Posts Tagged ‘Linux’

Is Your Company Prepared for an Upturn in Business?

June 16, 2009

Scenario: your company has managed to do okay during the general business downturn of the last year. The suits in the C-level offices decide that the economy is turning around for the better over the next six months and want to take maximum advantage. It’s time to open some new branch offices, hire some talented people who were let go by competitors and gain some market share. As they say in New Orleans, “Laissez les bon temps roulez”.

As plans are made for expansion, you know that technology is always a concern. You want to buy what you need but not overspend. You want to plan for future growth in phases. You want quality hardware, software, networks and connectivity that will be reliable and keep your productivity at a high level. You need quality technical experts to guide you along these paths.

You undoubtedly have existing phone systems at current offices. Do you want the same phone system to be put in the new branches? It is time to revisit the technology to see if it still is a good fit for your company. While it would be most beneficial to be consistent across all the company locations, if you know that your existing phone systems just don’t measure up anymore, why throw good money after old technology that is a drag on your productivity? Change it!

You hear that VoIP is the new wave of phone system technology. It is less expensive and offers more features and benefits than old key system units. Is there more than one type of VoIP? Do you understand the technical differences enough to make a proper decision on which one to invest in for the next 5 – 10 years? Do you have a key trusted phone advisor who can help you understand how to make the right decision the first time? You need one now more than ever.

VoIP is just a generic term for sending voice communication packets across a data line instead of a traditional phone line. There are many choices to make and most depend upon how you run your business. Never settle for a phone system that is not contoured to enhance your style of business. You are not like other businesses, you have your own ideas for call flow, for treating clients on hold, for following employees through the office and in remote locations. Make sure that your phone system can be customized exactly as you need it to work for you.

What type of capital budget can you allow for the purchase? Can you afford to pay for it all up front or do you need a lease-to-own plan with flexible payments? Are you more comfortable with top of the line name brand equipment or are you open to other brands that exhibit the same performance at half the cost? Don’t forget that you will have ongoing costs after installation as well. There will always be a monthly technical support contract because when your phone system is down or needs changes, you need it fixed right away by a competent phone vendor familiar with your system. Some phone systems also have licensing costs which can be rather pricey. Make sure that you get quotes for TCO, Total Cost of Ownership, from the phone vendor to ensure that you don’t have surprises later on.

When it comes to that decision time, make sure that you have all of the information you need. Don’t plan on employees, even onstaff IT employees, running your phone system if they have no experience in telecommunications. Your phone system is far too vital to company success to unfairly lay that burden on technical novices who will take a chance? Can you chance success?

Ask for your free phone system audit from Select Phone Solutions by calling 281-501-6464.

“Productivity Through Technology”

Is Brand Name Significant When It Comes to Buying VoIP?

May 21, 2009

When computers became the mainstays of the business world there was a common expression created that seemed to be a self-fulfilling prophesy: “Nobody ever got fired for buying X”. Depending upon your situation, “X” stood for IBM, Intel, AT&T and several other giants of their industries. The rationale was that if you bought the mainstream brand name that ‘everyone’ used, then you couldn’t be blamed for problems on that project and would never get fired. 

While there was certainly some safety in going mainstream like that, there were also some factors that were very questionable from a “What’s best for your company long term?” point of view. Imagine a Geek Angel on one shoulder and a Geek Devil on the other guiding you through the decision on what technology to buy for a huge project. Would you minimize the safety of buying the X product brand name if you asked yourself these introspective questions? 

  • Is this solution the most cost effective solution short term and long term?
  • Is the technology it brings to my company the right technology for this project?
  • Does it solve the entire set of problems or is it only a partial solution?
  • Is it scalable for company growth in the next year? In five years?
  • How well does this technology meld with the rest of our company technology?
  • Does this technology require extra investments in hardware, software or training? 

When you have objectively answered these questions and compared the X name brand technology to that of other companies, you may find that with due diligence the lesser known brand name is the better choice for your company. Let’s consider VoIP phone systems. A name brand that companies tend to consider first is Cisco. While Cisco products are high quality, they are also relatively high cost to buy and high cost to maintain with yearly service contracts and licenses. When you are weighing which brand name of VoIP to purchase, do you consider TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) over the expected lifetime of the technology? 

