Voip Business Solutions

Call Center Benefits Of A Predictive Dialer

2011-12-22T23:16:00.000-08:00

A Predictive Dialer is a component of business phone system, generally in a Call Center environment, that dials automatically, a list of telephone numbers (a client or prospect list) and connects live callers automatically to an available Call Center Agent.

The predictive dialer uses a sophisticated algorithm, that learns the unigue calling patterns of a call center, predicts availability of Hosted VoIP Virtual Call Center agents, dials the appropriate amount of telephone numbers and maximizes the time agents spending speaking with live callers.

How does a predictive dialer work?

The predictive dialer keeps track of the success rate (calls answered by a live person) of the telephone numbers on the list being dialed, an adjusts the rate at which telephone numbers are dialed. The predictive dialer simultaneously monitors the call center agents to determine a typical call length and therefore when an agent will next be available. The dialer dialer uses this information to maximize the time call center agents speak with live callers.

Unanswered, busy, disconnected calls, calls to fax, answering, and automated services are disgarded, only calls answered by live people are connected to agents. This greatly increases the productivity as it frees them from the agents from having to manually dial telephone numbers, waiting idly listening to voice mail greetings, and spending valuable time on unsuccessful calls.

Why are pedictive dialers popular?

Predictive dialers are popular because they result in significant savings by reducing the number of call center agents required to handle a given volume of calls. Every minute a call center agent spends on tasks other than speaking with a live caller is inefficient. Dialing phone numbers, listening to voice greetings are time not spent handling import customer, tech support, and potential customer calls.

A predictive dialer has been shown to dramatically increase the percentage of time call center agents spend communicating with customers. VoIP small business that implements predictive dialers can expect an increase in agent talk time and therefore productivity. Agents in call centers that do not use predictive dialers typically spend 20-minutes per hour talking to a live customer, whereas agents in VoIP broadband phone service that use a predictive dialer spend approximately 45-minutes out of each hour speaking with customers. This is a dramatic increase in productivity and therefore cost savings.

AVAD Technologies is a leading sip VoIP service provider in USA. With its cutting edge line of integrated voice/data solutions, AVAD Technologies provides complete call centers solution to cost-conscious, results-driven, value-oriented organizations. Avad Technologies offers business VoIP solutions, VoIP Services, call centers solution, hosted call center solution for Business and large enterprise customers.

If you would like to learn more about how AVAD Technologies can help your company convert to a business telecommunication services, please call (800) 733-4136 to speak with a Business VoIP Specialist or you can complete a short VoIP Quote Request Form.

Check out also for Contact center software and Virtual Call Centers

VoIP Saves Money and Improves Productivity

2011-11-28T02:45:00.000-08:00

Why You Need To Manage Incoming Calls

Every employee, customer and prospective customer at some point will interact with your company over the telephone. It is extremely important to carefully map out your company’s incoming and outgoing call flow to make this process as efficient as possible or you risk losing business. An effective call handling process ensures your company has a professional image.

A Hosted VoIP phone system gives you complete control over how incoming and outgoing calls are processed. Having an effective process avoids problems such as losing important calls and transferring callers to the wrong person or department.

You are the 3rd person I have been transferred to!

Your customers do not like being transferred incorrectly from one department to the other. Routing a customer call to the appropriate department on the first try is very important, especially if that customer is already upset about something. Don’t compound the problem by incorrectly handling these calls. We have all had this experience and it leaves a very bad taste.

We see a lot companies that let the calling experience just happen, evolve over time, or allow employees to decide how customer calls should be handled. This is not the way you want to manage such a critically important business function. You would be surprised how many companies manage the phone system this way.

The good news is that you can easily turn this situation from a problem into a benefit with a Hosted VoIP phone system.

A Hosted VoIP Phone System Is Affordable

Most small businesses don’t realize how affordable small business pbx phone that has state-of-the-art is. This is great news for the growing business. Many of your competitors have fallen into the same trap of portraying an unprofessional image simply because they don’t realize how easily a Hosted VoIP phone system can correct this problem.

One of the main reasons why companies have not been able to create a professional phone image is that is either too expensive or too difficult or both.

The initial investment to get a fully functional Hosted VoIP For Business phone system is a lot less than you might think. You can buy quality IP phones for less than $125.00. The only other hardware required is a VoIP router. For a 15 person company, a VoIP router costs less than $750.00. You can add more items like conference phones and video conferencing phones, but in order to get a fully functioning phone system all you really need are the IP Phone sets and a VoIP router.

Only Pay For The Services You Need – No Hardware

With a traditional phone system, you have to purchase the hardware required for the services your phone system needs. If your company needs an Auto-Attendant, you have to purchase Auto-Attendant hardware and pay for the installation. In the future, if you need to add a second Auto-Attendant in a different location, you are forced to purchase additional hardware.

This is not the case with a Small business pbx system. You get complete freedom to change your phone system at any time without purchasing additional hardware and paying for installation. You can literally change, add or remove phones, auto-attendants, hunt groups, call centers on-line and in real time.

The Flexibility To Adapt As Conditions Change

Flexibility is the true benefit of small business hosted VoIP. You will no longer have to adapt your business to the limitations imposed by your phone system. If you think about it, almost everything you do and every change you make to your company requires changes to your phone system. Often, it is the cost of the changes to your phone system that prevents companies from executing strategies.

