Sun Apparel and Fonality Simplify Multi-Office Communications
Offices in California and Hawaii sound like a businessperson’s dream. But for Sun Apparel, multiple offices meant expensive logistical problems when it came to phone communications. Sun Apparel turned to Fonality PBXtra for a phone system to make three offices work as one. Since deploying PBXtra, communications are up, long distance costs are down and the company’s offices are dreamy once more.
Sun Apparel manufactures and distributes t-shirts, casual sportswear, caps and accessories throughout the western United States. With three locations — its corporate headquarters in Fullerton, CA and distribution centers in Hayward, CA and Honolulu — the company’s management understands the pain points felt by a multi-office business. That’s why improved interoffice and external communications were top of mind as the apparel company prepared to move into a new corporate headquarters location. Armed with three shiny new Fonality PBXtra servers, the company was ready to say goodbye to phone system problems. Manageable, Open Source Telephony
As the move neared, a bid from its existing phone vendor missed the mark. “I was completely dissatisfied with the proposal from our previous phone vendor,” said Steve Gulsvig, Sun Apparel’s IT consultant. “The solution was antiquated and was going to cost almost $40,000 for just one location. It also required us to pay an expensive service fee every time we wanted to add a new employee, make a change or move an employee within the office.”
Gulsvig, an early adopter of IP phones for personal use, began searching for a new phone system that could help Sun Apparel communicate internally, as well as with customers, suppliers and other business associates. He was intrigued by open source PBX telephony but, “without a full IT department on staff, Asterisk was too much of a risk. I wanted something that ran on Asterisk, but that had a visual interface so that I didn’t have to write any code.”
A quick Google search later and Gulsvig found Fonality. “Fonality PBXtra is based on open source, but has a great user interface and a hybrid-hosted architecture that actually makes Asterisk useable — it was the clear choice for Sun Apparel,” said Gulsvig. “Fonality had a great track record and PBXtra’s price point for its extremely deep feature set was incredible.”
Fonality’s positive reputation in the IP-PBX market wasn’t the only thing that caught Gulsvig’s attention. “Deploying a PBXtra system was so simple! Since the phones come pre-configured from Fonality, we were able to get all of our locations up and running very quickly.” He was also impressed by the fact that he could easily add new long distance plans and VoIP accounts, and set up dialing rules to define when calls should use each of them. Eliminating Inter-Office Long Distance Costs
Sun Apparel’s interdependent offices require that company managers frequently communicate about issues such as orders processed through the corporate headquarters or the amount of inventory that has been shipped to the Hawaii office. Before PBXtra, managers often wanted to quickly pick up the phone to confirm inventory or ask questions of colleagues, but avoided it because of the expensive long distance charges between the three offices. Instead, managers consulted the inventory application, which did a good job of keeping track of products and orders, but did not account for real-time changes.
That all changed when Fonality entered the picture. “With PBXtra, all calls between our offices run over our VoIP network, which has completely eliminated long distance fees between our offices. That’s a huge benefit for a company with multiple offices!” said Gulsvig. “PBxtra has also helped improve budgeting. Instead of a guessing game, our phone system is now a consistent line item every month. It makes budgeting so simple.”
Eliminating long distance fees wasn’t the only benefit specific to multi-office locations, according to Gulsvig. “PBXtra allowed us to seamlessly link together our three offices so that we operate as if we are in one physical location,” said Gulsvig. Because of PBXtra’s four-digit dialing, our managers and employees can communicate more efficiently with one another.”
Gulsvig’s overall thoughts on Fonality? “Fonality gave us 10 times the functionality of other phone systems at 10 percent of the cost. Our PBXtra system is so flexible — we can add phones, make changes or move extensions quickly and easily.”
Gulsvig is equally excited about the business results related to deploying PBXtra. “PBXtra has helped improve the relationships between our managers because it has allowed them to have constant communication and operate more fluidly. We are also able to project a more professional image to our customers and suppliers because, with PBXtra, it is so easy to upload custom messages about holiday closures, sales, etc.”
Gulsvig continues his praise of Fonality, particularly for multi-office companies. “Fonality PBXtra is a terrific product for any company that is looking for a feature rich communications system. Especially for growing businesses with multiple locations, PBXtra adds tremendous value for a minimal cost.”
Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.
LightBound is your Fonality Authorized Reseller for trixBox Pro Editions for VoIP PBX solutions both hosted and premise based IP Based Telephony with Enterprise, Call Center and UAE (SalesForce and SugarCRM integration) editions.
LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed servers hosting, Shared Storage server, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.
LightBound is also expanding. Be on the lookout for our new state of the art 47,000 sq ft. Data Center coming out of the ground and available for occupancy in first or second quarter of 2011.
Robust feature set. Check. Pure VoIP capabilities. Check. Simple Scalability. Check. myShape was bursting at the seams and in desperate need of a new phone system. This online women’s clothing retailer already had its phone system requirements down pat. With PBXtra Call Center Edition, myShape found a solution that fits like a glove, right down to the easy deployment and quick addition of more handsets. With PBXtra Call Center Edition, myShape found a solution that fits like a glove, right down to the easy deployment and quick addition of more handsets.
myShape is an online women’s clothing retailer that is committed to helping customers find sophisticated clothing to fit and flatter their individual body shapes. As a rapidly growing ecommerce organization, the myShape management team firmly believes in using technology to advance its business objectives. When the company relocated from a business technology incubator facility to its own office space, technology drove its decision to deploy Fonality’s PBXtra Call Center phone system. Shopping for a System
With a growing staff overcrowding its current location, myShape needed to move. One of the questions it had to answer beforehand was which phone system to select for its new location. The business technology center, where myShape started its operations, had provided the company with a phone system, so there was no legacy system to take with them when they moved.
With 60 employees and an aggressive growth strategy, myShape co-founder, John Dmohowski, and the IT staff began searching for and evaluating phone system options that would meet the company’s needs. “Cost was not a primary driver for us,” Dmohowski said. “It was more important to find a solution that could scale and deploy easily, and provided a robust feature set.”
The team decided that PBXtra Call Center was the best system for myShape. “We could run PBXtra Call Center as a pure VoIP system, which, as a technology company, was important to us,” Dmohowski continued. “I knew VoIP could provide the capabilities we needed when combined with sufficient bandwidth and would be less painful than working with traditional carriers that couldn’t move fast enough for us. We didn’t have the time to set up an appointment with the carrier every time we needed to add a phone!”
