The travelers may become overly dependant on their mobile phones for communication. With mobile phones, calls cannot be transferred to other parties leaving the traveler stuck with follow-up tasks that should be handled by others. In addition, personal mobile phone numbers may be called by customers. Now customers and business associates are calling a phone number that the company has no control over and will leave when the employee leaves.

Hosted PBX services offer several solutions to this problem including hoteling and mobile PBX.

In a Hosted PBX environment, multiple offices are connected seamlessly together as one phone system. Hoteling allows the traveler to walk into any connected office and turn any phone into their extension by simply entering a code. They will receive all calls transferred to their extension, button assignments will be theirs, DID numbers assigned to their extension will ring directly to that phone and voicemail indicators will work as needed.

Mobile PBX integrates a user’s mobile phone with their desk phone. Calls ringing to their desk phone will also ring to their mobile. Once the user answers a call on their mobile, they can process calls as normal including transferring them to other extensions on the system. Mobile PBX keeps an employee in touch with their desk phone calls wherever they can receive mobile calls.

Hoteling and/or Mobile PBX keeps a traveler in touch with his business phone calls. Better contact with customers may improve sales and customer service. These features may prevent travelers from giving out personal mobile numbers for business use. Now the company can retain control of the telephone numbers that customers and business associates call.

As a final note, Hosted PBX services that provide the features above are also based upon VoIP technology. Many services allow their phones to be unplugged and moved to wherever broadband Internet access is available. Simply moving a Hosted PBX telephone to another location may also work as a solution for travelers.

Hosted PBX Services offer many potential solutions that can be used independently or together to facilitate proper call handling. Available solutions include automated attendant, redirecting calls to a receptionist at another location, direct inward dial numbers, uniform call distribution and work-from-home receptionist. Many of these solutions can also be delivered by a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) based telephone system. For cost effectiveness, this article will focus on these features delivered by Hosted PBX.

Automated attendants can answer calls, play a pre-recorded message and allow callers to self-direct themselves. They can dial a digit representing a department, dial a specific extension number or dial from a directory. Automated attendants can be used as the primary for call answering or can be a back-up when an extension is busy or a call rings a certain amount of time.

Because of their unique architecture, Hosted PBX Services can easily combine multiple office locations into one seamless telephone system. Calls can be answered in any office for any person regardless of their location. Hosted PBX customers can reduce receptionists to as few as one covering all locations.

Direct Inward Dial (DID) numbers are 10 digit telephone numbers which ring to a specific extension or department. Publishing DID numbers give callers a means to call directly to the person or department of choice while bypassing a receptionist all together. Receptionists can do other duties, answer more calls or provide better care to the calls they receive with a reduced call load.

Uniform Call Distribution (UCD) evenly distributes calls among a group of extensions. A company can task several people to answer incoming calls and distribute them in a manner that will minimize the burden on any one individual.

The VoIP based telephones of a Hosted PBX Service can be placed anywhere that has good broadband Internet connection. Phones can be place in the homes of part-time and work-from-home employees. They can answer calls and distribute them as appropriate. Their pay may reflect their part-time and work-from-home status as appropriate.

The solutions listed above can work independently or in conjunction with one another. Together, they allow a company to effectively reduce its overhead cost from the receptionist position without sacrificing call handing, customer service or professionalism.

Companies, who sell parts to the general public, may have parts desk employees who have a difficult time checking parts, processing calls and handling walk-in customers. Employees frequently have to leave the desk and place calls on hold checking for part availability. While they are away from their desk and phone, calls are left on hold for extended periods of time and other calls are missed. Potential customers, left on hold, may hang up and call a competitor. Unanswered calls may go to a competitor and waste the marketing money used to get the call.

The work environment creates stress on parts desk employees. As they return from checking on a part, they may be faced with customers at their desk and new calls ringing their phone while they are responding to the original caller. Upset customers may add to their stress and deter future business.

HostMyCalls Solution

HostMyCalls Hosted PBX Service offers several potential solutions for parts desks. Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) can stack waiting calls and distribute them in the order they were received to the next available employee. This process ensures calls are handled efficiently and encourages callers to be patient.

Our Hosted PBX Service also features the widely popular Siemens Gigaset cordless phones. These phones have a usage range of up to 175 feet from their base station indoors and 900 feet outdoors. Their range will allow parts desk employees to continue processing calls while they are away from their desk. Calls managed by the Hosted PBX ACD application can be delivered to the Gigasets.

HostMyCalls Hosted PBX Service also offers its Flexicall feature. Flexicall integrates mobile phones to ring simultaneously with desk phones. Mobile phones can handle calls similar to a desk phone. Flexicall allows employee access to company calls anywhere they can find cell service.

Customers are no longer put on hold while checking parts availability with the use of ACD, Gigaset cordless phones and/or Flexicall. In addition, calls can be answered while the parts staff are away from their desk. As they return, they are ready to answer the next call or walk-in customer. Calls spend less time on hold and are handled more quickly. Each employee can process more calls and generate more business for the company. Fewer callers are turned away to competitors by long hold and ring times. Quicker call processing leads to more satisfied callers and a less stressful work environment.

Hosted PBX services offer the ability to implement advanced solutions such as those mentioned above with little or no capital expenditure. In many cases, companies can save money overall on their telecommunications costs while implementing these solutions.

Reduce Customer Conflict When customers and employees know that their calls have been recorded, they are less likely to embellish the details of conversations related to conflict. If an employee is accused of rude behavior, the call can be heard by management and sent to the customer or the employee for review.

