3 Phone Features Small Businesses Cannot Live Without

First impressions count, especially in business. Setting up (or adding) only a few key phone features can make any size business look and sound more professional overnight, while ensuring that customers reach you when they need to. With so many features to choose from, we narrowed down our top 3.

1. Call Forwarding

With Call Forwarding, you can forward calls to another phone number (including a cell phone or home number) so you never have to worry about missing an important call.

You can set up rules, menus, and queues based on your needs.

Call Forwarding categories include:

- All Calls
- When Busy
- Do Not Disturb
- No Answer
- Selective Forwarding
- When Out of Service

With Call Forwarding, you can also choose to have calls blocked all together, or sent directly to voicemail.

2. Auto Attendant

An auto attendant acts like a virtual assistant and replaces the need for an actual receptionist or operator. It automatically greets callers and directs them to the right person or department by simply pressing a button.

For example: for Sales, press 1; for Support, press 2; to dial by name, press 3.

You can customize your auto attendant with a number of options.

- Dial by name directory
- Dial by extension directory
- Transfer to user
- Transfer to a user’s voicemail
- Transfer to another Auto Attendant

You can set up multiple auto attendants, including an auto attendant for employees.

For example:
To speak with John, press 1.

Once the call is transferred, a second auto attendant can be set up with additional options.

To leave a message, press 1; to reach me on my cell, press 2; to speak with someone in Support immediately, press 3.

Benefits of an Auto Attendant:

- Look bigger and sound more professional
- Replace the receptionist and/or operator
- Route calls efficiently and effectively
- Customize (set up separate auto attendants for business hours, after hours, and holidays)
- Record directly from your phone or upload a pre-recorded greeting

3. Find Me Follow Me (also referred to as Mobile Office)

With Find Me Follow Me, your office doesn’t have to be restricted to your main place of business. This powerful feature allows your employees to receive calls anywhere, anytime and from any device while still connecting all of your employees under one corporate phone system. Calls can be routed to a cell phone, another number (like a home office or hotel room), or another person (like a receptionist or a co-worker). You can even customize how you receive calls by day, time and even caller.

Benefits of Find Me Follow Me:

- Give out one number and work from anywhere without missing a call
- Keep your cell phone and home numbers private
- Customize how you receive your calls by day, time, and even caller
- Have calls ring to multiple phones at the same time or in an order of your choice (for
  example: ring your cell phone first, and then your home office).

TouchTone Business VoIP phone service arms customers with powerful calling features like these to help them run their business more efficiently. 

Why Call Centers are Making the Switch to SIP

Save money & simplify IT management

Many call and contact centers have chosen to make the switch from TDM to SIP trunking to not only cut costs and simplify IT management, but for its flexibility. Regardless of size, every call center will experience peak periods, or occasionally have spikes in call volume (especially those with outbound calling campaigns). SIP trunking accommodates these bursts in voice traffic quickly and easily.

Why SIP for Call Centers

Flexibility - With a T1/PRI, the number of simultaneous calls that can be made/had is limited to the number of lines you have. With SIP, you can add/remove lines as needed easily and quickly (in a matter of minutes) by calling your provider and purchasing additional SIP trunks, or in some cases just increasing your data connection. 

SIP offers a better utilization of the Internet because it combines voice and data traffic on a single network. Calls are routed through the Internet rather than the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network), eliminating the need for costly dedicated voice T-1/PRI circuits and the expensive telecom services that go along with them. SIP technology enables locations to share unused call capacity. Companies can manage costs by merging multi-location businesses behind a single SIP trunk group
TouchTone’s IP platform intelligently assigns bandwidth based on call volume or Internet usage ensuring optimal use of available bandwidth at all times. When phones are not in use, additional bandwidth is assigned to Internet browsing and data applications.

Failover - SIP trunks can be configured with call queuing rules and can re-route inbound calls (automatically) in case of power failure or Internet outage.

Advanced features - Because SIP uses standard protocol, third parties applications, like call recording, call analytics and automatic call-backs, can be easily integrated. 

Why Carriers Hate Call Center Traffic 

It takes a lot of time, energy, and resources to ensure that a service provider’s network can handle short duration and dialer long distance. Because of this, service providers tend to stay away from call centers with short duration needs simply because they don’t make any money on these types of calls. 
TouchTone has invested a great deal of time and money in its technology and network, and has cultivated strong relationships with Tier 1 carriers to offer quality, reliable and scalable dialer and short duration termination solutions. 