Before selecting PBXtra Call Center, myShape evaluated 10 different solutions and met with four vendors, including Fonality. myShape even considered a hosted VoIP offering from Vocalocity, but decided against it because they wanted to have more control over their phone system than a hosted solution could offer. Besides, Dmohowski had faith in Fonality’s ability to produce upgrades and product extensions. Trying Fonality on for Size
In the end, Dmohowski determined that Fonality was the right fit for myShape for many reasons: “our Fonality sales rep was terrific, the company’s recommendations for how to integrate technologies were very solid and PBXtra Call Center was clearly the superior technology. With Fonality, we don’t need to rely on the phone company — we are in charge of our own communications. Our IT staff can add a phone in two minutes and have a staff member up and ready to go. I can’t express how important that is to a growing business.”
Adding and moving handsets quickly were of particular importance to myShape since this was the first time the company actually was able to deploy phones to all of its employees. In its previous location, myShape didn’t have enough handsets for every employee, which impacted efficiency. Staff members had to send email messages rather than place phone calls, or use their personal cell phones for business calls.
“The move provided office space for all of our employees, and PBXtra Call Center made deploying phones fast and simple,” Dmohowski added. “Fonality makes it extremely easy to order and install new phones. I just call them and two days later the new phones show up, already configured. All we do is plug them in and we get an instant dial tone. I can’t place a value on that.”
Dmohowski has also found that PBXtra Call Center’s feature set does not require endless training for his staff. “We move too quickly to spend hours on employee training. PBXtra Call Center is nice because it does not get in the way. The phones work like the devices people have been using their whole lives, which is not entirely true of all new products that are supposed to make our lives easier.” A Well Dressed Solution
In the end, Dmohowski felt his requirements for a VoIP phone system were simple: “it had to work, it had to scale, it had to be easy to deploy and it had to be painless to add and move handsets. PBXtra Call Center met our needs and then some. We’re happy because when we pick up the phone we know we will hear a dial tone. That may sound elementary, but for a young company, it’s extremely important.”
Dmohowski is eager to test PBXtra Call Center to its fullest capabilities. “There is tremendous value in knowing PBXtra Call Center can do more for us. We purchased the system knowing that we wouldn’t use all of the functionality right away, but I’m relieved to know that the system will meet our needs as we grow.”
Now that sounds like a well dressed solution.
Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.
LightBound is your Fonality Authorized Reseller for trixBox Pro Editions for VoIP PBX solutions both hosted and premise based IP Based Telephony with Enterprise, Call Center and UAE (SalesForce and SugarCRM integration) editions.
LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed servers hosting, Shared Storage server, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.
LightBound is also expanding. Be on the lookout for our new state of the art 47,000 sq ft. Data Center coming out of the ground and available for occupancy in first or second quarter of 2011.
When a major snowstorm hit, Fitzgibbons Agency was able to keep on working. Fonality PBXtra Call Center Edition saved the day. Employees could work from home, seamlessly, never missing a call, and they were able to close a huge insurance deal despite the closed roads and epic snowfall.
Business cannot stop, despite Mother Nature’s best efforts. That’s what the Fitzgibbons Agency, an Oswego, NY based real estate and insurance brokerage firm, learned when more than 12 feet of snow was dumped on the city in just over a week. Despite the Governor of New York declaring a state disaster emergency for the local area, Fitzgibbons Agency was able to continue working and close a significant insurance deal thanks to its Fonality PBXtra Call Center phone system. Epic Snow Can’t Bring PBXtra Down
Being in the insurance business, John Fitzgibbons, owner of the Fitzgibbons Agency, believes in proactive disaster planning. Little did he know when he deployed PBXtra Call Center that his choice of IP-PBX phone system would save the day when a real weather disaster hit. Oswego, NY is notorious for enduring weather that does not affect other nearby communities. Its “snow belt” location requires Fitzgibbons Agency to operate even when the environment says it shouldn’t.
Turns out Fitzgibbons Agency was ready. It had deployed PBXtra Call Center as a powerful, flexible solution that could promote the fledgling company as larger than it was. “When I started the agency, I couldn’t afford Cisco, Avaya or Nortel, but needed multiple auto attendants and other key features,” said Fitzgibbons. “I looked at products from Switchvox and Fonality and chose PBXtra Call Center because its user interface was much more polished than Switchvox’s. The product is very simple for a non-technical person to use, and the biggest upside has been the flexibility PBXtra Call Center provides my agency.”
That flexibility was the key to keeping the lights on at Fitzgibbons Agency despite the epic snowfall. Good thing, too – the same week as the snow storm, Fitzgibbons had a commercial insurance deal set to close that would bring him thousands in recurring annual revenue dollars. Unable to get to the office, Fitzgibbons and another employee used a soft phone on a laptop and a Polycom phone brought home from the office to conduct business.
“We were buried in 12 feet of snow for five days and we never missed a call! Two employees worked from home and we were able to transfer calls back and forth so easily we could barely tell the difference. I think PBXtra is one of the smartest investments I’ve ever made,” said Fitzgibbons. “Thanks to PBXtra Call Center, we were able to close the deal, which will benefit my company for years to come.” Telecommuting and Auto Attendants Equal Business Flexibility
Snowfall aside, PBXtra Call Center’s flexibility makes it an integral part of the Fitzgibbons Agency. “I have employees that go to school part time or live in remote locations, and PBXtra Call Center enables them to work from home whenever necessary,” says Fitzgibbons. “They take their desk phone with them or use their mobile or home phones, and can still work productively. The flexibility of telecommuting for my employees also helps me retain my employee base better. PBXtra Call Center makes it a win-win for both of us.”
Fitzgibbons also likes PBXtra Call Center’s multiple auto attendants, and the product’s ability to operate a mixed analog and VoIP environment. He combines these two features to create unique “unbundled” realtor services for home owners selling their own properties. One such service that takes advantage of PBXtra Call Center is Fitzgibbons’ virtual mailboxes. Interested buyers dial a Fitzgibbons Agency number, enter a property code that has been assigned to a specific home and hear detailed information about the property. “PBXtra Call Center’s combination of multiple auto attendants and VoIP lines means I can offer my clients a unique service that is outside of my core business,” said Fitzgibbons. “I can assign an auto attendant for each property code, and the really great part is that I don’t have any hard costs for the growth potential that PBXtra Call Center offers me. Whether I have one or 100 virtual mailboxes, my costs are the same!” On Call, All The Time
It’s true for both real estate and insurance – customers have to be able to reach you no matter what. Because of PBXtra Call Center, Fitzgibbons is able to be on call, all the time. And he feels the same about his phone system. “PBXtra Call Center does not let me down,” he said. “I have absolutely no reservations about recommending this product. It offers a great feature set, it’s easy to install and use, and Fonality’s support has been terrific.”
Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.
LightBound is your Fonality Authorized Reseller for trixBox Pro Editions for VoIP PBX solutions both hosted and premise based IP Based Telephony with Enterprise, Call Center and UAE (SalesForce and SugarCRM integration) editions.
LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed servers hosting, Shared Storage server, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.
LightBound is also expanding. Be on the lookout for our new state of the art 47,000 sq ft. Data Center coming out of the ground and available for occupancy in first or second quarter of 2011.
In this day and age of Cloud computing, Virtual Servers, Virtual Storage and managed services; LightBound can now offer Virtual Phone lines. Let's say your main office is in Indianapolis but you are thinking of opening offices in St. Louis and Louisville,Ky and you would like to have local telephone numbers that points back to your Indianapolis office. You can now do that through LightBound's Voice Services. After you open that office, you can move the telephone number to the new Louisville location. LightBound can provide voice services to 98% of the populated country .
Interested call us with questions, 317.777.7725.
Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.
LightBound is your Fonality Authorized Reseller for trixBox Pro Editions for VoIP PBX solutions both hosted and premise based IP Based Telephony with Enterprise, Call Center and UAE (SalesForce and SugarCRM integration) editions.
LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed servers hosting, Shared Storage server, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.
LightBound is also expanding. Be on the lookout for our new state of the art 47,000 sq ft. Data Center coming out of the ground and available for occupancy in first or second quarter of 2011.
Drew Emsweller started on Tuesday, September 7, 2010 as the new managed services sales representative. Drew will be the sales resource focused on growing the managed services business which includes managed storage, servers, security and Scale Computing SAN. Drew has previous sales experience as a with ECS and Carrier Corporation.
Please make sure to mark your calendars for November 3, 2010 for LightBound's November Lunch and Learn on Scale Computing's New SAN solutions and Customer Case Studies. Win a chance for tickets to see the Colts.
Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.
LightBound is your Fonality Authorized Reseller for trixBox Pro Editions for VoIP PBX solutions both hosted and premise based IP Based Telephony with Enterprise, Call Center and UAE (SalesForce and SugarCRM integration) editions.
LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed servers hosting, Shared Storage server, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.
LightBound is also expanding. Be on the lookout for our new state of the art 47,000 sq ft. Data Center coming out of the ground and available for occupancy in first or second quarter of 2011.
MED3OOO is a national healthcare management and technology company devoted to improving outcomes for professional providers and the patients they serve. They provide solutions for physician groups, provider networks, and EMS organizations, enabling them to reach their maximum potential with respect to operational, financial, and clinical outcomes.
Challenges:
• Improve departmental and customer communications • Provide a business phone solution that is flexible and easy to install and manage • Stay ahead of the competition by making customer contact a priority • Find a phone solution that could grow with their business The Solution • Call Center Edition for 185 employees • Auto Attendant, Name Directory & Music On Hold project professional look and sound to callers • Voicemail • Voicemail to Email • Unlimited Extensions can be created with just a click of a mouse • Call Forwarding assures employees they’ll never miss a call • FindMe allows callers to find employees wherever they are: on cell phone, at home, or at a branch office • Unlimited Call Queues • Skills Based Routing
Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.
LightBound is your Fonality Authorized Reseller for trixBox Pro Editions for VoIP PBX solutions both hosted and premise based IP Based Telephony with Enterprise, Call Center and UAE (SalesForce and SugarCRM integration) editions.
LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed servers hosting, Shared Storage server, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.
LightBound is also expanding. Be on the lookout for our new state of the art 47,000 sq ft. Data Center coming out of the ground and available for occupancy in first or second quarter of 2011.
CallRex Call Recording Software Used by Kindred to Document Calls and Monitor Call Center Success
Kindred Partners focuses on business process co-sourcing (BPC): creating value by leveraging the distinct strengths of two partnering organizations. While traditional business process outsourcing focuses mainly on the "out" or moving a process "out of mind" or "out of sight," co-sourcing focuses on the "sourcing." Companies that co-source with Kindred develop a tight relationship with a key partner by balancing in-house direction with Kindred's business process management services and best practices. Kindred provides BPC support to customers, including document imaging, indexing, redaction and retrieval, and an outbound call center for customer service. Companies that utilize Kindred's services are able to focus on their core competencies and can rest easy knowing that Kindred is handling the company's administrative details expediently and correctly. Ultimately, Kindred provides clients rapid access to business information and seeks to enhance the quality of their business. In an effort to provide additional services to clients, Kindred expanded their offerings to include outbound customer support services. The company added a call center to its portfolio of services, providing primary customer service calls for financial services institutions. Kindred installed Fonality's Trixbox IP telephone system. The flexible phone system allowed Kindred to employ an Asterisk Gateway Interface (AGI) for outbound dialing, connection to a custom database, and the implementation of CallRex Call Recording™ software. Partnering for Success
Many of Kindred's clients are in the financial services industry and require the use of call recording for call auditing and quality tracking on their projects. To meet their client's requirement for call recording capabilities, Kindred turned to Telrex. Working with the Telrex team for sales and implementation, the company's needs were quickly uncovered and a solution was identified. "The relationship that we developed with Telrex was definitely more professional than the other places that we worked with. Telrex made it easy for us to discover our needs and implement the software through a well defined and managed process," stated Drew Clauson, president of Kindred Partners. Flexible Solution
Telrex offers the CallRex Call Recording software suite through subscription-based pricing, allowing companies like Kindred to take advantage of powerful call recording software with lower up-front costs. "The software as a service model helps us manage our cash flow. We can provide call recordings for our client's projects without having to make a large up-front software investment," said Clauson. Using subscription-based licenses, Kindred can pay for the licenses that they need over time, decreasing the company's capital expenses and allowing the company to pay for licenses as the company grows. Telrex's subscription-based licenses include access to technical support services and product upgrades throughout the life of the subscription contract, so Kindred can rest easy knowing that their software is supported. Easy and Intuitive Software
"We looked at a lot of different solutions, and CallRex had all of the features that we were looking for. CallRex software is easy and intuitive," stated Clauson. Using CallRex Call Recording software, managers are able to live monitor calls, initiate recordings, or quickly search and retrieve calls. The CallRex client presents managers and supervisors with the real-time status of employee phones; showing which telephones are in use, which are being recorded and monitored, as well as the call length, caller ID information, outbound number dialed, and more. CallRex Call Recording software is installed on a stand-alone Windows Server, allowing Kindred to ensure the reliability of their contact center software and maintain a central repository of call recordings. Packet sniffing technology is employed by CallRex Call Recording software to identify and record VoIP network traffic. When a call is initiated or received, the associated packets are recorded by CallRex software. CallRex Call Recording is non-intrusive, using port mirroring on the network switch to copy and record the VoIP traffic on the network. Defining Success
Kindred Partners regularly takes on a variety of projects for clients, and is often measured on the volume of calls completed and the quality of the calls. Monitoring and auditing the calls has helped Kindred to meet or exceed their service level goals and to deliver quality information to their clients. "One of Kindred's market differentiators is our ability to provide high quality service at a competitive price point," said Clauson. CallRex Call Recording software is one of the tools that the company uses to ensure that they regularly deliver quality service.
Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.
LightBound is your Fonality Authorized Reseller for trixBox Pro Editions for VoIP PBX solutions both hosted and premise based IP Based Telephony with Enterprise, Call Center and UAE (SalesForce and SugarCRM integration) editions.
LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed servers hosting, Shared Storage server, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.
LightBound is also expanding. Be on the lookout for our new state of the art 47,000 sq ft. Data Center coming out of the ground and available for occupancy in first or second quarter of 2011.
Call Center Software What is Call Center Software?
Chances are you’re reading this because you’re interested in call center software for your business or call center. The term call center software generally describes any piece of software used in a call center environment that aides in increasing call center revenues, productivity, customer experience, and efficiency. Call center software is a crucial component to consider when building or revamping your call center. Who Uses Call Center Software?
Call center software is used by both outbound and inbound call centers. The software handles various aspects of call centers operations, including:
* Telephony systems * Data collection systems * Customer relationship management systems * Enterprise resource planning systems * Billing and accounting systems
Indeed, call center software touches upon every aspect of a call center’s operations, from the way customers reach call center agents to the way reps handles inquiries. What are the Different Types of Call Center Software?
Call center software can be broken into two basic types; telephony call center software and data based call center software. The former handles call center telephone systems, while the latter deals with call center business systems. Telephony call center software
The following are examples of telephony call center software:
* Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) — Automatic call distribution software allows an inbound call center to distribute inbound calls to call center agents using features such as call queues and skills-based call routing.
* Interactive Voice Response (IVR) — Interactive voice response software is a way for inbound call centers to collect data from a customer prior to speaking to a call center agent. The data collected is recorded and used to properly route the customers call and or to increase the efficiency of the call center agent in handling the call.
* Predictive Dialer — Used primarily by outbound call centers, predictive dialer software allows a call center to automatically generate an outbound phone call based on the skills and availability of a call center agent. This greatly increases the efficiency of the call center as agents do not have to dial the next telephone number.
Data Based Call Center Software
The following are examples of data based call center software:
* Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) — Customer relationship management software allows businesses to collect and manage data about their customers from lead management to contact information.
* Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) — Enterprise resource planning software is used by businesses to plan and manage various aspects of their business, including manufacturing, supply chain management, financials, projects, and human resources.
What is the Future of Call Center Software?
With the recent advances in IP communications and call center software, call center operators are now focusing on converging and integrating their telephony systems with their data collection, customer relationship management, and enterprise resource planning systems. This will further decrease operational costs and increase operational efficiency, call center agent productivity, and the overall customer experience.
Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.
LightBound is your Fonality Authorized Reseller for trixBox Pro Editions for VoIP PBX solutions both hosted and premise based IP Based Telephony with Enterprise, Call Center and UAE (SalesForce and SugarCRM integration) editions.
LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed servers hosting, Shared Storage server, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.
LightBound is also expanding. Be on the lookout for our new state of the art 47,000 sq ft. Data Center coming out of the ground and available for occupancy in first or second quarter of 2011.
With consumer companies such as Skype and Vonage, VoIP is all the buzz these days. What is VoIP? VoIP stands for “Voice over Internet Protocol,” and in its simplest form means you can make telephone calls using your Internet connection. This has the obvious benefits of saving money on phone service, but also offers additional benefits to businesses that use VoIP-enabled phone systems. VoIP Phone Systems Reduce Phone Bills
The primary benefit of a VoIP Phone System is the ability to make VoIP phone calls, saving up to 70% on phone bills. When businesses aren’t ready to make the jump into a purely VoIP phone service, phone systems such as Fonality PBXtra can be configured to use VoIP selectively for designated calls, such as intra-office, branch office, and international calls. VoIP Phone Systems Mean Advanced Features
VoIP Phone Systems enable new and improved features that weren’t possible with traditional systems, such as unified messaging (integrated voice/data applications) and support for telecommuters and branch offices. Fonality PBXtra incorporates these VoIP Phone System features plus more. Fonality PBXtra also has web-based administration, proactive monitoring, disaster recovery, HUD presence management, CRM Integration, and FindMe with Boomerang Mobile Integration. And, as Fonality PBXtra releases new features, our customers with support contracts will receive these new features automatically. VoIP Phone Systems Enable Network Simplicity
VoIP phone systems let businesses use their existing data network for both computers and telephones. In fact, each work station only needs one Ethernet cable, and with built-in Ethernet switches in IP-Phones, the desktop computer shares the one Ethernet drop and plugs right into the phone. This may seem like a simple benefit, but often reduces hefty cabling fees for new offices, and allows offices with existing cabling upgrade to VoIP-enabled phone systems without re-cabling.
Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.
LightBound is your Fonality Authorized Reseller for trixBox Pro Editions for VoIP PBX solutions both hosted and premise based IP Based Telephony with Enterprise, Call Center and UAE (SalesForce and SugarCRM integration) editions.
LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed servers hosting, Shared Storage server, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.
LightBound is also expanding. Be on the lookout for our new state of the art 47,000 sq ft. Data Center coming out of the ground and available for occupancy in first or second quarter of 2011.
LightBound Managed Services offers Scale to Scale Replication and Compellent to Compellent Replication.