Increase Employee Professionalism Employees will focus on handling calls correctly, if they have an expectation that their calls will be monitored by management. To build that expectation, managers should routinely comment on the recorded calls that they have heard. Managers do not need to hear every call, they only need to listen to one periodically for each employee and give some feedback.

Improve Customer Service Recorded calls are an invaluable tool for customer service training. Specific calls can be replayed with feedback. Superior call examples can be used in training classes as well as examples of what not to do. Skills assessments can be performed on calls to rate performance. And managers can determine which skills need training the most.

Legal Support Recorded calls can aid in legal proceedings. They are easily emailed to counsel or copied to memory stick devices. It is wise to make sure the calls were recorded in accordance with federal and state laws. If the parties were located in multiple states, make sure the laws of every state involved were followed.

Create Discipline for Making Calls Departments, like outside sales, are frequently required to make prospecting calls. One of the toughest jobs of sales managers is getting salespeople to make these calls. The problem can be exacerbated when the salespeople work out of their homes or other offices. Managers can listen to recorded calls to make sure each salesperson is making the required quantity and quality of prospecting calls. IP enabled phone systems and some Hosted PBX Services can record calls giving managers the ability to listen to calls of salespeople working from home or other offices.

Reduce Personal Calls Personal calls not only distract the employee from their work, but they may also take up valuable office resources including use of telephone lines and long distance minutes. Recording calls virtually eliminates all personal calls from the company’s telephone system.

Capture Threatening Calls Threatening calls can be recorded for further analysis or be passed on to law enforcement.

Verify Order Details Companies that take orders by telephone may record calls to verify order details. Inaccurate orders can reflect poorly on customer service, damage customer goodwill, lose business and increase delivery costs including product manufacturing and shipping. Calls can be reviewed randomly or systematically to ensure each agent’s order accuracy and improve customer service.

Reduce Management Managers can more efficiently supervise and train their employees with call recording. More efficient managers can either handle additional employees or focus on improving the productivity and skill of each of their workers.

Regulatory Compliance Some financial service industries are now mandated to record calls. Other industries may not be subject to a required call recording, but doing so has become a defacto practice of the respected companies in that business sector.

Once only available to companies with large wallets, technology advancements have made call recording and storage economically available to many businesses. Hosted services such as Hosted PBX systems have bridged the gap to the small business. Regardless of the company’s size, call recording offers efficiency, accuracy and protection.

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SIP trunking is not limited to newer telephone systems that can accept them directly. Older telephone systems can use a SIP trunk with the aid of an integration box. Here is a list of SIP trunk benefits that most any telephone system can take advantage:

1. Direct Inward Dial (DID) DID is a telephone number that rings directly to a desk phone or a department. The number can be published on business cards, the Internet and directories or it can be private. Older telephone systems require expensive circuits or telephone lines for DID. Newer digital systems can handle DID with the use of a Primary Rate Interface (PRI) circuit. Although PRIs are an efficient way to take advantage of DIDs, they can be costly for telephone systems of 20 phones or less. SIP trunks can provide DIDs economically for very small phone systems.

2. Publish Local Numbers in other Market Areas The 10 digit telephone numbers that point to SIP trunks are not limited by geographical areas. A telephone system located in Dallas could have local numbers on its SIP trunk from Dallas, Seattle, Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. Someone calling the local Chicago telephone number would have no idea that they are talking to someone in Dallas.

3. Stop Guessing at the Required Number of Telephone Lines Most businesses with older phone systems almost always guess at the number of telephone lines that they need. The penalty for guessing wrong is paying too much for too many lines or losing business and frustrating callers with too few. Although many SIP trunk services are priced base upon the number of concurrent calls that they will pass, the price point for each path is significantly less than traditional service. In addition, many SIP trunk providers can advise on whether a business has the correct number of concurrent call paths.

4. Back-Up Circuits Companies that experience periods of heavy call volume or cannot afford to be without telephone service can employ SIP trunks as back-up. SIP Trunks affordable price makes them a better alternative than other options. If the Internet provider is a cable company or wireless ISP, SIP trunks can also offer a diverse cable route into the building since they are delivered over the Internet.

5. Disaster Recovery SIP trunk providers deliver their service from ‘soft’ switches that are far more flexible than the large hardware central office switches of large telephone companies. Beyond providing a diverse cable route into the business, many SIP trunk providers can automatically re-route calls to other 10 digit telephone numbers including mobile phones in the event they lose contact with their customer. Further, they can process calls through automated attendants and voicemail at their Point of Presence (POP).

6. Unlimited Long Distance SIP trunk services are delivered with a wide variety of price packages. Businesses can easily find a package that will meet their needs. Some packages include unlimited domestic long distance within the Continental United States. SIP trunks can be used for outbound long distance calls only, turning exorbitant long distance bills into a flat monthly rate.

7. Quickly Re-configure Service to Meet Changing Needs The ‘soft’ switch architecture of SIP trunk providers allows them to be agile in meeting a changing customer’s needs. They can quickly add and subtract features and concurrent calls paths within hours and without sending a service technician on-site.

SIP trunks can add value and enhance the features of any telephone system including old legacy systems. They adapt quickly, control costs and offer features not available from standard telephone line service. With the aid of integration boxes, any business can start taking advantage of VoIP and its many benefits without changing out their complete telephone system.