Even with all of the new technology made available to businesses in this day and age, there is nothing that can prevent phones from occasionally going down and not working. Every business owner knows that every minute that goes by with no phones working not only feels like an eternity, but equals the loss of business. So, as we in Wisconsin enter into the season of storms and flooding and tornadoes, what do you do when the inevitable happens and your phones go down?
You could turn off your system, reboot and hope for the best. You could call a technician that just got about 100 other frantic calls at the same moment, because, let's face it - the chances of you being the only one with phones down is just slim. You could try to reach your service provider to see if they know anything about this and how to fix it. Truth is, all of those are things that people who aren't fully prepared have to do. You are far wiser than that though, so you got yourself a disaster recovery provider and your phones will experience minimal down time and your customers (or potential customers) will have no idea that your system is even down.
The way it works is very simple... You get yourself a provider of disaster recovery services who will let you knwo how to set up your main voicemail box and everyone's private voicemail box. From there, you set everything up in house so that when phones go down your customers will get the previously set up system when they call in. There is an Automated Attendant in place that offers them the option to be connected to anyone with whom they need to speak. Once they make that selection of who to speak to, the call gets forwarded to that person's pre determined number at which they can be reached (this is usually a cell phone number).
All it takes to activate the disaster recovery system is to call your phone service provider and ask them to forward all of your calls to the designated number that the automated attendant is connectied to. It is just that simple and the disruption to the flow of calls and business as usual is very minimal so you don't have to lose business over the loss of your phone service in your office.
For more information on disaster recovery please contact Phones Plus at 262-784-2311 and speak to one of our sales representatives to answer any questions you may have. Have a great week everyone!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Hosted IP PBX
Taking advantage of a hosted environment will not only give you the benefit of utilizing new internet telephony technology, but it will offer you a host of valuable features. You can take advantage of such features as “under one roof” functionality which makes multiple locations appear to be all under one roof with extension dialing, call transfer between locations and several other features. Another great feature of a hosted system is the built in disaster recovery which is automatic with a hosted system because of the way it is put together.
Some additional benefits of a good provider of a hosted system are that your monthly phone bills can go down by about 40-70% per month. That means that if you wanted to get a whole new phone system with a hosted provider, the system will be paid for out of your monthly savings in no time flat! There are also bundled calling plans to fit every business’ needs including plans for international calling that include 34 destinations now and that are growing all the time. Perhaps the best part of having a hosted solution with a Phones Plus partner is the fact that their customer service is based in the US. No more calling and talking to someone who isn’t even in the country – we all know how frustrating that can be!
Since this is still a relatively new technology in telephony (even our partner for hosted systems has only been working with them since 2001) lots of people have concerns about call quality. It is amazing what can happen in just 9 short years. This technology started out as a great idea that needed a lot of tweaking, but has become a very reliable source of great call quality with very few interruptions to your service.
Some other important features of a hosted system are Internet faxing and conferencing capabilities, making it even easier to communicate with customers, other offices or prospects. All of the features I have spoken about can be scaled up or down to fit the needs of an office with 2 people to an office with 2,000 people. This is a great solution that is easy to use, quick to set up and offers a great variety of features to users. For additional information on hosted systems please contact Phones Plus at 262-784-2311 or check out our website at www.askphonesplus.com.
Some additional benefits of a good provider of a hosted system are that your monthly phone bills can go down by about 40-70% per month. That means that if you wanted to get a whole new phone system with a hosted provider, the system will be paid for out of your monthly savings in no time flat! There are also bundled calling plans to fit every business’ needs including plans for international calling that include 34 destinations now and that are growing all the time. Perhaps the best part of having a hosted solution with a Phones Plus partner is the fact that their customer service is based in the US. No more calling and talking to someone who isn’t even in the country – we all know how frustrating that can be!
Since this is still a relatively new technology in telephony (even our partner for hosted systems has only been working with them since 2001) lots of people have concerns about call quality. It is amazing what can happen in just 9 short years. This technology started out as a great idea that needed a lot of tweaking, but has become a very reliable source of great call quality with very few interruptions to your service.
Some other important features of a hosted system are Internet faxing and conferencing capabilities, making it even easier to communicate with customers, other offices or prospects. All of the features I have spoken about can be scaled up or down to fit the needs of an office with 2 people to an office with 2,000 people. This is a great solution that is easy to use, quick to set up and offers a great variety of features to users. For additional information on hosted systems please contact Phones Plus at 262-784-2311 or check out our website at www.askphonesplus.com.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Why hosted VoIP is a good choice for small to mid sized companies
Advancements in Technology & Cost Reduction Is Driving Demand for Popular Business Communications System
NEW BERLIN, WI — May 27, 2010 — Phones Plus, an industry leader in unified communications, announced today that hosted Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is experiencing tremendous adoption by small to mid-sized businesses. A number of distinct benefits such as superior quality of service, reduction of cost, flexibility, built in business continuity and advanced applications are driving the demand for hosted VoIP technology.
Unlike a traditional phone system, hosted VoIP requires no on-site PBX hardware. Instead the technology uses VoIP service to place and receive calls using the Internet. This service is frequently hosted remotely by a 3rd party VoIP provider. As a result, an end user’s communication via VoIP service is handled by redundant enterprise servers offsite. In addition to the profound upfront cost savings this presents, hosted VoIP technology enables one’s phone system to be completely scalable and flexible. An organization can add or remove phones on a hosted system any time.
Hosted VoIP serves the needs of entrepreneurs and enterprises alike, by delivering powerful features such as improved call quality, valuable disaster recovery tools, and applications designed specifically for telecommuters and remote workers. Included in the system are advanced features such as unified messaging, automatic call distribution, auto attendant, call recording, call flow reporting as well as traditional PBX features.