What does this mean? Companies can now easily replicate their Storage Area Network Solutions (SANs) back to Indiana Premier Data Center and Managed Storage provider LightBound.
Let one of LightBounds Sales professionals show you how to increase your Business Continuity and Disaster recovery plans with our SAN to SAN replication. Regardless if you are using a High Speed Compellent SAN for your transaction heavy data bases and applications or if you need normal speed drives for doing Archival or Business Continuity.
Even if you don't have a Compellent or Scale SAN you can still use LightBound's Managed Storage solutions for your business continuity or disaster recovery with LightBound incredible reach of huge bandwidth for Off Site Data Backup Service. We can provide many Cloud Services and Share Storage Solutions.
Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.
LightBound is your Fonality Authorized Reseller for trixBox Pro Editions for VoIP PBX solutions both hosted and premise based IP Based Telephony with Enterprise, Call Center and UAE (SalesForce and SugarCRM integration) editions.
LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed servers hosting, Shared Storage server, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.
LightBound is also expanding. Be on the lookout for our new state of the art 47,000 sq ft. Data Center coming out of the ground and available for occupancy in first or second quarter of 2011.
Goodbye expensive Avaya phone system, Hello Fonality PBXtra!. Prudential SourceOne Realty wanted to revamp its phone system to provide better communications between offices and with its customers. With PBXtra, there are no more missed calls and no more lost commissions!
Prudential SourceOne Realty is Chicago’s fastest-growing real estate company. The firm focuses on offering outstanding real estate and homeownership services and uses open source technology whenever possible to meet its business goals. Prudential SourceOne restructured its operations in 2007, giving the firm’s IT department the chance to completely revamp its telephone system. So long Avaya, Hello Fonality
Prudential SourceOne had previously operated an expensive Avaya phone system, but “we were sick of dealing with Avaya,” said Steve Krzysiak, Prudential SourceOne’s director of IT. “Our old Avaya system was antiquated and it would have required a highly paid phone guru to maintain and revamp it. Our restructuring provided us with a golden opportunity to do our phone system right.”
Prudential SourceOne’s IT staff initiated a search for a new phone system, based on its interest in utilizing open source technologies, which led them directly to Fonality. “The Fonality PBXtra phone system was easier to set up than our network was, and we are network guys!” Krzysiak said. “We can do so much with our Fonality system without having to read a 500-page manual like we had to do with Avaya.”
When Krzysiak deployed Fonality PBXtra in two Chicago-area offices, he found that “integrating the two offices with PBXtra was as simple as a few clicks of the mouse. PBXtra’s four-digit dialing and easy call transfer lets our two offices communicate and work as one.” Perfect for Road Warriors
Whether showing homes, meeting with sellers or finding new properties to list, Prudential SourceOne’s, more than 70, real estate agents have to conduct business all the time, from anywhere. Krzysiak recalled how poorly suited his former phone system was for a remote workforce: “our old Avaya system wouldn’t allow our agents to set up call forwarding remotely; they could only do it when they were physically in the office, which is not that often. It was terribly inconvenient.”
Missed calls are more then inconvenient as they increase the risk of an agent losing out on a sale and the resulting commission. According to Krzysiak, “with PBXtra, agents can set up Fonality’s Boomerang Mobile Integration feature from anywhere, and it automatically finds them when they aren’t in the office. Or, they can log in from any location with Internet access to check their phone logs.” Prudential SourceOne agents are also especially pleased with Fonality’s voicemail-to-email feature. “Our agents love that PBXtra allows them to forward their voicemail messages directly to their email accounts,” Krzysiak continued. With the old Avaya system, Prudential SourceOne’s agents struggled to confirm telephone numbers left on their voicemail systems. “Our agents really like PBXtra’s ability to conveniently listen to voicemail messages from their email, which allows them to easily re-review a message and ensure they have captured the accurate number. Now, our agents have no concerns about losing a big commission because they missed a number. Fonality PBXtra makes sure of it!” HUD is the Icing on the Cake
HUD Agent is also finding a home with agents at Prudential SourceOne. “We love HUD! It allows us to quickly see who is on the phone and then simply right click to dial someone directly. The intercom feature has also been great. We no longer have to run across our office to check with someone; we just use HUD’s intercom feature. HUD is going to be a great time saver for us.” Closing the Deal
Krzysiak is convinced Prudential SourceOne chose the right IP-PBX phone system. “Fonality’s technology is superb, and its engineers are extremely competent. I really feel like I’m talking to a peer when I call. They absolutely know what’s going on.”
Krzysiak’s overall feeling about his Fonality system can be summed up quickly: “It’s simple — Fonality PBXtra makes life easy.” Any regrets about switching from Avaya to Fonality? Nope. “There is no comparison between Fonality and our old Avaya system. Fonality PBXtra is far superior to Avaya.”
Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.
LightBound is your Fonality Authorized Reseller for trixBox Pro Editions for VoIP PBX solutions both hosted and premise based IP Based Telephony with Enterprise, Call Center and UAE (SalesForce and SugarCRM integration) editions.
LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed servers hosting, Shared Storage server, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.
LightBound is also expanding. Be on the lookout for our new state of the art 47,000 sq ft. Data Center coming out of the ground and available for occupancy in first or second quarter of 2011.
Fonality's Hybrid-Hosted business model requires that customer's suspend their traditional understanding of Premise vs. Hosted phone systems, and entertain a different way to enjoy the benefits of both solutions without any of the pitfalls.
The graphic above describes the Hyrbid-Hosted model graphically, and we offer the following brief explanation on Hybrid-Hosted below. For full information, please search for Hybrid-Hosted on one of our product sites. Hybrid-Hosted Backs Up Your Configuration
One of the three main benefits to Hybrid-Hosted is the automatic backup of all configuration files required for the operation of your system. What's backed up?
1. All FONcore configuration files (the files created when you do things within the Admin Panel) 2. All phone configuration files (the files that tell the phone what extension to display, how to dial, how long to ring, etc.) 3. All phone master configuration files (aastra.cfg and sip.cfg for Aastra and Polycom phones respectively)
Why do my files change when I edit them?
If you're a rather experienced phone system administrator, you may take it upon yourself to make manual edits to the files that live on your server. You may then notice that these files are automatically changed and/or moved and the settings you configured do not 'stick'.
Whenever you make a change to your Admin Panel - the change is written to the backup directory for your server at Fonality. The change is then pushed to your actual server. Please re-read this statement - when you make changes to your server, you are actually making changes to the backup copies stored on our Data Cluster. You're not actually changing your server.