It is difficult to measure the cost of not executing a strategy, but companies that do not adapt often do not succeed.

AVAD Technologies is a leading hosted business VoIP in USA. With its cutting edge line of integrated voice/data solutions, AVAD Technologies provides complete Call Center Software to cost-conscious, results-driven, value-oriented organizations. Avad Technologies offers business VoIP solutions, VoIP Services, call centers solution, business VoIP solutions for Business and large enterprise customers.

If you would like to learn more about how AVAD Technologies can help your company convert to a VoIP broadband phone service, please call (800) 733-4136 to speak with a Business VoIP Specialist or you can complete a short VoIP Quote Request Form.

Check out also for Sip VoIP service and Virtual Call Centers

VoIP Saves Money and Improves Productivity

2011-11-16T02:16:00.000-08:00

Many businesses continue to use the telephone the same way they did 10, 20 or even 30-years ago. These companies are missing an enormous opportunity to transform their company by using a Hosted VoIP phone system to increase productivity, improve customer support while saving money.

Why You Need To Manage Incoming Calls

Every employee, customer and prospective customer at some point will interact with your company over the telephone. It is extremely important to carefully map out your company’s incoming and outgoing call flow to make this process as efficient as possible or you risk losing business. An effective call handling process ensures your company has a professional image.

A Hosted VoIP phone system gives you complete control over how incoming and outgoing calls are processed. Having an effective process avoids problems such as losing important calls and transferring callers to the wrong person or department.

You are the 3rd person I have been transferred to!

Your customers do not like being transferred incorrectly from one department to the other. Routing a customer call to the appropriate department on the first try is very important, especially if that customer is already upset about something. Don’t compound the problem by incorrectly handling these calls. We have all had this experience and it leaves a very bad taste.

We see a lot companies that let the calling experience just happen, evolve over time, or allow employees to decide how customer calls should be handled. This is not the way you want to manage such a critically important business function. You would be surprised how many companies manage the phone system this way.

The good news is that you can easily turn this situation from a problem into a benefit with a Hosted VoIP phone system.

A Hosted VoIP Phone System Is Affordable

Most small businesses don’t realize how affordable Hosted VoIP phone system that has state-of-the-art is. This is great news for the growing business. Many of your competitors have fallen into the same trap of portraying an unprofessional image simply because they don’t realize how easily a Hosted VoIP phone system can correct this problem.

One of the main reasons why companies have not been able to create a professional phone image is that is either too expensive or too difficult or both.

The initial investment to get a fully functional Business VoIP phone system is a lot less than you might think. You can buy quality IP phones for less than $125.00. The only other hardware required is a VoIP router. For a 15 person company, a VoIP router costs less than $750.00. You can add more items like conference phones and video conferencing phones, but in order to get a fully functioning phone system all you really need are the IP Phone sets and a VoIP router.

Only Pay For The Services You Need - No Hardware

With a traditional phone system, you have to purchase the hardware required for the services your phone system needs. If your company needs an Auto-Attendant, you have to purchase Auto-Attendant hardware and pay for the installation. In the future, if you need to add a second Auto-Attendant in a different location, you are forced to purchase additional hardware.

This is not the case with a Business VoIP phone system. You get complete freedom to change your phone system at any time without purchasing additional hardware and paying for installation. You can literally change, add or remove phones, auto-attendants, hunt groups, call centers on-line and in real time.

The Flexibility To Adapt As Conditions Change

Flexibility is the true benefit of a Business VoIP phone system. You will no longer have to adapt your business to the limitations imposed by your phone system. If you think about it, almost everything you do and every change you make to your company requires changes to your phone system. Often, it is the cost of the changes to your phone system that prevents companies from executing strategies.

It is difficult to measure the cost of not executing a strategy, but companies that do not adapt often do not succeed.

AVAD Technologies is a leading small business VoIP provider in USA. With its cutting edge line of integrated voice/data solutions, AVAD Technologies provides complete VoIP call center solutions to cost-conscious, results-driven, value-oriented organizations. Avad Technologies offers business VoIP solutions, VoIP Services, call centers solution, Hosted VoIP for Business and large enterprise customers.

If you would like to learn more about how AVAD Technologies can help your company convert to a Hosted VoIP phone service, please call (800) 733-4136 to speak with a Business VoIP Specialist or you can complete a short VoIP Quote Request Form.

Check out also for VoIP Service Providers in USA and VoIP Phone Service Provider

Call Center Enhancement Announcement

2011-10-06T23:24:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK, NY, September 19, 2011 – AVAD Technologies, LLC, a leading provider of Hosted VoIP PBX phone service to small and medium size businesses, today announced enhancements to its Hosted Call Center solution. These enhancements include improved Reporting a Predictive Dialer and a new Web Portal Interface. These new capabilities are designed specifically for call centers with higher call volumes and more complex reporting requirements.

AVAD Technologies Hosted inbound/outbound call center supports all call center environments, from small companies to individuals that need basic call distribution, queuing, and simple reporting, to advanced distributed, wholesale and in-house call centers.

Recent Enhancements to AVAD’s Hosted Small Business Call Center Include:

Enhanced Reporting – broader real-time and historical performance metric capture enables call center supervisors to optimize their local or global workforce, with the use of new pre-configured, scheduled and customizable reports.

