POSTS PORTFOLIO SEARCH SHOP
SEARCH
1272 Bond Street, Naperville, IL 60563 630-505-7500
Voice

10 Ways Your Phone System Improves Your Customers’ Experience

By on

May 12, 2016

- Voice

May 12, 2016 – Business competition in today’s economy is fierce. Your customers expect the highest level of customer care, and you and your staff need to be reachable, professional and customer focused at all times – no matter where you’re located. If that’s your business model, is your phone system serving you like you serve your customers? Use this checklist to evaluate if your phone system gives your customers the experience they now expect from their chosen providers.  Any items you can’t check off may signal that you could be getting more out of your phone system.

Reachability and professionalism

  • Customers can access your sales staff anytime and anywhere with mobile capability that directs incoming office calls to be received on your sales staff’s mobile phones
  • Outbound calls look professional, coming from the main company number, even when your employees are using their smartphones
  • Customer focus is enhanced by connecting your CRM tools with Outlook to give you conversation history with your client
  • Employee productivity is increased by merging call records with customer records to improve sales trending projections and staffing optimization

Employee productivity

  • Employees and partners can communicate in ways that are easy and intuitive through audio and web conferencing, regardless of where they’re working
  • Employees use presence features to be reachable by establishing if they are in the office, out of office, or in a meeting by using presence features
  • Teamwork is made easy with voice and video calling, including screen sharing

Cost effectiveness

  • Ongoing administration, such as adding a new employee is easy, not labor intensive
  • Local support is available to train your staff to use features that improve customer experience
  • You have the option of outsourcing your phone system management to an experienced local company
How did you do? Depending on your responses, here are some things to think about.
  • If you scored an 8-10, you’re using your phone system to improve your customers’ experience as they work with you.
  • If you scored a 5-7, there may be some phone system features you can use to improve your company’s competitive positioning and your customers’ experience.
  • If you scored less than 5, it’s time to look at phone system capabilities you can bring to your company to help your staff be more reachable, professional and customer-focused.
You want your employees to function effectively while improving company productivity and increasing customer satisfaction. Your phone system should help you do all that – and boost your competitive advantage. If you’d like to discuss your phone system’s capabilities and see what’s possible for your business, give us a call at 630-577-2680.
0
Voice

Communications as a Service: ‘Cloudifying’ the PBX

By on

April 27, 2016

- Voice

The cloud has had a dramatic impact on the way we do business, impacting everything from infrastructure to user access. Applications have broken free from onsite hardware giving users the ability to work anywhere at any time. And it’s just getting started. Even business communications have been given the cloud treatment, enabling users to access the features and functionality of their business phone system anywhere. Cloud communications can be a win-win in terms of saving money and improving user productivity. But that’s not all: flexibility, scalability, a subscription pricing model and security also make up the list of benefits that cloud communications offers. Here’s a closer look at each of seven benefits your company can enjoy with a cloud communications system:

  1. Saving money:

    A cloud-based communications system runs in the cloud, so companies no longer have the expense of purchasing and maintaining equipment. Plus, the cloud offers the most up-to-date software versions at all times, which saves companies time as well.

  2. Improving productivity:

    Employees are able to access the full features of a cloud communications system on any device, anywhere they can access the web. Desktop phones, softphones on PCs, apps on smartphones—all provide the full functionality to users they’d enjoy if they were sitting in their company office. Plus, they can use those features to collaborate with their colleagues or clients, no matter where they are.

  3. Flexibility:

    Why pay for 50 user licenses when you only have 40 employees? Or a 500 user license when you only have 400 employees? With cloud communications, you only pay for what you need. And you can add more functionality as required. That means a cost-effective communications offering that works for you.

  4. Scalability:

    The cloud enables easy scaling to meet your company’s needs, quickly and easily. With cloud communications, you can increase or decrease your number of users through a simple web interface, eliminating costly software upgrades or complicated provisioning.

  5. Subscription pricing model:

    With a cloud communications solution, you’ll have the most up-to-date technology at a fraction of the cost of owning an on-premises communications system. No more capital outlays or expensive upgrades—a subscription pricing model means you’re billed monthly for the service, just like your other cloud applications.

  6. Security:

    Cloud communications services are maintained in large data centers, so companies of any size can enjoy enterprise-grade or higher security and reliability—typically higher than what they could provide onsite.
With the many benefits cloud communications provides, it’s time to ask the questions: Is your legacy PBX no longer efficiently supporting your business. Do you want to invest more money in proprietary technology? Learn more here about a Cloud Communications platform that ATI recommends to all our clients.
0
Voice

Choosing a Business VoIP Phone System

By on

March 31, 2016

- Voice

An Office Manager’s Guide to Choosing a Business VoIP Phone System

March 31, 2016 – Most office managers are hearing a lot these days about Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), it’s a service that allows telephone users to make and receive calls using the Internet instead of conventional phone lines and analog phone systems. VoIP services provide a number of benefits for businesses, starting with the enhanced modern conveniences and cost savings. Additionally, business VoIP solutions provide attractive features like call management options, video conferencing, instant messaging, reporting, call monitoring as well as enhanced security abilities. After making the decision to move from analog to VoIP services, next comes the task of sifting through the options to figure out the type of phone system that will be the right fit for the business. Here are a few of the most common considerations many managers evaluate before making a phone system decision:

Set-Up Costs Compared to Traditional Systems

Typically, setup fees for registering new phone numbers are minimal. Local and toll-free numbers are purchased online from any area code with instant activation. Service providers can also port or transfer the existing phone numbers without any downtime. VoIP systems are easy to implement and come with very little investment risks. Monthly charges are typically subscription-based utilizing an operational budget. Hosted IP phone systems also remove the need for any expensive in-house servers. The system is either a cloud-based or off-premise solution, which virtually eliminates the need for any costly servers.

Additional Cost Savings

The savings go beyond just monthly charges and equipment. Since the systems are entirely internet-based, the process of adding more users, additional phone lines, and extra features can be handled through a web browser. Using the Internet removes the need for an on-site technician every time an issue comes up. Typically, the most expensive part of a business phone bill are the minutes used. With VoIP, it treats your phone calls simply as data passing through the IP network. Broadband today is relatively cheap and easy to obtain, so it’s appealing to businesses looking for ways to cut costs and use existing resources.

Functionality Considerations

Phone system benefits go well beyond simply the phone calls. Conferencing options enable employees to remain connected clients and coworkers for meetings, exchanging documents, evaluating agendas, and many other business-related matters from virtually anywhere.

VOIP and Customer Satisfaction

VoIP technologies are advanced enough that you should never notice a difference between a call from an analog service and a VoIP call, as they are equally responsive. However, considerations should be made to the business network to ensure there’s enough bandwidth to support the additional data load as well as the quality-of-service (QoS) capabilities for prioritizing call traffic. Learn more about a hosted VoIP system that takes into account all these considerations here.
0
Voice

Could a Business VoIP Solution Save You Money?

By on

January 6, 2016

- Voice

January 6, 2016 –

Could a Business VoIP Solution Save You Money?

Any change to your business means assessing the initial cost, the long-term costs, and the potential savings. Your company’s phone system is critical to your ability to run your business efficiently – connecting with clients and customers reliably. If you switch to one of the available Business VoIP service providers, will that help or hurt your business efficiency? And most importantly, what will it do to your bottom line?

Connectivity Savings

Whether you have customers around the world or on opposite coasts, connecting to them reliably and affordably is essential. Using a business VoIP system makes calling anywhere in the world just as affordable as calling across the street. Both local and international long distance calling costs less when you use an internet connection to make your calls.

Reliability & VoIP

You need to be able to rely on your phone system. System downtime can cost you valuable hours of productivity. A Business VoIP system like ShoreTel uses single site architecture, which offers reliable connectivity as well as scalability. VoIP systems are not just reliable, they are portable. When anyone from your team is traveling and using mobile or even a hotel phone, they can access the exact same phone network as your employees in the office, making business trips more productive overall.

When Productivity Increases, Profits Do Too

The connectivity of the modern world means that in a huge range of industries more employees are able to work remotely. While this can make for happier employees and lower overhead costs, unreliable phone systems can eat up hours of productivity. VoIP lets remote employees access the same phone system – with the same reliability – as employees that are in house. Increased reliability means increased productivity, which means more efficient employees. When you can do more with fewer employees, you can save a lot on payroll costs.

Long Term Cost Benefits

The long-term cost benefits for a Business VoIP system are real. Whereas standard phone systems and lines may need to be upgraded every few years, this is a non-issue for VoIP systems that work over internet lines. And when the system does need upgrading, such as for new handsets or new software, the VoIP vendor will cover the cost. Further, most Business VoIP systems have technical training and support included in the initial cost, meaning no support costs over the life of the system.

Increased Call Security

With 43% of companies experiencing some type of data breach in 2014, concerns about security are at an all-time high. Unlike standard phones, VoIP service providers can configure systems to use an encrypted Virtual Private Network (VPN) to offer increased security for the safety of your employees as well as your customers. The short answer is that yes, Business VoIP service providers can certainly save your company money. Of course, the actual savings will vary depending on how your business uses your phones.[divider]
– Learn more about Business VoIP here. – Check out a one of kind Business VoIP phone system that encapsulates an Onsite, Cloud, and Hybrid approach here. – Contact ATI to learn more.
 
0

ABOUT US

Ascenda™ is a globally recognized total experience thought leader for organizations of all sizes. Our speed of innovation ensures that businesses can transform how they work together with customers and employees while also exceeding key business metrics.

Learn More
 

CONTACT ASCENDA/ATI

750 Warrenville Road, Ste. 250

Lisle, IL 60532

Phone: 630.505.7500 Main

Phone: 630.577.2700 Service

E-Mail: sales@goascenda.com

Web Site: https://goascenda.com