An Asterisk / trixbox VoIP phone system is capable of performing every important function that a Cisco-based system can do. Both provide essentially the same VoIP fundamentals and advanced features. However, Cisco requires yearly licensing and service contracts for both the hardware and software in most cases whereas an Asterisk / trixbox system does not. Thus the cost difference at the start is significantly lower for Asterisk / trixbox and there is no mandatory maintenance fee just to keep the system running every year. You may have a service contract with your phone vendor to make changes, adds, deletions, etc. for you but that is your choice. 

When you consider ROI (Return On Investment) for your VoIP phone system, an Asterisk / trixbox choice will be half to two-thirds of the startup cost relative to a Cisco-based system. Compare the Cisco cost to all of the other phone vendors and you will also find that a large number of companies that use Avaya, Nortel, Iwatsu, Panasonic and other products have pricing not too much lower. The phone systems are good quality but they just cost more than you should have to pay for a VoIP system. Their TCO and ROI are much higher than that of an Asterisk / trixbox system while gaining no technological advantage. Check your Geek Angel and Geek Devil and see whose shoulder your company should rely upon for this choice. 

Ask for your free phone system audit from Select Phone Solutions by calling 281-501-6464.

“Productivity Through Technology”

Increase Your VOIP ROI By Connecting Remote Locations

May 19, 2009

Once your company has made the investment in a VOIP phone system, there are ways to keep expanding the use of the technology to increase your profits and ROI. A VOIP phone system connects the IP-PBX phone server to each of the phones in any of three ways, all of which work very well. 

The most common method is through the data network infrastructure at your office, using the cabling, switches, routers and other network equipment that is also used by the data side of your business. That would be the main computer server, workstations, printers, etc. Instead of a separate phone system such as was used in the last century with CAT 3 cabling, the modern VOIP system can piggyback on your existing data network, eliminating cost and delays at the startup. With Quality of Service (QoS) enabled in your network, voice traffic is given priority so that the talk is crystal clear to everyone. 

The second method is by wireless networking. Again, when you can run your data network across a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network), you can add your VOIP phone system as long as you have enough bandwidth to support it. Most G and N band WLANs are fine for office use. 

The last method is via the Internet, using your broadband provider as the conduit for your phone packets to travel to the destination. This opens up your VOIP phone system to connect to telecommuters, field service technicians, sales people, temporary offices, branch offices, and home offices. Everyone who activates either an IP phone or a softphone (computer program installed to work like a screen image cell phone) can connect to the main office as just another extension for the office. They can use the voicemail, page other employees, transfer calls, and use all of the other features used while actually located at the main office. 

A specific example of how useful this VOIP phone system remote connectivity can be are companies with temporary locations such as construction companies for homes, buildings, and everything else you can think of. It is a tremendous advantage to have a live phone at the trailer and worksite to enhance communication between management and the remote work crew without waiting for Ma Bell to run a phone line with a setup and monthly cost attached to it. 

Another example is a managing entity with a main office and many satellite offices. For instance, if a government agency was managing a district with lakes, pump houses, laboratories, fleet offices, warehouses, etc., they could all be connected and just an extension away from each other, even if separated by many miles. How far is many miles? It doesn’t matter if it is on the other side of the city, out in the country, in the next county or on a remote island. As long as a good internet signal is delivered by the telecom company, the connection is strong. 

A franchised business with multiple locations can really benefit from having one VOIP phone server in the main office creating their own hosted solution for every remote store. The cost of the total phone system company-wide might be a fraction of what a normal pre-VOIP system would have cost them. In addition, having the VOIP phone system in place company-wide allows the management to filter all of the phone use data via their desktop Internet browser at any time they need to see the company Call Data Reports and associated metrics. 

Ask for your free phone system audit from Select Phone Solutions by calling 281-501-6464.

“Productivity Through Technology”

Planning Company Growth and Telecommunications

May 17, 2009

Successful businesses start out with a business plan. It keeps them on track, on budget, and on a road towards growing the business. Of course the key to a great business plan is the thought and planning that goes into it. Do you talk with your lawyer, CPA and other trusted advisors when creating that business plan? Does that group include your technical vendors? 

To build a worthwhile business plan you need accurate information from all of your trusted advisors. Not including your technical help is a recipe for wasted money, questionable growth and lost time. Technical vendors should include IT, phone systems, telecom, cabling infrastructure and security. You may have vendors who perform more than one of these but make sure that they are all covered. 

You must find out what your requirements will be for the present time and then project what your needs will be six months, a year, perhaps even three to five years in the future. You will want your technical capabilities to be proper for today and then capable of scaling up into what is necessary as you grow. Saving a few dollars each month at the start may cost you much larger dollars in the future if you are forced to totally scrap some technology and start over to grow. 