Redesigned Web Clients – a user-friendly web interface enable agents to more efficiently handle calls and improve a supervisor’s ability to monitor agent activity in order to ensure greater customer satisfaction.

AVAD’s Hosted Call enables increased efficiency for geographically distributed virtual call center for small business. Allowing these companies to realize significant cost savings and efficiency.

Benefits of AVAD’s Hosted Call Center Software

AVAD Technologies business voice services offer several benefits for small and medium size companies, including:

Cost Savings – Limited upfront capital investment and predictable ongoing operating expenses.

Efficient Supervision of a Virtual Workforce – Management of multi-site, mobile and remote agents from our web based call center portal.

Administrative Flexibility – Ability to quickly and efficiently handle unexpected call volume, without negatively impacting customer wait times.

Business Continuity – Calls are queued and can be quickly and easily re-routed to alternate locations.

AVAD Technologies is a leading VoIP service providers in USA. With its cutting edge line of integrated voice/data solutions, AVAD Technologies provides complete Virtual Call Center software to cost-conscious, results-driven, value-oriented organizations. Avad Technologies offers business VoIP solutions, VoIP Services, call centers solution and VoIP phone plans for small business and large enterprise customers.

Check out for Hosted pbx providers and Sip VoIP services

Why Home Based Call Center Agents Save Money & Increase Sales

2011-09-04T23:20:00.001-07:00

With concerns rising about offshore outsourcing in terms of quality and security, more companies are becoming interested in the cost-saving benefits of using agents who work from their homes.

Savings is important, but it should not come at the expense of lost revenue, and if your customers are primarily from the US, you know how frustrating it can be speaking with an agent from a foreign country that is difficult to understand. Often this leads to customers who simply hang up and go elsewhere.

If you decide to develop your call center services in-house, you can support your customer service or sales staff with Hosted Call Center technology that efficiently routes calls, offers multiple ways to interact with customers (audio only, Video & Chat), and manages the information your customers provide by integrating with your customer relationship management software. You can create a hybrid contact center solutions that integrates in-house call center agents with home-based call center agents.

Save Money with Home Based Call Center Agents

A Hosted Call Center allows your business the ability to incorporate home based agents with your in-house call center agents or even an outsourced call center. Home based call center agents gives you the added benefit of staffing with local people who speak the language and who have the same culture. This is very appealing to many of your customers. Using home based Call Center Agents also makes staffing easier and opens up a whole new source of employees. It also allows you to save money by reducing the need for office space to house your call center.

Many home-based agents work part-time or as independent contractors. This reduces expenses significantly as your company is not required to pay for health insurance, benefits, sick time, vacation time and maternity leave. You only pay the call center agent when he or she is actually working.

Virtual call center for small business have been around since the 1990s, but companies were reluctant to give up the control and supervision of an in-house call center. JetBlue Airways Inc was one of the first companies to implement home based call center agents. Jet Blue now has a 900+ call center agents that work exclusively-at-home.

Call Blending Improves Call Center Efficiency

AVAD’s Call Blending allows agents to move between Inbound and Outbound seamlessly maximizing productivity. A big benefit is this greatly reduces idle time for inbound agents.

Previously, agents were either inbound or outbound call center agents. This leads to staff being underutilized. If no calls were coming in, the agent would simply sit idle and while you pay them.

The process of call-blending helps to maximize the time that each work station can devote to handing the telephones, both inbound and outbound calls. The process is automatic and can be configured to your company’s individual needs. As an agent completes a phone call and becomes available, the system will place the agent into the inbound queue and notify the agent by emitting a tone in the headset. The will then be connected to a caller. This allows distribution of the inbound calls to be more evenly distributed across agents.

Call centers of all types use call blending as a way to keep employees productive but not overworked, and keep customers happy.

About AVAD’s Hosted call centers solution

AVAD’s A Hosted Call Center solution is a complete solution that includes VoIP, call center software, automated dialing, IVR/ACD, recording, reporting, and multi-media capabilities and Call Blending.

AVAD Technologies is an ideal solution for small businesses that are seeking an affordable outbound & inbound Call Center solution. AVAD simplifies hosted VoIP call center for small business by assigning a call center consultant to your your company who will assist you throughout the installation and ongoing management of your call center. Your business can create complex Call Center Software or a simplied solution; it all depends on your specific needs. Managing communications, and integrating with your customer relationship management software like SalesForce.com is built into AVAD’s Hosted Call Center solution and is now available to businesses of any size at a fraction of the cost from five to 10 years ago.

AVAD Technologies is a leading VoIP service providers in USA. With its cutting edge line of integrated voice/data solutions, AVAD Technologies provides complete VoIP for businesses to cost-conscious, results-driven, value-oriented organizations. Avad Technologies offers business VoIP solutions, VoIP Services, VoIP small business and VoIP business solutions for small business and large enterprise customers.

If you would like to learn more about how a Hosted VoIP Call Center can benefit your company, please call (800) 733-4136 or you can complete a short Call Center Quote Request Form.

Check it out for Hosted VoIP PBX phone service and Hosted VoIP phone system

The Call Center Selection Process

2011-07-22T02:00:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for a call center to outsource your processes, you must keep some essential points in mind. Of course there are many call centers out there that can provide you the basic services, but are they all really good? You bet not.

Make sure you take a look before you try to leap. Here are some points that will help you get the right call center for your business:

Do they have the right technology?