So when you make a manual change to a configuration file on your server, and you then make a change within the Admin Panel, the backup copy that we have is pushed to your server and over-writes your manual change. But I don't want the Admin Panel to over-write my changes
There are three options available:
1. Don't make changes to your Admin Panel 2. Manually keep backups of your changes and then copy those changes into the actual configuration files via a cron job or some other script 3. Set your files as immutable but understand that whatever you do via the Admin Panel will not be pushed to your server
How do I do #2 and #3 above?
Fonality will not tell you unfortunately. It's not that we do not wish to help you, it's that we don't wish to provide information that may potentially harm your server if used incorrectly. If you are familiar with Linux, you can quickly Google for the 'howto' instructions relevant to Steps 2 & 3 above. If you aren't familiar with Linux, you may unintentionally run a command that could harm your system. This would take your server offline and prevent you from doing business. We certainly do not wish to lead you down a path that may be harmful, so we do not publish instructions that we consider advanced. I want to Administrate my server with an Admin Panel stored on the local machine!
Sorry - that's not what Hybrid-Hosted is. Hybrid-Hosted does not include Admin Panel software installed on your Premise hardware. It never will - that would defeat the second major benefit of our technology: Anywhere-Administration. Anywhere-Administration is Freedom
Freedom to perform moves, adds, and changes from any Internet-capable device with a browser. You don't need to be onsite. This frees your tech-staff from having to constantly be onside in order to do their jobs. They have more freedom to work from home or take a working lunch because Fonality's Hybrid-Hosted model enables them to do their job from anywhere. The Last Major Benefit - Stand-Alone Operation
The last important point of Hybrid-Hosted is breaking up a single solution into multiple points of failure. In traditional IT thinking, multiple points of failure = bad. However, with Hybrid-Hosted, should the Admin Panel become unavailable, the system runs normally because the configuration files already written into the server are not affected. The system, as it were, has no idea that the Admin Panel is unavailable. Therefore you can lose your Internet connection and still make and receive phone calls (as long as your business doesn't depend on a SIP Trunk that uses the Internet connection).
Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.
LightBound is your Fonality Authorized Reseller for trixBox Pro Editions for VoIP PBX solutions both hosted and premise based IP Based Telephony with Enterprise, Call Center and UAE (SalesForce and SugarCRM integration) editions.
LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed servers hosting, Shared Storage server, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.
LightBound is also expanding. Be on the lookout for our new state of the art 47,000 sq ft. Data Center coming out of the ground and available for occupancy in first or second quarter of 2011.
Fonality is updating its software to Version 5. Here are some of the highlights. Please contact me with questions.
Back end is now Asterisk 1.6 – this means a faster, more efficient call processing engine that can take advantage of newer multi-core and multi-threaded processors. In addition, there are new codecs available to us that open up a lot of opportunities for future enhancements.
Extensions / users:
Users – we realized at Fonality that more and more often, users have multiple extensions, so now, rather than having an extension assigned to a user, we have users who have one or more extensions assigned to them. This allows us to do some more interesting things in HUD and creates a more cost effective way for a user to have multiple extensions. Add user wizard – because of the new user based model, we now have a wizard for adding extensions. This allows you to (list out options). Extension Status – FONscore Fonality Professional and Enterprise – pick and choose your version Toll restriction – The ability to only allow certain dial plans to be dialed by certain users. ACD improvements: Queue autofill – rather than one call being distributed to an agent at a time, we can now pass calls to agents as they come into the queue, completely bypassing any music on hold if an agent is available.
Queue priority – The ability to prioritize one queue over another. This allows you to set up 'priority’ queues for special customers.
TTA SLA – How many calls were answered within X number of seconds? Reasons – You can now create reasons for your agents that they have to choose when logging out of the queue. These can now be reported on. ACD reports – new reports: Reason reports, SLA reports, export to CSV Other CP stuff Call quality reports Phone settings – download config via LAN or via Internet Enable firewall
HUD New supported OS’s – Mac OSX 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and Windows 7
Linked HUD is here! Allows you to see call status, barge/monitor, view and join conference rooms, retrieve parked calls, add linked extensions to a queue, etc. New permission to block chat on a per user basis. HUDdy list – shows the people you talk to most often Location settings – set your location Transfer from on hold to another extension or voicemail box Agent log out reasons Agent per queue logout Whisper Notification when being barged or recorded Permanent agent different icon Readable server-side chat log Format.xml – stored server side, and allows for custom modification of dialing preferences and caller ID display HUD Queues New queue stats: TTL SLA, Duration, Idle, Calls, Avg talk time
Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.
LightBound is your Fonality Authorized Reseller for trixBox Pro Editions for VoIP PBX solutions both hosted and premise based IP Based Telephony with Enterprise, Call Center and UAE (SalesForce and SugarCRM integration) editions.
LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed servers hosting, Shared Storage server, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.
LightBound is also expanding. Be on the lookout for our new state of the art 47,000 sq ft. Data Center coming out of the ground and available for occupancy in first or second quarter of 2011.
Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.
LightBound is your Fonality Authorized Reseller for trixBox Pro Editions for VoIP PBX solutions both hosted and premise based IP Based Telephony with Enterprise, Call Center and UAE (SalesForce and SugarCRM integration) editions.
LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed servers hosting, Shared Storage server, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.
LightBound is also expanding. Be on the lookout for our new state of the art 47,000 sq ft. Data Center coming out of the ground and available for occupancy in first or second quarter of 2011.
For enterprises wanting to make full use of their installed IP-PBXs and not only communicate over IP within the enterprise, but also outside the enterprise a SIP trunk provided by an Internet Telephony Service Provider to connect to the traditional PSTN network is the solution. Unlike in traditional telephony, where bundles of physical wires were once delivered from the service provider to a business, a SIP trunk allows a company to replace these traditional fixed PSTN lines with PSTN connectivity via a SIP trunking service provider on the Internet.
SIP trunks can offer significant cost-savings for enterprises, eliminating the need for local PSTN gateways, costly ISDN BRIs (Basic Rate Interfaces) or PRIs (Primary Rate Interfaces).
There are three components necessary to successfully deploy SIP trunks: a PBX with a SIP-enabled trunk side, an enterprise edge device understanding SIP and an Internet telephony or SIP trunking service provider.