For example, spending $1000 for a few four-line phones from the local experts at the office supplies store may work for you right now. Your basic functions work but you have no metrics on how your phone system is used. You must mold your business to the features of the four-line system. You will miss benefits that your competitors may be using to get, keep and impress clients and prospects. You have no remote capability to connect into your phone system from the field for sales or technical staff. You are spending telecom (dial tone and long distance) money each month to support your phones and you are adding Internet service on top of that. You are likely in the $250 to $350 per month range when you total up everything. 

Push forward to needing 6 phone lines for more people and more handsets. You will have more computers to feed with increased bandwidth. Now you have to throw away your four-line phone system and buy a larger system. Your telecom costs are over $500 per month. It is time for a T-1 line that includes both the phone lines and the Internet bandwidth for $500 per month. It is time for a review of what you have and where you will be. 

But wait, didn’t you plan for this growth in your business plan? This growth should not be a surprise. Weren’t you aware that you would reach this point and plan for it from the start? Your technical advisors should have told you to get the T-1 and the larger phone system from day one if you are properly capitalized and you have faith in your business plan. You should have purchased a VOIP phone system that is scalable to 50 phones at little additional cost. The VOIP features for remote access, report metrics, and larger company benefits would have made your growth more likely without wasting the $1000 spent on the four-line phone system that hindered your growth. You might have spent $2000 to $4000 for the initial VOIP phone system but the benefits would already have made themselves worthwhile and linked you to future growth. 

What if you don’t have a business plan? Start one now!. Gather your technical advisors and ask them what they recommend for your company. You can only improve your company’s future.

Ask for your free phone system audit from Select Phone Solutions by calling 281-501-6464.

“Productivity Through Technology”

Is Your Phone System Prepared For Growth?

May 13, 2009

Most businesses start out small and grow larger as they become successful. Along the way their focus varies from growth to quality depending upon their business cycles, industry trends and general economic conditions. As they grow they change how they use their computers and networks; shouldn’t they pay the same attention to their phone systems?

Small traditional phone systems were hardware dependent. The features were basically built into the handsets on the desktop and the key system unit (KSU) in the back room. As the company grew, more KSU extension boxes were added to the back wall to supply the needed capacity for phone lines and extensions. The system worked but it was expensive and it limited the ability of the business to rapidly change phone details and priorities that the company needed. After a few years of using a KSU system it could become difficult to find the hardware necessary to implement what was needed for a growth cycle.

Modern VOIP phone systems on the other hand are built for rapid growth without obsoleting your old equipment as fast as the KSU systems seemed to do. VOIP systems are software driven and can be frequently updated to maintain their winning edge of new technology and firmware updates. Need a dozen new handsets? No problem, just deploy them, register the new IP phones with the IP-PBX phone server and set them up with names and extension numbers. Easy, quick, and no trips to the dreaded back room where the network and phone monster lives with boxes, racks and cables.

This is a crucial factor in comparing ROI for the new VOIP phone systems against the much older KSU style or even hybrid style phone systems. VOIP systems will have a much longer useful life and maintain their technological edge because they can be fully reprogrammed and updated at any time without new hardware expenses. A business can add more concurrent phone line capability and more extensions without buying any new equipment except perhaps additional handsets as needed. That too can be avoided by the use of softphones, programs that are installed on the desktop screen and look like a cell phone that you click on with a mouse to make it function. Add a headset and a softphone runs exactly like a desktop handset without spending the money for the hardware. Softphones can also be used to create a telephone extension out of a laptop computer that is as mobile as your sales and technical support workforce on the road.

The most important factor for a successful business to grow properly is to accomplish it with a plan. That plan should be checked by a competent phone vendor so that you can see where your company is now, but also where you project to be in six months, a year and in five years. Do you have the right phone system to scale up without throwing the entire technology away? Will your phone system be malleable enough to grow with you at minimal expense without forcing your company to be limited by inadequate phone system capabilities? Will your company be able to add features and derive benefits from growth in your phone system because a competent phone vendor is there to explain and implement them right away? Can you gain a competitive advantage because your phone system metrics and Call Data Reports teach how to best use the phone system to have happier customers when they call into your company?

Ask for your free phone system audit from Select Phone Solutions by calling 281-501-6464.