The right hosted VoIP call center should have financial soundness and right technology. They must also have ability, experience and institutional stability before you consider them as possible choices. After you have weeded out call centers based on these fundamental points, you are ready to make selections.

Are they helpful?

A call center is there to provide help to your customers. If it is not helpful to you, chances are that it won’t be of much help to your clients either. Check their management operations to see their level of service. Talk to them to know if they actually understand the nature of your business. Can you contact the call center directly, or do you have to pass through various levels of authorities to get in contact with the right person? Can they adapt to your needs, or do they have rigid policies? Do they respond to your requests half heartedly?

The basic purpose of outbound call center outsourcing is to provide helpful services to your customers. Just keep in mind that if they aren’t too helpful to you, they won’t be half as helpful to your customers. This beats the whole purpose of hiring a call center.

Who is recommending them?

When you talk to any small business phone service provider, they will represent themselves as the best company in the market. So how do you get to know which one is actually the best? To know that, just ask them for some recommendations. From those, select the ones that have businesses similar to yours and ask them what they feel about their call center services. This analysis will clear many things out.

What is their culture?

Visit the call center and take a look at the people working there. Are they smiling and relaxed? Or tensed and rushing? Talk to the human resources people there. Get to understand their culture. If the employees seem happy and helpful, this would be a good sign.

Do you have specifics?

If you have some specific choices, like multilingual support, make sure the call center management software you are considering has the desired features. If they do not have enough support, then there is no use hiring them.

Once you put all the companies through these scanning points, you will have a really thin list of VoIP call center companies. There will most probably be just one company that would satisfy all these criteria. Hire them.

AVAD Technologies is a leading Business VoIP Phone Service in USA. With its cutting edge line of integrated voice/data solutions, AVAD Technologies provides complete VoIP calling rates to cost-conscious, results-driven, value-oriented organizations. Avad Technologies offers business VoIP solutions, VoIP Services, VoIP advantages and call center solution for small business and large enterprise customers.

Check it out also for VoIP for businesses and Software VoIP

What is Motivating the Businesses VoIP Migration?

2011-07-11T23:12:00.000-07:00

Most businesses move to Voice over IP (VoIP) on the belief that VoIP technology will save money over their current phone system. In many instances, this is simply not true.

Traditional phone companies have responded to the VoIP challenge by lowering their rates. With this being the case, what is it that explains why so many companies are moving to VoIP?

If the benefit of moving to a small business hosted VoIP is limited to just the cost savings, we would not expect to see so many companies adopting VoIP technology.

What is the Real Benefit of VoIP for Businesses

The real benefit companies’ gain from adopting VoIP technology comes from the increase in productivity, improvement in customer satisfaction and flexibility.

Productivity/Customer Satisfaction and Flexibility

Business services VoIP, especially Hosted VoIP enables companies of all sizes in virtually any industry to increase productivity. Because a business VoIP telephone Systems allows companies to incorporate workers in any geographical location, companies can expand their hours of operation without incurring overtime.

For example, a company with a technical support department can have support staff on the east coast and the west coast. This allows a company to have expanded hours of operation and not has to pay overtime since employees will be working during normal business hours. This is a productivity gain because a company gets the same level of output without increasing costs. It is also an increase in customer service since the company was able to increase the hours it can provide customer service (8:00 A. M. Est to 8:00 P.M. Pst).

Another obvious productivity/satisfaction gain comes from giving companies the ability to hire workers in any area that has a high speed internet connection. Just because your company headquarters is in a high rent area, like New York, Chicago, Los Angles, does not mean you have to have your entire company at this location.

The JetBlue Example

JetBlue’s 500 reservations agents work out of their homes within a half-hour drive of the JetBlue Reservations Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Reservations Center has 100 seats for training new reservations agents and also houses the IT staff. JetBlue reservations agents connect to the host reservations system over the internet and use business voice services to interact with customers. The IT staff supports reservations agents remotely by VoIP business solutions. And when the agents have a hardware problem that can’t be resolved over the phone or they need to upgrade the operating system or application, they take their removable hard disks to the Reservations Center to be reimaged or exchanged for new disks.

By using business telecommunication services, JetBlue has tapped into a pool or talent that may not have been available had JetBlue required their reservation agents to work out of a central office location? Another benefit to JetBlue from this strategy is the savings in overhead associated with leasing office space. This expense completely goes away because JetBlue adopted VoIP technology.

Conclusion

VoIP, especially VoIP broadband phone service, offers company opportunities to increase productivity, improve customer satisfaction and save money. The flexibility to hire workers in any location and incorporate them into a company’s phone system is a game changer. Companies are now freed from only having to draw talent from the local area surrounding the home office location and they are no longer to accept the higher rent space of a geographical area, just because it happens to be where there headquarters are located.

AVAD Technologies is a leading business VoIP providers in USA. With its cutting edge line of integrated voice/data solutions, AVAD Technologies provides complete VoIP phone installation to cost-conscious, results-driven, value-oriented organizations. Avad Technologies offers business VoIP solutions, VoIP Services, VoIP advantages and call centers solution for small business and large enterprise customers.

Check it out also for VoIP service providers and VoIP phone service provider

Types of Business VoIP Installations!

2011-06-02T05:03:00.000-07:00

The choice of installation depends upon the specific needs of your company as well as your company’s level of VoIP/Telecom expertise, commitment to managing your telecommunications in-house and the amount of capital you are willing to commit to managing your telecommunications.