The PBX In most cases the PBX is an IP-based PBX, communicating with all endpoints over IP, but it may just as well be a traditional digital or analog PBX. The sole requirement is that an interface for SIP trunking connectivity is available.
The enterprise border element The PBX on the LAN connects to the ITSP via the enterprise border element.The enterprise edge component can either be a firewall with complete support for SIP or an edge device connected to the firewall, handling the traversal of the SIP traffic.
The ITSP On the Internet, the ITSP (Internet Telephone Service Provider) provides connectivity to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) for communication with mobile and fixed phones.
Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.
LightBound is your Fonality Authorized Reseller for trixBox Pro Editions for VoIP PBXsolutions both hosted and premise based IP Based Telephony.
LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed services, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.
For small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) looking to not just survive but thrive during the downturn, an IP phone system may be just the answer. It will give them communication capabilities previously available to only the largest companies. It will let them work in ways that they would have found impossible before. It will help them accomplish more with fewer resources. And it can save them considerable money.
But even if a company is more than ready to move to IP, choosing the best system for its individual circumstances isn’t easy. There are several contrasting approaches to IP telephony, each with its own benefits. The biggest differences among them are who owns, operates and maintains the equipment, and where it is physically located. These differences produce major variations in cost, convenience and ease of management.
This report analyzes the three leading options, which go by the names of premise, hosted and hybrid-hosted. It describes each approach, explaining how they work and the equipment and support they require. It also lists the advantages and disadvantages of each.
PREMISE
The traditional approach is for the SMB to buy and operate the equipment. It either installs the IP PBX itself, or has a dealer or VAR (value added reseller) do it. The equipment sits in the company’s own premises, connects to its LAN, and distributes calls to IP phones also connected to the LAN. The company owns the equipment and software, and administers and maintains them. Calls can come to the IP PBX from the communication service provider over traditional PSTN lines or over the company’s broadband Internet connection.
The premise approach has several advantages. Although the upfront cost is higher than with hosted service, at the end of the day the company owns the system, rather than having to make payments forever. And with ownership comes increased control – companies can customize or extend the capabilities of their systems more than they could with hosted service. Another advantage is that it’s not necessary to rely solely on the Internet to deliver calls. A premise based IP PBX gives you fallback capabilities should your Internet service be interrupted. Security is also higher because all messages and call data remain on the company’s premises.
But when compared to hosted solutions, there can be a significant disadvantage depending on the needs and resources of your organization. The biggest is monitoring and maintenance. Someone has to be available virtually all the time to make sure the system is running right. Someone also has to maintain and upgrade the software on a regular basis. Premise systems typically require maintenance contracts that add significantly to the total cost of ownership. Accessing the system for administrative tasks such as moves, adds and changes also requires either having someone on site to do it, or establishing a special connection setup to allow remote access. The latter typically involves opening a special port through the corporate firewall, which can not only be a tricky process but may be against company security policies. Configuring remote users can also be complicated and thus expensive.
PROS
▪Own the system with available financing options
▪Can customize to suit needs
▪Doesn’t rely on Internet for quality, reliability
▪Messages, prompts, records remain on company’s own premises
CONS
▪Significant costs for hardware and software maintenance contracts
▪Requires on-site staff for monitoring and maintaining
▪Administration requires on-site staff or special connection setup
▪Configuring remote users can be tricky
▪Hardware, software upgrades eventually necessary if user numbers grow
HOSTED
Hosted VoIP, also known as hosted IP PBX service, runs on equipment belonging to and located in the data center of a service provider. Calls travel to and from the SMB’s offices via its broadband Internet connection. Hosted services can provide many of the features and capabilities that traditional phone systems offer. Users can make or transfer calls by dialing each other’s extensions. They can also make conference calls, park and pick up calls, and answer calls forwarded to groups of extensions, known as ring groups. That’s not to mention all the new capabilities that IP makes possible, such as listening to voice mail messages through e-mail or another online interface, or placing calls by simply clicking on names in onscreen address books.
The business is left with no associated asset. Security is another concern, since voice mail messages and call records reside on the service provider’s premises, not the company’s. Call quality and service reliability can also be significant worries, since both are totally dependent on the company’s Internet connection.
PROS
▪Low upfront costs
▪Increase capacity exactly as needed
▪No need for maintenance contracts or staff
CONS
▪Quality, reliability depend on Internet
▪Pay full rate for little-used extensions
▪No end to payments, no eventual ownership of equipment
▪Messages, prompts and call records reside in service provider’s data center
HYBRID-HOSTED
The hybrid-hosted approach combines the key elements of hosted and premise systems. The customer buys and owns the IP PBX equipment, which resides on its own premises. But the vendor monitors and helps manage the equipment from its data center. This arrangement offers most of the benefits of both hosted and premise solutions, while doing away with most of the disadvantages of both.
As with conventional premise solutions, hybrid-hosted systems let companies pay once to purchase the equipment rather than paying forever for extensions, some of which may see little use. There’s also no dependence on the Internet for the quality and reliability of calls, though Internet transport is an option. And messages and call data remain within the company.
And as with hosted solutions, hybrid-hosted systems significantly decrease the hassles and headaches of premise solutions. Part of it is ease of use. Administrators and managers can access their systems from anywhere via web browsers, rather than having to be on premises or to have configured special routes through their firewalls. Setting up remote users is simple too, and linking branch offices is a one-click process. Users can even configure their own extensions from wherever they are.
Perhaps most important, the hybrid-hosted approach alleviates monitoring and maintenance headaches. From its data center, the vendor proactively watches the customer’s hardware and software, 24 hours a day and seven days a week, for impending failures, and takes action before they happen. It also transparently maintains the software, pushing out automatic updates without the need for someone on the company’s premises to do anything. The vendor can also choose to back up call records and generate reports, taking a significant load off the premise equipment. And it also backs up the customer’s configurations (though not its voice mail messages or prompts due to privacy concerns), allowing for easy recovery in case of disaster.
PROS
▪Own the system with available financing options
▪Can customize to suit needs
▪Doesn’t rely on Internet for quality, reliability
▪Messages, prompts, records remain on company’s own premises
▪Vendor monitors for faults 24/7
▪Vendor backup of customer configurations with easy disaster recovery
▪Automatic software upgrades
▪Easy remote administration through web browser
▪Easy setup of remote users
▪One-click linking of branch offices
CONS
▪Upfront costs higher than with hosted solutions
▪Hardware and software maintenance contracts recommended
▪Hardware upgrade eventually necessary if user numbers grow
WHICH ONE IS RIGHT FOR YOU?
