With the complexity of one’s business comes the stress of an effective phone system. With multiple customer service representatives at my business, I found it hard to find a phone system that could handle the workload of the many users at one time. After researching other options, I found a website that allowed me to not only buy the complete phone system, but also the equipment to add additional lines to my current business system.
After reviewing the cost factors, their company made it easy for me to decide if it was more cost-effective for me to add additional lines to my current phone system or to purchase a new one. After consulting with the phone professionals, it was decided that a key system would be most effective for my business. This decision was made by weighing the costs of purchasing a new system versus upgrading an older one.
Ultimately, cost is most important in deciding the benefits toward one’s company future success. After consulting with my boss, we discussed the positives and negatives in purchasing a new system. While new equipment would be a great addition, we were concerned of the complexity of the new system. We would want to implement our current business activities into its use immediately and would have to be trained on using the new phones.
After great consideration, we purchased a new key system for our near 10 person customer service staff and 100 other employees. After an introduction meeting for the entire staff to the new system, employees were back at work immediately using the new system within an hour.
This decision has been very important to the continued success of my company. I have seen greater results with the speed in which calls are transferred to the appropriate representatives. This allows customers’ needs to be addressed in a more timely manner. Overall, this new system has positively increased the quality of our customer service.
By investing in a better system, the success of my company and the satisfaction of my customers are better dealt with. Quality definitely is essential to effective work equipment. And after taking the time to make a change in my company, I have continuously been satisfied with my decision.
Additional phone lines allows for greater customer-service success
A Phone by Any Other Name...
I recently left the company I was working for and took a new position with a new employer at a much higher salary. My business is IT, and I left the comfort and stabilty of my old job to work for a startup firm which I think will be a big success. They knew they were going to have to pay for quality personnel so they had no problem meeting my demands in terms of salary, benefits and stock options. What I didn't realize is that while they aren't skimping on compensation, the office environment they provide leaves a lot to be desired.
I can put up with the miniscule cubical. I can live with the lack of natural light (although I feel like a cave troll). I can even do without the cafeteria, water cooler, and coffee maker. What I really miss is my old phone.
You see, my old phone was indeed, not an "old" phone. It was a multi-line handling, LCD displaying, caller IDing monster that gave me more options than a new car salesman. My "new" phone has none of those amenities. There is no transfer or hold button, no screen to display who is calling, no headset and no electronic directory. In short, the only difference between this phone and a Garfield phone you might buy at Spencer's Gifts is that this phone isn't shaped like a cartoon cat. My job would be so much easier and my days so much more productive if only we had a real office phone system in place. The current system is so poorly automated that only a very small percentage of the calls I get are actually meant for me. Likewise, I get several E-mails a day asking why I haven't returned phone calls in regard to messages I never received.
I guess the old addage that "you don't know what you've got until it's gone" really holds true in this case.
Since I came here, I have actively lobbied to have the old phone system replaced, but to no avail. I think I may be the only one here who knows what he's missing. Oh well...I'm sure I'm not the only one out there who has experienced this. Maybe you too have lost a beloved phone in a career move. I sympathize with you. I'd leave my number so we could comiserate, but you'd probably never reach me anyway.
The Quiet Explosion of Cell Phone Limitation Technologies
It is no secret that the explosion of functionality the world of cellular communications is nothing short of phenomenal. Scarcely a month goes by when something new is added what people can do with their cell phones. Now cell phones can take pictures, keep your calendar, let you send text messages or emails, surf the internet and do virtually everything except make the toast and burp the baby. But along with the technological revolution in what cell phones can do, there is another quieter revolution that has as its objective the opposite goal, to stop cell phones from doing what they can do.
It stands to reason when a technology as pervasive as cell phone communications enables virtually every man, woman and child to communicate to virtually anyone virtually anywhere that at some point there would be a need for some controls. That need has become more and more compelling when it comes to certain types of facilities where it is not only undesirable for cell phones to be operative but in some cases downright dangerous. Some outstanding examples of where you do NOT want cell phones operational are…
§ Prisons where inmates can use them to plan illegal activities.
§ Federal buildings to protect classified areas and to restrict terrorist activity.
§ Religious buildings such as mosques where cell phones can disrupt the ceremonies.
§ Banks and financial institutions where cell phones could be used for robberies or for terrorism.
§ Theaters and music halls where you want cell phones turned off during the performance.
§ Hospitals or airplanes where the operation of cell phones can disrupt machinery.
The problem with securing a building from cell phone operation is that putting up a sign that cell phones should be in use is not getting the job done. The phones can still be on and used as a homing device or create disruption to sensitive equipment. So to be effective, the facility needs to have cell phone blocking technology in place to stop the operation of every cell phone that comes inside that facility for the time it is there and then returns operation to that device as soon as it passes out of the facility area.
This is a tough challenge and the technologies that have been developed for the most part bring as many problems as they solve. There are basically three solutions to the problem.
1. Alarming. A device is put in place that can detect the signals coming from user’s cell phones. When the signal is detected, alarms go off to alert the user that the cell phone should be disabled. The problem is that this is not that much better than a sign on the wall informing people that cell phones are not allowed. It depends on compliance and the user can easily turn the phone right back on once inside.
2. Disruption. Otherwise known as jamming simply sends out a disruptive signal to jam the cell phone while in the facility. Jamming is destructive to machinery, dangerous to people and animals and in many countries, illegal to use.
3. Distraction. This approach detects the signal that the cell phone is sending to the tower to be recognized and sends a false signal back to the phone so it is distracted and thinks it is in communication with the tower when it is in fact off line. No calls can come to the phone because the tower doesn’t know its there and no calls can be made because the phone isn’t actually on line.
Of the three, distraction has the best chance of solving the problem permanently. The business trend to look out for is the rapid expansion of any company that uses the distraction method for cell phone management. That will be the business that thrives in this market.