There Are 2 Types of Business VoIP Installations;

1. Hosted VoIP: Also referred to as a Virtual PBX is the most common solution for small and medium businesses. With Hosted service, the VoIP phone service provider supplies the VoIP system, manages and hosts the system in the Cloud.

2. Premises VoIP: In this type of installation, you purchase all of the components VoIP phone system (VoIP hardware and VoIP software). Your business is responsible for the maintenance and operation of the system, i.e. hardware, software, firmware etc.

Which Installation is Right for My Company?”

There is no right and wrong answer to the questions” Which Type of VoIP Installation is Right for My Company”. The answer depends upon your company’s specific requirements. In general, if you need more customization, you are probably going to need a premise based solution. This is not to say you can’t customize a Hosted VoIP Solutions for small business, you can. It is just a more difficult to do.

Flexibility to Add/Remove Users

A Hosted VoIP phone service offers a great deal more flexibility than a Premise Based VoIP system. The main reason for this is that with a Hosted VoIP installation your company has not purchased the VoIP hardware and you therefore are not locked into this solution for the next 5+years. Another reason a Hosted VoIP phone system is more flexible than a Premises solution is that your company can easily expand your system across geographic locations, including home offices without purchasing additional VOIP hardware.

Another flexibility advantage of Hosted VoIP over a Premises based installation is that changes can be made much more quickly and easily. Moves, ads and changes as they are commonly referred to in the telecommunications industry are easily completed without the need for a technician to come to site, saving about $125.00 per visit.

A business hosted VoIP solution allows you to easily move telephone sets while keeping the telephone’s original number, extension and features intact. You can even move a business VoIP telephone set to a completely different physical location and the phone will still behave as if it were in your primary office location. You simply unplug your phone and plug it into another network jack location that is connected to the network. You can literally, take a phone, from a Hosted VoIP phone system, home with you at night and plug it into your high speed connection and it will function as if it were still at your office.

If your company requires customized applications that need to be integrated with your phone system, a Premises installation is probably going to be required as you would have to get the voice over internet protocol providers to makes changes to their entire system, which is unlikely to happen.

Cost Considerations

Both types of VoIP installations can save your company big money versus a traditional telephone system. Determining which type of Business VoIP Installation is the least expensive should include a time horizon of about 5-years

Reliability

There is no difference in the reliability or voice quality between a VoIP business solutions and Premise VoIP solution. VoIP, while once considered unstable, has now become a reliable communication solution. Distributing call processing functions across the network eliminates any single point of failure. Choppy calls, once the number one complaint among users, have now stabilized thanks to newer technology and better networks.

Infrastructure

With a small VoIP phone system the only hardware that you need at each location are the IP Phone sets and a specialized VoIP router (at each location). With a Premise based installation, you will be responsible for managing the entire telecommunications infrastructure, which includes VoIP servers to run the software VoIP, specialized routers and a technical staff to manage the system. In fact, you should have at least 2 full-time IT staff members dedicated to your phone system since your phone system is a “24/7″ operation.

Conclusion

The decision between a Hosted VoIP phone installation and a Premises installation is more a function of your company’s needs. If your company’s needs can be met by either installation type, and your are completely indifferent to the considerations discussed above and only want to base your decision on the least cost alternative, then you should perform a standard cost analysis.

Most analysis we have seen that compares a Hosted Vs a Premises VoIP installation has a 5-year break even. During the first 5-years, the analysis favors Hosted VoIP because of the low initial capital outlay after 5-years, the analysis favors Premises installation as the system has been fully depreciated and the ongoing cost of running the system are generally less. But, after 5-years, do you really want to own a 5 year old system?

AVAD Technologies is a leading small business phone service provider in USA. With its cutting edge line of integrated voice/data solutions, AVAD Technologies provides complete VoIP configuration to

cost-conscious, results-driven, value-oriented organizations. AvadTechnologies offers IP office manager, VoIP Services, VoIP configuration and call centers solution for small business and large enterprise customers.

Check it out for Business services VoIP and Hosted pbx providers

10 Important Call Center Questions

2011-05-24T02:41:00.000-07:00

Hosted VoIP Call Centers also known as Virtual Call Centers have become affordable to small businesses. The technology available today has evolved to the point that for a minimal upfront investment any company can have a Call Center that would have cost millions of dollars a few short years ago.

A VoIP Call Center is a telecommunications platform that allows businesses to effectively route phone calls to available agents. A Hosted Call Center makes it easy for businesses to configure inbound calls to a sales desk, a support hotline or help desk. Hosted Virtual Call Center software will even allow you to have Call Center Agents in multiple physical locations; these agents can even be home based agents.

A comprehensive sales and customer support system are a critical component for any business. It is not enough to provide a competitively priced quality product. It is absolutely essential that you provide your customers with a first-class service experience when doing business with your company – before, during and after the sale.

If this is your first time evaluating a Hosted Call Center solution, here are 10 important points to consider.

1 How does the pricing work?

A provider that charges you per-agent or per-seat is charging you even when your agent isn’t on the phone. With a provider that VoIP calling rates per minute used, you’ll only be paying for the service that you actually make use of.

2 What Hosted Call Center Features are available?

Good Contact Center solutions should give you fine grained control over every aspect of your call center. This is how your customers are going to experience your Call Center and it is vitally important that you provide a comfortable experience. You should be able to, for example, choose what music customers listen to while on hold, the maximum amount of time they’ll have to wait, and the number of callers in your queue.