To summarize the choices, companies using hosted systems have lower upfront costs and zero maintenance worries, but call quality and reliability are totally dependent on Internet connections, and all call data, including messages and prompts, resides with the provider. With the premise approach, companies buy and own the equipment and control the call data, but they also have to spend considerable money and staff time administering, monitoring and maintaining their systems. Users of hybrid-hosted systems own and control the equipment and software, as well as the call data, but can leave much of the monitoring and maintenance up to the vendor, while administration is simplified.
Ultimately, of course, the choices are all about cost. Poor voice quality or unreliable service can lose you significant business. Spending staff time taking care of equipment also means spending money. But the most important cost to keep in mind is the cost of doing nothing. Not moving to IP telephony means giving up the opportunity to make your business work better. It means missing the chance to save money through increased employee efficiency, or to increase revenue through making better use of employees’ time and talent. In short, failing to take advantage of opportunities such as IP telephony can be most expensive option, even – or especially – during a downturn.
Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.
LightBound is your Fonality Authorized Reseller for trixBox Pro Editions for VoIP PBXsolutions both hosted and premise based IP Based Telephony.
LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed services, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.
Recently, VoIP has become a catch-all buzzword. Yet, it is important to distinguish between VoIP, which is a digital transport vehicle for phone calls, and IP telephony, which is a digital PBX system based on Internet standards. This is important, because businesses stand to benefit from both VoIP and IP telephony – in substantially different ways.
VoIP is a method of digitizing your voice so that it can be transmitted across the Internet to save money on toll charges. Whereas IP telephony is a way of digitizing your phone system so that it can leverage the Internet, your computer, and your other business software applications (CRM, CTI, Outlook) to increase productivity within your business. VoIP is actually a subset of IP telephony – look at it this way: VoIP is an “arrow in the quiver” of IP telephony.
Any IP telephony system will use VoIP as a way of transmitting voice, in some manner or another (SIP, Skinny, MGCP, H.323). But, an IP telephony system, such as an IP-PABX, goes far beyond cheap phone calls; it enhances business productivity by providing additional features that weren’t available or affordable with legacy phone systems.
Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.
LightBound is your Fonality Authorized Reseller for trixBox Pro Editions for VoIP PBX solutions both hosted and premise based IP Based Telephony.
LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed services, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.
LightBound is one of the sponsors for Tech Thursday. Our speaker this month is from Author Solutions. Today, Author Solutions, Inc. is helping spur the next great expansion of publishing by introducing new technologies and services to help more authors than ever before to achieve their personal publishing goalsCome join us for open networking with some of the top technology professionals in Indianapolis.
Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.
LightBound is also your end to end Voice and Data Service Provider.
LightBound is proud to announce our new state of the art Data Center. LightBound also provides a VoIP Hosted PBX Solutions with our Cloud Services.
Endless Possibilities for NSOEM and Fonality IP PBX Solutions
Installing drilling and power solutions is hard enough; the staff at NSOEM didn’t want to put in hours installing and maintaining the company’s phone system. So when NSOEM decided to replace its AT&T key system with Fonality’s PBXtra with HUD Agent, it was a match made in Houston. PBXtra’s flexible feature set, simple installation and administration, and ability to create a single phone network among a distributed workforce with multiple office locations are a hit at NSOEM. And HUD’s ability to track staff locations and quickly transfer calls meant that the company had finally found a phone system that it could hang its hat on.
NSOEM is a Houston-based manufacturer’s representative that focuses on engineering sales for electrical products related to drilling and custom power solutions. As the company expanded, its existing AT&T key phone system didn’t offer the flexibility it needed and often suffered from bad call quality. NSOEM needed a new phone system that was reliable and flexible, and that could easily connect its headquarters with its new warehouse facility, as well as with reps in the field. PBXtra Works for NSOEM
On the hunt for its new system, NSOEM narrowed the search to Fonality’s PBXtra with HUD Agent and a system from a local phone installer. “I was impressed because, when I was evaluating PBXtra, I was working directly with Fonality,” said Keith Howard, operations manager at NSOEM. “The other vendor didn’t even distinguish who the phone system manufacturer was, and that didn’t sit well with me.”
Howard found that PBXtra’s technology fit his organization perfectly, too. “PBXtra is a phone system that works for us, rather than having us work for it. It’s incredibly easy to install, and the possibilities of what you can do with the system are endless.” PBXtra has allowed NSOEM to easily create a single phone network; now employees, regardless of whether they are working from the main office, its new warehouse or a remote location, are able to present a united, professional image to customers. And, the system will also be used to connect a new Louisiana office when it goes online later this year.
PBXtra’s flexibility was another key reason NSOEM chose to work with Fonality. “PBXtra allows me to tailor the system exactly how I want to. It saves me time and gets the job done right,” said Howard. Being able to route calls to the main office, to a different first point of contact, or directly to field reps’ cell phones has been a real time and customer service improvement for NSOEM. Efficiency Is Up With HUD
PBXtra’s HUD has proven to be a favorite with Howard because his field sales team often travels to customer locations to evaluate and install products. “HUD is absolutely great,” he said. “It allows me to see whether my field reps are available no matter where they are, and it makes transferring calls to them a breeze. I simply drag and drop the call to wherever they are.”
Howard is also extremely pleased with HUD’s Outlook integration. “With HUD, I barely touch the buttons on my phone anymore! I just click on a number from my Outlook contacts list and the call is placed for me,” said Howard. “HUD is especially useful for international calls because I can program the country codes once and then forget about them.” The Future and VoIP
NSOEM is currently operating a mixed VoIP and analog environment, but Howard is eager to test the possibilities of VoIP further. He anticipates that “PBXtra will help us save a bundle when working internationally. With PBXtra, soft phones and an internet connection, we can work around the world without huge telephone fees. It’s just one more way that PBXtra will work for us.”
Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.
LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed services, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.
In this day and age where everyone depends so heavily on Technology. Isn't good to have one company that can provide ITManaged Services, Server Collocation, Web Hosting Services, Virtual Storage, Storage as a Services, VoIP PBX Solutions, Hosted VoIP PBX Solutions, Voice Services and Data Services.
LightBound can provide your Cloud Services, Data Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity to your Voice and Data services including Off Site Data Backup Services.
Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.
LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed services, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.
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