“Productivity Through Technology”

QoS – Voice Quality is Job Number One – Part 3

May 10, 2009

The previous two articles have addressed the overall quality of how your VOIP phone system works by identifying four components. They are Connectivity, Hardware, Software, and Network. All are important in their own ways in supporting VOIP. Let’s explore Connectivity in more detail to see which is best for your business situation.

Many small businesses use the Internet much as they use it at home. They contract for ADSL or cable service and get decent bandwidth for a low price, generally in the $40 – $120 per month range. Both ADSL and cable service are asynchronous, meaning that they have a robust bandwidth coming to your computer network and a much smaller bandwidth going out to the Internet. While this is fine for casual browsing and checking emails it does hinder some Internet programs that you might want to run.

Think of Internet bandwidth as a pipeline running water through it, only in this case the water is composed of packets of data which make up your web page, email and VOIP if you have that type of phone system. When you have a large incoming bandwidth or pipeline you can move quite a bit of information through the system and that results in fast loading web pages, quick updating of your email and clear VOIP. In an asynchronous pipeline, the outgoing movement is constricted by the limits of the bottleneck for moving data. The difference between incoming and outgoing bandwidth may be 768 KB / 128 KB on the low end for ADSL and 12 MB / 2 MB on the high end for cable services. This is why you may think your home-based VOIP service from the cable company or other consumer-oriented service sounds great to you on your end (large incoming bandwidth) but the other side has trouble hearing you because they are having issues from your much smaller outgoing bandwidth choking down your voice transmission to them.

This is why Select Phone Solutions always recommends having a synchronous service when VOIP is involved. A T-1 digital service run across optical fiber provides a nominal 1.5 Mb both for incoming and outgoing service. Multiple T-1s can be bonded together to provide more bandwidth where needed. Another advantage of a T-1 over cable service is that the T-1 bandwidth is not shared across a trunkline with your neighbors as is done with cable service. Your cable service bandwidth varies according to how all of your neighbors use their shared bandwidth. If they use streaming videos, run a powerful website, or any other high usage Internet function, that may strongly impact your service and VOIP quality.

ADSL is dedicated bandwidth but runs across copper lines at lower rates than a T-1 on optical fiber. While a one-person home office may be able to operate just fine on ADSL, a larger office with even 3 or 4 phones will find the service poor and not be happy at all with the quality of their VOIP. Does that mean that the VOIP is a bad choice for them? If cost is the issue and service must be through ADSL then yes, VOIP is not for them.

Select Phone Solutions’ experience is that choosing a T-1 provides the high quality VOIP service that every business expects to get for their investment. VOIP can also run extremely well when using a PRI with multiple copper phone lines but this raises the total communication cost of phone plus Internet compared to a T-1 which can provide both sides together.

Ask for your free phone system audit from Select Phone Solutions by calling 281-501-6464.

“Productivity Through Technology”

QoS – Voice Quality is Job Number One – Part 2

May 9, 2009

In the previous article we defined how a phone call is composed of four distinct components, all of which must be operating at peak efficiency to provide premium Quality of Service (QoS) for your business. The components were:

 Connectivity – the dialtone or broadband connection to the outside world. It could range from a plain old analog copper wire pair (POTS) to a digital T-1 optical fiber or better.

  1. Hardware – this is the phone system that you buy. Part of it is the PBX in the back room, part is the handset on your desk that you use to answer a call. Hardware is the fastest component to become obsolete and is also typically the most expensive. A VOIP system has an IP-PBX which is a reprogrammable computer and is not as likely to be obsoleted.
  2. Software – this component drives the phone system hardware to do what it needs to do at your command. Old PBX systems are heavily dependent upon the hardware for features that you can use. Modern VOIP phone systems are mainly driven by the software which can be reprogrammed as needed, updated and kept from obsolescence quite easily. This extends the useful lifetime of your phone system investment.
  3. Network – Your phone system requires a network of cables, routers and switches to connect the brain (PBX or IP-PBX) to the handsets unless you are wireless. A radio can broadcast phone signals to built-in corresponding wireless receivers – see hardware. Digital VOIP phone systems piggyback on the data network and avoid the cost of a duplicate network as in analog wiring pre-2000.

