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Telephone System

  • Lightning Strike
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    3 Simple Ways to Protect Your Telecom Gear from Lightning Damage

3 Simple Ways to Protect Your Telecom Gear from Lightning Damage

Lightning, electrical storms and other forms of electrical surges can be devastating to all types of electronics.  Below are three simple ways to protect your telecom gear from lightning and other hazardous damage.

Surge Protection

ITW Linx M8COMThis seems like an obvious solution. However, it’s surprising how many small businesses don’t have adequate surge protection on their equipment.  The system cabinet is the heart of your premise-based communications.  It houses all of your call routing settings, recordings, prompts and voicemail messages.  It’s critical to keep it protected from power surges and lightning strikes. A quality surge protection system will protect the gear in your telecom closet from electrical surges that try to enter via power cables. Most reputable brands will also provide insurance against damage or loss of equipment if you have properly installed and registered their gear.

UPS / Backup Power Supply

APC Smart-UPS 1500An uninterruptible power supply (“UPS”), also known as a backup power supply will help protect your system should the power flicker or go out for a period of time.  Today’s telephone systems are built just like computers with microprocessors and hard drives that do not like unplanned power […]

By |May 20th, 2013|Business, Products, Telephone System|Comments Off
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Call Flow: It Matters More Than You Think

Believe it or not, call flow should be a large determining factor in the type of products and services you select for your business communications.  Not all products are created equal, and you may be missing a feature that’s critical to how you handle calls if you aren’t careful.

Call Flow Considerations

Live Answer

Many businesses still prefer to “live answer” their incoming calls, providing a more personal touch to their callers.  This is where a receptionist answers at a central phone, or many phones are programmed to ring incoming calls. Either of these methods ensure that a live representative of your company will answer the call.  In addition, many feature sets will allow these calls to be routed to mobile users as well. That way you will never miss a business call, even if you are out of the office.

Automated Attendant

For high volumes of incoming calls, or businesses than cannot dedicate staff to answering calls, an automated attendant may initially answer your incoming calls.  This method relies on your communication system to provide callers with prompts and allow them to select their call flow themselves.  While this is efficient and very commonplace nowadays, many callers still find it annoying.

Delivery of Calls

Once a call […]

By |May 14th, 2013|Business, Design, Telephone System|0 Comments
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  • Auto Attendant Graphic for Call Routing
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    The Auto Attendant: Adding Value to Your Business and Your Customers

The Auto Attendant: Adding Value to Your Business and Your Customers

Most people don’t like hearing an automated attendant answer when they call a business. What is an auto attendant? An Automated Attendant  answers your phone calls and provides a personalized message to callers with options for connecting to an operator, dialing by name or extension, or connecting to up to nine configurable extensions. For example, Press 1 for Support, 2 for Sales, etc. How is this a potential benefit for your business and your customers?

Business Benefits

  • Better utilize existing employees
  • More efficient and accurate call routing

Do you have a dedicated employee who’s primary job it is to answer the phone?  Do they spend a large portion of their time routing calls to others within your organization?  We’re not suggesting that an automated attendant should eliminate such positions, but free these people to create even more value for your company.

Maybe your organization has a ring all policy where any available employee can answer an incoming call.  There are benefits to this scenario as well. However, when it is not the job of a single person to route callers, your employees may be receiving calls that are better handled by others within your company.  Those calls then have to be re-routed, at which point the caller may […]

By |May 9th, 2013|Business, Products, Telephone System, Voice|0 Comments
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Small Business Communications: When Should You Upgrade?

When to Upgrade?

Have you been thinking of upgrading your small business communications for some time now?  Is there functionality that you are lacking, or a gap in your communications that would like to plug?  Maybe your current system is “good enough” for now, but you are still looking for the right time to upgrade.  But when is that?

When Disaster Strikes

We don’t like to think about natural disasters like tornadoes and flooding.  However, these events pose a real threat to our telecommunications gear.  If you suffer equipment damage from an even such as these, or even a lightening strike, it’s a good time reevaluate what it will take to get you up and running again.  Don’t just put a band-aid solution in place, take the time to consider an upgrade.

On Your Own Terms

Many business owners and IT managers will set their own thresholds as to their upgrade procedures.  It may be after X number of support problems.  It could be the next time a phone quits working, etc.  Or it could simply be a business decision – “every five years,” or “when we reevaluate our budget next quarter,” etc.  If you aren’t currently thinking through your telecommunications at this level, […]

By |May 1st, 2013|Business, Products, Telephone System|Comments Off
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Hosted PBX: Advantages and Disadvantages

If you are unfamiliar with the term take a few moments to read about Hosted PBX and how it differs from a traditional telephone system. Once you have a general understanding of how hosted PBX is different, then continue reading to learn about the advantages and disadvantages.