3 Does the provider require specialized IP Phone sets?

Home-based employment is becoming increasingly popular. And for good reason: off-site workers are able to participate in their jobs without relocating or commuting. Tap into the possibilities of a workforce unrestricted by location by making sure that your ip call center allows agents to answer phones wherever they are, without needing to stay tied down to a specific piece of hardware. Virtual contact center software should empower agents in your office or across the nation.

4 How are incoming calls routed to agents?

The more information a call center agent has about a caller, the better. Ask the provider what information is available to the call center agent and how is that information provided. Many call center providers integration with CRM applications like Salesforce.com and Sugar CRM. This type of integration is very valuable as it allows your agents to see a history of the interaction with your customers.

5 Does your service offer Call Recording?

There’s no better way to monitor and review your call interactions than to have access to recordings and transcriptions of them. A small business phone service provider that makes this option available will allow you to give specific feedback to your agents by seeing exactly how they did and what can be improved.

6 Determine the capabilities of the call center supervisor

In order to manage the agents, the call center supervisors need up to the minute information about all aspects of the call center. This includes information about how the agents are performing as well as how long customers are waiting to speak to an agent. It is import that a call center solution provides effective real time call center reporting.

7 Do you offer the option to set schedules for individual agents?

Your Virtual Call Center is only as good as your scheduling options. By incorporating the schedules of individual call agents, you can ensure that calls are being routed to agents who are available to take the calls. Make your call queuing more efficient–which your customers will love–by using a precise schedule for each agent.

8 Is there a setup fee or long-term contract?

Fees vary widely among call center providers. A Hosted contact center solutions is a web-based technology that does not require the purchase of hardware or software. Many call center providers require a term contract because of the upfront expense they incur setting up and installing your service. This may be very valuable to you and you should not dismiss a provider because they require a fee or a term contract. It may end up saving you in the end. Rather than look for a no fee, no contract provider, look for a provider that offers some sort of guarantee.

9 Is IVR integration available? Can I transfer callers to another agent, call distributor, or IVR?

Your Virtual Call Center doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Or, at least, it shouldn’t. With Interactive Voice Response technology integration, you can make better use of your Call Center, allowing you transfer callers to another agent, department, post-call survey, or voice mail.

10 Determine the customer support policy

There is no system that is 100% fail proof. Determine what happens in the event of a system crash? Ask the vendor if they have redundant facilities. A hosted pbx providers with redundant facilities is less likely to have a significant outage than a provider that does not have redundant facilities. This will give you a better sense of how prepared the provider is for these situations.

Tell Us about Your Call Center Needs

AVAD Technologies is a leading business services VoIP provider in USA and business telephone companies of Hosted VoIP PBX phone service. With its cutting edge line of integrated voice/data solutions, AVAD Technologies provides complete VoIP configuration to cost-conscious, results-driven, value-oriented organizations. AvadTechnologies.com offers IP office manager, VoIP Services, voice over internet protocol providers and call centers solution for small business and large enterprise customers.

Check out also for: Call Center Software and call centers solution

Hosted VoIP Call Center is easily Within Reach of Small Businesses

2011-05-16T05:20:00.000-07:00

AVAD’s Hosted VoIP Call Center supports both individual as well as distributed multi-site call centers to act as a single virtual call center, regardless of geographic location.

AVAD Hosted VoIP – Contact center solutions is comprised of features from the Hosted VoIP platform in addition to Agent and Supervisor client applications. These features, when configured to work in a complementary fashion, provide feature-rich VoIP Call Center solutions. In addition, the configuration options allow the solution to be implemented in a variety of ways.

Whether you are a startup call center with a few seats, or a large center with thousands of seats your call center will greatly benefit from AVAD Hosted VoIP – Virtual call centers solution. In operating a call center, two of the largest startup costs are the equipment and the Virtual Call Center software. By going with a Hosted VoIP Call Center model you greatly reduce the upfront financial requirements all while adding flexibility and advanced feature sets. With our Call Center Software you can host a call center from any location in the world.

AVAD Hosted VoIP – Virtual Call Center solution offer the Call Center analytics, quality monitoring, phone answering system, business phone solutions and agent performance management features that you will find in any multi-million dollar Contact Center system, all integrated and bundled in one solution. Our Inbound and Outbound Call Center Dialer features, coupled with latest technologies are helping companies of all sizes and across all industries increase service quality while reducing operating costs.

Build Your Own business hosted VoIP Call Center:

•   Simplified installation and maintenance.
•   No hardware required.
•   Easily add/remove agents.
•   Add an unlimited number of agents.
•   Agents can be located anywhere, including home based agents.
•   No hardware required, agents can use a soft phone.
•   Aggressive VoIP calling plans

Configurable Routing:

•   Enhanced Automated Call Distribution (ACD).
•   Route calls to any agent regardless of geographic location.
•   Customizable Periodic Comfort Message

Key Features:

•   Automatic Call Distributor (ACD)
•   Enhanced ACD
•   Auto Attendant
•   Call Center Reporting
•   Music On Hold and Comfort Announcement
•   Monitoring and Recording

Improve Customer Service:

Ensure all incoming calls are serviced efficiently under any network condition and at any time.