Never make the mistake of using consumer quality equipment that is designed for low traffic volume on a high traffic office network. You may save some money at the store but you will pay for it many times over in equipment reboots, system failures, data loss and lower productivity for your business. Get a recommendation from your IT/phone system vendors and buy the best router and switches that you can afford. Have a qualified technician install real CAT5e or better cabling, not patch cables running through your ceilings

A VOIP phone system goes further than other phone systems in bringing clarity to your business phone. Since the phone system shares a network with the data network, the packet traffic must be prioritized such that the voice packets go first at all times. This is implemented in VOIP QoS. The network is instructed to differentiate voice traffic from data traffic and prioritize the voice traffic. There are metrics that VOIP technicians use to measure how well this works and see where it can be improved. QOS does not particularly slow down data packet transfer. There is no noticeable lag in Internet usage or file transfer across your local network.

 The key to all four components in QoS is planning. Talk to your vendors and see what your options are, particularly from the telco for connectivity and the phone vendor for the other three components of hardware, software and network. An IT company may understand the network component but may not be familiar enough with phone systems to know the pitfalls that are out there. Would you bet the quality of your phone system for the next ten years on an IT staff that has little experience in business phone systems? Acquire the right vendor for this vital part of your business communications and your business will be far better off in the long run.

 Ask for your free phone system audit from Select Phone Solutions by calling 281-501-6464.

“Productivity Through Technology”

QoS – Voice Quality is Job Number One – Part 1

May 5, 2009

It is a given fact that phone systems are a key component of how a business communicates with customers, vendors, friends and family. The quality of how those conversations sound is crucial to being effective. Anything other than crystal clear talk is just not acceptable. How can we measure that clarity and decide if our phone system meets our expectations?

Let’s separate the phone call into specific components which all together create the overall experience. First we have connectivity. The “dialtone” may be standard copper lines with the same technology that was used 100 years ago. These work very well and typically provide great service at a low cost (not counting taxes and extra fees). More modern types of connectivity include broadband (DSL, cable, T-1 for example) and allow much more capacity through single cables. Frequently broadband service piggybacks voice and data together so one bill pays your telephone and Internet service together.

The next component is the phone system hardware. If you use copper lines then you may simply have a Princess Phone (dating myself!) or other handset on the desk. Very simple, works well but features are totally dependent on the PBX. Your PBX may be hosted and controlled by the telco or it might be in your own office. In a hosted situation you likely have few features and they are the same as what was available 20 years ago. If you have a modern VOIP phone system in your own office then your phone hardware has many features. Some are visible on the handset, many more are software driven and are detailed in your manuals.

The last component is the software that drives the phone system. The most desirable features such as AutoAttendant (the menu system), FindMe-FollowMe, Voicemail to Email, and many others are added as necessary and modified for your business by your phone vendor. You do have someone you can talk to about your VOIP phone system features? Someone who will make the changes you need when you need them as your company grows?

The combination of these three factors presents what is called QoS or Quality of Service. The bar must be set very high in QoS in order for your calls to be crystal clear and effective. Phone companies measure QoS with technical metrics such as Latency (delay in packet delivery), Packet Loss (missing voice data), Network Jitter (voice data packets arriving out of order), etc. They monitor the many metrics available to see if you are receiving top quality or if improvements are required. Voice data can also be given priority over data traffic in a VOIP scenario to improve QoS.

At your own office, the local network also plays a huge role in what QoS you encounter. Whether you are using an old phone system with skinny cables or a VOIP phone system piggybacking along your data network fat cabling, it must be installed properly and maintained. There should be no kinks in the cables or tears in the insulation. The network equipment in the phone room must be “business quality”, not something designed for low traffic residential use. All too often a small business owner tries to save money on routers, switches and other network equipment not realizing that the QoS goes down because the equipment is not good enough for the task. Network bottlenecks can be eliminated via a thorough audit by a quality vendor.

Ask for your free phone system audit from Select Phone Solutions by calling 281-501-6464.

“Productivity Through Technology”

VOIP as SaaS (Software as a Service)

May 1, 2009

One of the true innovations in office technology has been the idea of SaaS or Software as a Service. This means that a software program is accessible through a local or wide area network by an employee to perform a task. The program does not have to be loaded on every computer, it just has to be reachable through your network.

 

Some examples that have been gaining favor are QuickBooks run via the Intuit website, various Managed Service Provider programs (N-able, Kaseyan, etc.) and antivirus scans of your computer through the Internet from the companies’ main office. Most people are unaware that a VOIP phone system acts much in the same way and provides many features as SaaS.

