Crosstalk with Select Telecom (Summer 2011)
If you’re using a traditional business telephony setup with a PBX phone system and separate email network, the communications tasks that you do every day probably aren’t as easy or intuitive as they should be. With your voice mail on your phone and your email on your computer, managing messages across multiple devices is a chore. Getting ahold of a busy colleague requires a never-ending game of phone tag or wasted time as you walk across the office only to find an empty desk. And just try setting up a three-way call without hanging up on someone! The good news is that life doesn’t have to be so hard. With the new Unified Communications (UC) systems available from providers like ShoreTel and NEC’s InUCB, you can streamline communication and get the most out of an integrated voice and email system.
With a modern UC system, you can take advantage of features like Unified Messaging, Rich Presence, and Click to Dial to simplify everyday tasks and maximize your productivity. Unified Messaging consolidates all of your voice mails, emails, and even faxes in one place, making them accessible via the computer, just like a traditional email inbox. With NEC’s InUCB system, voice mail appears in your Microsoft Outlook inbox where you can play, forward, or delete messages with the click of a mouse instead of navigating through complicated menus of voice prompts. With ShoreTel Communicator for Mobile, you can even use the Visual Voice Mail feature to access and manage a list of voice mails right from your mobile phone. Many UC systems also have the ability to use speech recognition to convert voice mails to text which appears as an email in your inbox, allowing you to “listen” to voice mail even while sitting in a meeting.
Rich Presence and Call Handling features allow you to see your colleagues’ status in real time, get alerts when they’re available, and route calls based on your status or other predefined rules. The ShoreTel Communicator interface on your computer shows the phone usage status – available or on the phone – of everyone in the company, and allows you to set an alert to get notification when the selected colleague ends his/her call. NEC InUCB takes presence one step further and shows status based on mouse movement on the computer, letting you know if a colleague is active or away (this feature is also available as an upgrade from ShoreTel). NEC also offers comprehensive reporting to help individuals and managers monitor their own activity and that of others. With smart Call Handling, you can take control of call routing and tell the system to forward calls to your cell phone while you’re out of the office or send calls from certain numbers directly to voice mail.
Click to Dial consolidates your address book into one location on your computer and enables you to dial anyone in your phone book or the company directory with a single click. Simply type the first few letters of the name of the person you want to call into the search bar and the system will automatically filter results and let you select the right number to dial. Setting up conference calls with UC tools is a snap – simply click the “conference” button, type the names of the contacts to add, and pick up the phone. Many systems also integrate with the Outlook Calendar to enable you to send a meeting invitation with conference dial-in information automatically embedded in the email.
The list of benefits of Unified Communications systems goes on and on. Desk-to-desk chat enables instant messaging capabilities with anyone in the company, and is especially useful for asking a quick question while on a call. Video can be added to any phone call or conference for any user with a webcam. Specialized tools for contact center agents and operators integrate with existing CRM systems to keep customer information at agents’ fingertips and can even popup caller identification to allow your agents to greet key customers by name. Not least is the unmatched ease-of-use for IT teams and system administrators when coordinating adds, moves, and changes. UC systems are also known for agile, cost-effective scalability – especially when leveraging Voice over IP (VoIP) for mobile and remote workers – and a low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
In the past, the benefits of UC were enjoyed exclusively by larger enterprises with massive budgets which allowed them to overhaul their entire communications systems. Today, providers like ShoreTel and NEC have made Unified Communications available for small and medium businesses through innovative use of VoIP and smart, scalable hardware design. ShoreTel offers a full-featured VoIP UC system with intuitive, richly featured IP phones. If you are looking to take advantage of UC features but aren’t ready to convert all of your phones to IP phones, NEC InUCB allows you to upgrade in steps by creating a cost-effective hybrid system. Working with an experienced service provider, you can customize a UC system to your company’s needs and budget.
How effectively you communicate with customers, suppliers and partners can make or break a business. Unified Communications features like Unified Messaging, Rich Presence, and Click to Dial enable you to collaborate more effectively and improve productivity and customer satisfaction across your organization. If you’re ready to bring your business to the next level, consider a sophisticated yet cost-effective VoIP UC solution to simplify communication and maximize your efficiency.