Create Virtual Call Centers:

Establish call centers anywhere in the world, just with a broadband connection.

Follow-the-Sun Customer Care:

Offer 24x7x365 ubiquitous services with a single number for distributed call center locations.

Manage Calls Effectively:

Choose from a range of call distribution policies, including skills-based call distribution. Minimize Costs: Provide the option for agents to work remotely with access to all call features. Voice mail Transfer: Transfer calls directly to voice mail.

Tell Us about Your Call Center Needs

AVAD Technologies is a leading hosted VoIP call center provider in USA and small business phone service provider of Hosted VoIP PBX phone service. With its cutting edge line of integrated voice/data solutions, AVAD Technologies provides complete VoIP configuration to cost-conscious, results-driven, value-oriented organizations. AvadTechnologies.com offers IP office manager, VoIP Services, VoIP advantages and VoIP call center solutions for small business and large enterprise customers.

Check out for voice over internet protocol companies and VoIP international calling plans

Hosted or Premises VoIP?

2011-05-02T00:27:00.001-07:00

By now, you have probably heard all of the hype about how Voice over IP can enhance your business, save you big money and solve the entire world’s problem. You may even have considered jumping in yourself.

Before you jump in and commit your company’s valuable resources, you need to have a clear understanding of how this technology works and even more importantly, how it can benefit your company.

Assuming you have decided business small VoIP is the right solution for your business, the next decision you will be faced with is; do you want to “Own” your VoIP phone system or do you want to “Rent” your VoIP phone system”?

The term used to describe “Owning” managed VoIP solutions is called “Premesis” VoIP or “Premesis Installation”. The term used to describe “Renting” a VoIP phone system is “Hosted VoIP”.

From a technology perspective, there is no difference in voice quality and reliability between a Premise Based VoIP service and a Hosted VoIP Service assuming these alternatives have comparable hardware, software and internet connections. In other words, an “Apples to Apples” comparison.

Hosted business hosted VoIP versus Premesis VoIP Considerations

Generally, it does not make economic sense to own your business services voip phone below a certain number of phone users in your organization. The cost of purchasing the VoIP hardware and small business phone service provider must be spread over a minimum number of users before it begins to make economic sense. A good rule of thumb is that you need 100 to 150 phone users before it becomes economically justified. In addition, the cost of implementing a Premise based VoIP solution requires a significant commitment of ongoing resources (Dedicated IT personel) to maintain the system once it is up and running.

Another significant expense that should be taken into consideration is the expense of setting up and maintaining a “Redundant” facility. If your phone system is “Mission Critical”, then you must have a back up in the event your primary facility becomes inoperable. This means you will need to have 2 of everything (2 sets of servers, 2 broadband connections etc) in separate locations in case the primary location becomes inoperable.

The primary non-economic reason for choosing a Premises Based VoIP solution is if your company has specific applications, such as a CRM application, that requires customization and integration with your phone system. Generally, Hosted VoIP phone system allows less customization than Premise Based VoIP solutions. Custom applications also require an additional commitment of staffing resources.

Hosted VoIP PBX phone service and VoIP Allows You to Focus on Your “Core” Business

A VoIP PBX Installation frees your company from the burden of managing the infrastructure and security of the locations that house your system. When you are free from managing these non-core activities, you have more time and energy to focus on your primary or “Core” activities.

The monthly cost of operating voip business solutions is generally higher than the monthly cost to operate a Premesis VoIP system. The primary reason for this is that in a Hosted system, you pay per user per month where as in a Premesis solution after amortization costs of the software you pay only for actual usage. Most analysis’s we have seen favor the economics of a Premesis solution starting in year 5. A big reason for this is that after year 5 the hardware and software have been fully amortized.

Do what you do best and outsource the rest!

Conclusion: Voice over internet protocol services or Premesis VoIP

If you haven’t noticed, we have not focused this article on money as primary criteria for choosing one solution over the other. The reason is simple, if you are like most companies, your telecommunications solution is a mission critical component of the success or failure of your company. It does not matter what the cost of a solution is, if that solution does not help your organization meet its objectives, the cost of a particular solution or the potential savings of that solution is irrelevant.

Only after you have determined that a particular solution satisfies your needs should cost come into play. Your phone system is central to the long run health of your organization and deserves careful analysis and planning.

With that said, the choice between a Hosted VoIP solution and a Premesis VoIP for call center solutions should be based on the specific circumstances of your company. If your company requires customization and integration with applications such as a CRM, then a Premesis business voice services is most likely going to be what is needed. If on the other hand, customization is not needed, then a Hosted VoIP solution is probably going to be the most appropriate solution.

Tell Us About Your Business VoIP Needs

Get started with AVAD today. To learn more about AVAD Technologies voice over internet protocol providers please calls (800) 733-4136, or visits us on the web at AvadTechnologies.com

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5 things to consider when choosing your VoIP provider

2011-04-20T02:15:00.000-07:00

What is the best way to find a VoIP provider that you can afford? is the question always in our mind, when selecting VoIP provider.

I know as well as anyone this can be a very daunting task. There are a number of VoIP providers to choose from, so the task of deciding should be based on which VoIP Provider offers the most real value for your money.

