have to go over the public network at all. Sending data is very inexpensive, so VoIP calls cost much less than regular long-distance calls.

To get a clean-sounding conversation, you need an Internet connection that has enough bandwidth and will move the data along at a consistent speed. A poor connection may sound choppy, parts of the conversation may drop out, or you may hear an echo. Equipment which is designed to deliver “QoS” (quality of service) for voice data will reduce the incidence of problems.

If you want to learn more

Several websites have good introductions to VoIP for the non-technical reader. Here are a couple to look at:

Whatever you need to run on your network, SystemsNet keeps it running. Contact us for details.