 

Back in the ‘old’ days before VOIP, phone handsets on your desktop were fed a dial tone for connectivity but then had to supply 95% of your features as built-in hardware in the actual phone. If you needed “Do Not Disturb (DND)” you pushed the DND button. If your phone did not have a DND button, well, you just didn’t have that ability. If you wanted to “CallForward” your phone to a different location temporarily, you made a hard transfer by pushing a long sequence of buttons, sometimes having to repeat the commands to set them. That was time consuming and at times difficult.

 

If you wanted “Distinctive Ringing”, a specific ringer tone for certain callers, you could search for ways to accomplish that but most likely you were out of luck. “Repeat Dial”? “Last Number Redial”? “Contact Lists” (Caller ID replaced by text of your choice when a specific number calls in to you)? All of these features are software-driven in a VOIP phone system. It doesn’t matter which VOIP IP-phone you have on your desktop; you will be able to use these features when you need them. Your phone system will not be obsoleted too quickly because as the software advances, so do your usable features.

 

Compare that to a key or hybrid phone system where you may be locked in by the hardware features well beyond your need to change them or add new features. Phone systems are not cheap. They are a vital part of business and demand study and tough decisions to make prior to purchase. You certainly do not want to make a wrong decision that will be with you for ten years.

 

VOIP phone systems allow your company the ability to change the system as your company grows and prospers. The technology you buy today is not necessarily the technology you will need in three, five or ten years. Using a software-driven system such as VOIP with Asterisk and trixbox can extend the useful and productive investment that your company makes in your phone system. Ask your phone vendor how much change can be incorporated into your phone system without buying any new hardware. Ask your phone vendor if new features can be added within a day or two simply by turning on software features that are already there but just not used yet. You may have a labor charge but should not incur any parts or software charges, If you do, it may be time to consider the smart way to build your phone system right from the start, VOIP with SaaS as its operating system.

 

Ask for your free phone system audit from Select Phone Solutions by calling 281-501-6464.

 

“Productivity Through Technology”

Which Advertising Method Produces the Best Results?

April 29, 2009

All businesses advertise their phone numbers to the public so that the public will call for a product or service. Theoretically, the more calls received, the more money is made by the business. What if the business used multiple advertising methods to get that phone number out to the public? Which one produced the best results? Which one was a waste of advertising money?

 

One way to accomplish a study of which advertising method was most effective would be to advertise different numbers to the public for each specific advertisement. Radio commercials during the day use phone number A, radio commercials at 2 AM use phone number B, TV ads during the day use Phone number C and TV ads at 2 AM use phone number D. The print mailer this week uses phone number E. The resulting responses to your company using these phone numbers will tell you the quantity of response for each method. Now judge the quality of response by the amount of cost, revenue and profit and the best method will be very apparent. This will substantially change your future advertising and raise your company profits.

 

But wait, this concept can be put in place only if you have enough phone numbers to use for unique events. Most businesses do not have so many extra phone numbers and have no way to do an analysis. This is where having a digital VOIP phone system with T-1 service shows some of the best benefits for you. The variability and recordkeeping of VOIP shines for metrics.

 

Most T-1 providers give you a bundle of services in your T-1 package including your 6 dial tone lines, long distance minutes, fax to email, remote backup, etc. They also usually give you 50 DIDs which are Direct Inward Dialing numbers. This block of 50 phone numbers can be assigned to your incoming service for any purpose you need. The 6 dial tone lines only mean that you can have 6 concurrent calls. They do not limit the number of DIDs that can be used or how you use specific DID numbers. If you needed more than 50 DIDs you could also order that at an extra cost from the T-1 provider. More on a real-life example of that in the next article.

 

All of the DIDs are funneled into your VOIP phone system. The system logs every call coming in and going out in the log files which are easily available to the owner/manager in the customer portal on their own local web browser at any time. Using simple filters for time, date, numbers, etc., any specific information can be presented as a report or exported to another program such as a database or spreadsheet. Want to know the number of calls received for DID A for radio commercials promoted from 7 am to 9 am from March 3rd through March 10th? Easy. Want to know the number of calls received for DID C for TV commercials promoted from 7 am to 9 am from March 3rd through March 10th? Simple. Now compare the numbers to see which had more calls generated, which produced more revenue and profit, and compare those numbers to the cost of the ads. You have created the ability to decide which is the most cost effective for you.

 

Advertise your business but do it with a method to qualify and quantify the results. Every business owner needs metrics to analyze their business and change processes to become more successful. A VOIP phone system provides that opportunity with easy to use tool sets.

 

Ask for your free phone system audit from Select Phone Solutions by calling 281-501-6464.

“Productivity Through Technology”