First: Make accurate price comparisons

As with anything, you should consider price. Monthly VoIP fees for a single user can vary from $24.95 to $59.95 depending on the VoIP provider you are considering and the VoIP Features included. The lower the monthly fee, the less likely you are to get extra features and support from the small business VoIP solutions Service Provider. For instance, some of the less expensive VoIP calling plans may not allow you to place calls outside of their network or your minutes may be capped at a certain amount every month. If you exceed your monthly cap, your calls are metered and you will be billed on a per minute basis for calls that exceed your monthly cap. This is certainly something you want to keep in mind as you consider your options.

Second: Determine the VoIP features your business must have

Make a side-by-side list comparing the VoIP Features offered by the business hosted VoIP providers you are evaluating. VoIP Features vary widely from Provider to Provider. You should determine what VoIP Features are most important to your company and make sure they are a feature that is offered by the VoIP Provider you choose and is there an additional charge for this feature. Features like voicemail and call waiting are not universal to all VoIP plans, make a list of those features and make sure the VoIP Provider you choose offers those features.

Third: E-911 Service is critically important

Not all VoIP providers offer emergency services or E-911 access. This is a critically important factor in your choice of a voice over internet protocol services providers and one that can have a significant financial impact to your company if the VoIP Provider does not offer this feature. E-911 is the method VoIP Providers use to notify the police in the event of an emergency. If this service does not work perfectly, and this has happened, the police will not be able to respond to an emergency at your office location. You or an employee of your company could suffer great bodily harm, or even worse, if the police are unable respond to an emergency at your office location. A law suit is almost sure to result from this situation and even though it may have been the fault of your business small VoIP Provider, you can expect your company to be named in that suit.

If you plan to make your Small business pbx system the primary phone in your home, then you should try to select one that is offering E911 as a service. That is the technology that is used to determine where you are when you call 911 on your phone. If, on the other hand, you plan to use your cell phone as your primary phone and then the VoIP as a secondary line, E911 capability may not be a big deal to you.

Fourth: Technical Support

Technical support should be a primary consideration when choosing a managed VoIP solutions provider. Some companies will charge you extra for support, while others will not. Most of the companies don’t charge you for basic technical support, but most charge when support requires an on-site visit from a technician. One of the key benefits of small business VoIP is that an on-site support visit is rarely required. One of the most important support questions you should ask your VoIP Provider is “What are your hours of support?” Quality VoIP phone service provider should have live support available 24/7, 365 days a year.

Fifth: Number Portability

Lastly, check into number portability. Most businesses want to keep their current business phone number. The telecommunications Act of 1996 made the transferring of phone numbers a US Law. This law recognized that a business’s phone number is an important asset of that company and made a business’s phone number an asset of the company they can take with them even if the change phone companies. The law requires companies to transfer phones numbers to other providers when a customer makes a request to transfer a number.

AVAD’s Hosted VoIP PBX Installation allows your business be more productive and avoid the hassles and expense of buying and managing your own phone system. We allow you to push the operation and expense of your communications service to us, and we bundle together all the services you need on a single bill – including voice service and phones, VoIP telephone systems service, local and long distance calling minutes, hosted email, and hosted web services.

To learn more about AVAD Technologies VoIP for call center please call (800) 733-4136, or visit us on the web at AvadTechnologies.com

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Small Businesses Are Saving Money with VoIP

2011-04-08T00:30:00.001-07:00

To the average small business, VoIP may seem like an esoteric technology that will be difficult to adopt. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

Company telephone equipment doesn’t become obsolete. Although there are dedicated business voip phone system, the system can be used with traditional telephones. The operation of the phone system is the same as a traditional system. Customers, vendors and other incoming callers dial the number just like they did before. They won’t even realize the telephone system is changed. Outgoing calls also operate the same way and your staff won’t need to learn new technology just to make a phone call.

The only thing you need to learn is how to take voip advantages of the new found freedom and flexibility the business small business pbx phone offers. The One Number Follow Me feature that you can specify who and when people could reach you at which phone number; The Voice Mail that sent to your cell phone so you can see it and listen to it at the right time; The Auto Attendant that directs the calls to the right person at different hour of the day; Employees working from home, even at different state, etc…

What Are The Downsides to VoIP?

There are few limitations to Small business pbx system over traditional phone systems. The biggest concern is if your internet connection goes down you lose your phone service as well. And the internet connection may have lag that isn’t noticeable in normal web surfing or downloading but makes back-and-forth conversations slow and frustrating.

To overcome the limitation, many VoIP small business provide legacy phone ports so you can still connect a few traditional phone lines to the system. The small voip phone system will automatically route the calls to the best available one according to the pre-configured rules. So when the internet connection is down, the phone service can still be available.

For businesses that cannot afford to have a dedicated IT personnel to keep their network always at its best shape, many business voice services again provide an alternative by using traditional phone network in house, and only using the Internet/network to provide voice over internet protocol services when it is necessary. – Like connecting voip phone service provider or employees work at home using IP extensions. So even the in house network connection is somehow affected by virus or malfunctioned equipment, the phone system can still function well.

Overall, software voip has far more advantages than disadvantages and some experts predict it is only a matter of time until analog phone systems go the way of the rotary dial.

AVAD Technologies specializes in the small/medium sized business market. Hosted VoIP PBX Installation is all we do. AVAD provides complete voip phone plans solutions, we provide local and toll free phone numbers, the VoIP hardware and software, plus free installation and ongoing support. If you are thinking about switching your business to VoIP or just have some questions, please feel free to call (800) 733-4136.

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