Cisco 504G IP Telephone for Hosted PBXAdvantages of Hosted PBX

There are many advantages to implementing a hosted PBX solution.  These advantages can be financial, logistical and based on the staff of the organization.

Financial Advantages

  • No Up Front Capital Expenditures
  • Future proof with software upgrades
  • Only pay for what you need
  • Monthly rate includes hardware and service

With most hosted providers there are no capital expenditures for the telephone and networking hardware utilized for hosted PBX.  There may be minimal setup and programming costs, but will be a fraction of what a traditional PBX would cost to install.  Once the service is provisioned, you simply pay a monthly recurring charge for the services and features that you receive. (more…)

By |April 19th, 2013|Products, Service, Telephone System, Unified Communications, Voice|Comments Off
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Communications and The Right Tools for the Job

Over the weekend I continued to clean up some of the underbrush and small trees on our lot.  Up until now, with a pair of old hedge trimmers and a chainsaw, the work had been going relatively slowly.  However, this weekend I made a ton of progress due to one little change – the tool I was using to do the job.  I borrowed an Outback Brush Cutter, also affectionately nicknamed a “Billy Goat” to work on a lot of the smaller trees, briars and other underbrush. This made a huge difference.  The Billy Goat is a powered, bladed, walk behind machine designed to run over and chop up just about anything in its path.  I was able to make a large dent in the work I was doing in a much shorter time frame, thanks to this incredible machine.  In fact, it did such a great job I had to stop yesterday so that I didn’t thin out the lot too much.

Tools are designed to us do a job more efficiently and effectively.  Some tools, like a screwdriver, are simple, but still far more effective than using our hands.  Some tools are more complex, have more moving parts […]

By |March 25th, 2013|Telephone System, Unified Communications, Voice|Comments Off
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What is Hosted PBX?

What is “Hosted PBX” and how does it differ from a traditional or premise-based IP-PBX?

Premise Based Systems

Most all traditional telephone systems are what is known as “premise-based.”  That means the system cabinet (aka the box on the wall, the brains, etc.) resides on your premise.  All of the telephones in your organization are then wired directly back to this cabinet.  The features of a given system (voicemail, live record, etc.) are driven by the cabinet, where the hardware and software resides.

Hosted PBX Service

Hosted PBX systems share a lot of similarities with traditional, premise-based boxes.  Most hosted services have a very full feature set.  Many have more features than some premise based systems. Unified communications features such as voicemail to email, find me / follow me, and simultaneous desk and mobile phone ringing are some of the more popular features found in hosted systems today.  These types of solutions also have some very major differences from that of a premise based system.  There is no system cabinet when a hosted solution is installed.  Each telephone communicates over a private or public internet connection back to a softswitch, which provides the features and functionality to the end users.  There are a […]

By |March 7th, 2013|Telephone System, Unified Communications|Comments Off
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Allworx Goes to New Heights with Reach

Allworx Reach™ combines effortless communications with complete mobility. Whether your smartphone is Apple or Android, Reach brings the rich functionality of your Allworx phone to your smartphone. Both Wi-Fi and cellular data networks are utilized for Reach access, so anywhere there is a signal — from across the room or across the globe — you are connected.

Because Reach is an Allworx-created solution designed exclusively to work on Allworx systems, setup is easy, it integrates seamlessly, and works flawlessly. Reach is a new licensed option within every server installed with System Software 7.5. Best of all, no additional hardware is needed for your system. Reach licenses are offered in cost-effective groups for small or large implementations.

To learn more about the upcoming features of the Server 7.5 software or the new Reach mobile app, click below:

By |January 31st, 2013|Mobile, News, Products, Telephone System, Unified Communications|0 Comments
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CSII Partners with Digium

CSII is proud to announce that we have partnered with Digium, developers of Switchvox, the Asterisk-based IP-PBX.  This system will offer an alternative solution to a traditional PBX for many of our current and potential customers.  Switchvox offers a single powerful set of features at a price you can afford. You don’t need to spend time trying to figure out some “a la carte” menu of features and pricing. You pay one low price for all of its communications power. (more…)

By |October 4th, 2012|News, Products, Telephone System|0 Comments
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Voice Over IP – What, How and Why

What is Voice Over IP?

Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) is just that – sending voice calls over IP instead of analog lines.  The internet protocol is how data gets from one place to another over the internet.  When you search Google for how to tie a bow tie, the results come back to you over the internet protocol.  With internet bandwidth (DSL, cable, etc.) getting faster and more reliable, it is becoming more efficient and cost effective to send voice calls over these same networks. (more…)

By |September 26th, 2012|Service, Telephone System, Voice|0 Comments
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