The U.S. business hosted IP voice services market is expected to grow from 828,350 seats in 2008 to 4,910,499 seats in 2013, a CAGR of 42.8%, according to Interactive Data Corporation (IDC), a market research firm specifically focused on the IT segment. “The SMB marketplace has started to really embrace hosted VoIP because it dramatically increases their profitability and gives them a competitive advantage,” said Thomas Sodemann, Vice President of Phones Plus. “For many customers off premise communications technology is preferable. In a hosted environment, companies can take advantage of flexible technology knowing that if a disaster occurs, whether a power outage or natural, the system will remain up without interruption.”
“After we understand our customers’ strategic business objectives we recommend the right technology to support all of their needs and in many cases that means a hosted solution,” added Mr. Sodemann. “Hosted VoIP is quickly becoming more than an acronym, it’s raising the bar for Unified Communications providers, while giving businesses the edge they need to compete in today’s marketplace.”
ABOUT PHONES PLUS, INC.
Since 1981, Phones Plus has committed to establishing lasting business relationships with our clients. Phones Plus offers innovative voice, video, and data networking solutions that increase our clients’ profitability and gives them a competitive advantage in their marketplace.
Phones Plus recognizes the critical need for a communications company that combines leading technology with top-quality service and support.
Our mission is to provide exceptional value through managed services that eliminate technological obsolescence, ensure a fixed cost for our business partners, and maximize the profits, productivity, image, and competitive advantage of those partners. Highly trained and motivated professionals give you measurable results.
NEW BERLIN, WI — May 27, 2010 — Phones Plus, an industry leader in unified communications, announced today that hosted Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is experiencing tremendous adoption by small to mid-sized businesses. A number of distinct benefits such as superior quality of service, reduction of cost, flexibility, built in business continuity and advanced applications are driving the demand for hosted VoIP technology.
Unlike a traditional phone system, hosted VoIP requires no on-site PBX hardware. Instead the technology uses VoIP service to place and receive calls using the Internet. This service is frequently hosted remotely by a 3rd party VoIP provider. As a result, an end user’s communication via VoIP service is handled by redundant enterprise servers offsite. In addition to the profound upfront cost savings this presents, hosted VoIP technology enables one’s phone system to be completely scalable and flexible. An organization can add or remove phones on a hosted system any time.
Hosted VoIP serves the needs of entrepreneurs and enterprises alike, by delivering powerful features such as improved call quality, valuable disaster recovery tools, and applications designed specifically for telecommuters and remote workers. Included in the system are advanced features such as unified messaging, automatic call distribution, auto attendant, call recording, call flow reporting as well as traditional PBX features.
The U.S. business hosted IP voice services market is expected to grow from 828,350 seats in 2008 to 4,910,499 seats in 2013, a CAGR of 42.8%, according to Interactive Data Corporation (IDC), a market research firm specifically focused on the IT segment. “The SMB marketplace has started to really embrace hosted VoIP because it dramatically increases their profitability and gives them a competitive advantage,” said Thomas Sodemann, Vice President of Phones Plus. “For many customers off premise communications technology is preferable. In a hosted environment, companies can take advantage of flexible technology knowing that if a disaster occurs, whether a power outage or natural, the system will remain up without interruption.”
“After we understand our customers’ strategic business objectives we recommend the right technology to support all of their needs and in many cases that means a hosted solution,” added Mr. Sodemann. “Hosted VoIP is quickly becoming more than an acronym, it’s raising the bar for Unified Communications providers, while giving businesses the edge they need to compete in today’s marketplace.”
ABOUT PHONES PLUS, INC.
Since 1981, Phones Plus has committed to establishing lasting business relationships with our clients. Phones Plus offers innovative voice, video, and data networking solutions that increase our clients’ profitability and gives them a competitive advantage in their marketplace.
Phones Plus recognizes the critical need for a communications company that combines leading technology with top-quality service and support.
Our mission is to provide exceptional value through managed services that eliminate technological obsolescence, ensure a fixed cost for our business partners, and maximize the profits, productivity, image, and competitive advantage of those partners. Highly trained and motivated professionals give you measurable results.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
An Update
Just to keep everyone up to date, I wanted to let you know that we have unfortunately had to cancel our SIP trunking lunch and learn. We plan on rescheduling it, we just aren't totally positive when that will be just yet. So, keep on checking out our social media pages and we will be sure to keep you posted on what is happening with that event.
Thanks very much and have a great day!
Thanks very much and have a great day!
Zultys MXIE Demo
This week, we are trying to really focus on learning all we can about Zultys products. It was fairly recently that we became a Zultys authorized dealer and we want to make sure that we are experts on their products as we start selling more of them. These products are designed to be very advanced and cutting edge - they are designed from SIP up. Also, these systems are designed to give you as many features as possible with minimal licensing so that once you buy the phones and all of the equipment you will not have to make a huge investment to get the features that you want.
You can pretty much get any number of users on a single system - these systems will get really big if you need that, or you can get a small system for a business that has plans for growth. The MXIE is the Unified Communications solution offered by Zultys - it would be the Zultys equivalent of Toshiba's Strata Call Manager (NetPhone) and it is extremely easy to use once you get the hang of it. Check out the video above and you will see how MXIE can increase productivity by offering a very simple format for call handling and voicemail options.
If you have any questions regarding MXIE or any other Zultys product, please feel free to contact Phones Plus at 262-784-2311 and we will be happy to answer whatever questions you may have. Have a great week everyone!
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