Terminating over a billon call center calls each year, TouchTone provides on-demand, premium short duration and dialer termination to call centers with short duration needs, specifically those using predictive dialers, auto dialers, voice broadcasting or robocalls. 

The company’s high-performing switch and redundancy capabilities can handle a massive amount of concurrent calls without sacrificing quality. With pay-as-you-go pricing and no short duration penalties, customers can count on TouchTone Communications to deliver consistent, quality voice termination to support demanding call center needs.

To learn more about call center SIP trunking, visit http://www.touchtone.net/enterprise-voip.htmlor call 800-900-3668.

Maintaining Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity with SIP Trunking

Business as usual, no matter what the weather

The National Hurricane Center released separate storm surge warnings for the 2015 storm season – this is in addition to warnings about tropical storm and hurricane-force winds.

As the number of natural disasters and cases of extreme weather rise, it becomes increasingly important for businesses, small and large, to have a clear and detailed business continuity and disaster recovery plan in place to help alleviate risk after a service disruption.

Severe weather can strike at any time, leaving permanent and long term loss. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that more than 40 percent of businesses never reopen following a natural disaster. Of the remaining companies, at least 25 percent will close within two years of the disaster occurring.

A properly designed business continuity plan is intended to help reduce the overall impact of an unexpected event (natural or man-made) and return a company to pre-disaster operation as quickly as possible. 

Why a Business Continuity Plan

- Protect employees
- Minimize rash decision making in a time of crisis
- Minimize loss of data
- Facilitate timely recovery of business functions
- Minimize loss of revenue/customers
- Maintain public image, brand, and reputation

Having the Right Technology

One of the most important components of an effective business continuity plan is making sure that your business is equipped with the right technology.

Compared to traditional circuits, SIP trunking doesn’t only provide cost savings and simplifies IT management, but also delivers an incredible amount of flexibility. 

Trunks can be provisioned in minutes rather than weeks, and phone lines can be added and removed quickly and easily. 

But not all service providers offer the same features. When looking for a SIP trunking provider it is important to look for one that offers automatic failure in the unfortunate event of service disruption.

Businesses need to be to be available 24/7 regardless of the weather outside. SIP trunks can be pre-configured with call queuing rules, and can re-route inbound calls (automatically) in case of power failure or Internet outage. For example, if your Los Angeles office encounters a service disruption, calls can be forwarded to your San Francisco office, your home or an auto attendant.

And because SIP Trunking numbers aren’t fixed to a geographical location, outbound calls can be made using the same numbers and phone system features from another location as if you were in the office.

SIP trunking provides businesses with a powerful, highly adaptable and scalable communication solution to ensure that no matter what the weather outside, they are up and running. 

To learn more about TouchTone’s SIP trunking solution, including automatic failover, please contact your sales manager or call 800-900-3668. 

Choosing the right Internet connection and speed for your business

The Internet connection and speed you choose for your business depends largely on several factors. In addition to speed and cost, you should also consider reliability, consistency and security. Keep in mind that pricing and availability vary greatly on location. Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) can advise you of the best and cost effective options.
 

Factors to consider:

1. Employees / size of company
2. What is your Internet being used for / what is your current usage?
3. Does your company / staff use a lot of video and audio applications? Video and audio files are large, and transmitting them over a network uses a lot of bandwidth. As your company looks to use multimedia, it is important that you have adequate bandwidth to manage these large files.
4. Do you use, or plan to use cloud solutions in the near future? When you are accessing cloud services, you will require a more robust Internet connection.
5. Do you use, or plan to switch to VoIP? VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol, and is commonly referred to as Internet phone service. VoIP technology allows users to make and receive calls using a high-speed Internet connection instead of a standard landline.  When making or receiving a VoIP call, sound (voice) quality can be affected if not enough bandwidth is available.  On average, each phone call will consume about 88kbps of upload and download bandwidth.  Not enough bandwidth may cause choppy or garbled calls and delayed audio.

Internet service types can be broken down into 3 main categories:

• Dedicated Internet Access (DIA)
• Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)
• Private Lines / Point to Point

Connection Types Available: 

• DSL
• Fixed Wireless
• Ethernet / EoC / Fast Ethernet
• T1
• DS3
• OC3
• OC12
• GigE
• Cable
• Satellite
• Wireless
• nxT1

DSL can satisfy most home offices and small businesses, but for companies that require more speed and reliability, an Integrated T1 is a more practical and cost effective option. It is highly flexible and could be used to run multiple services (such as voice and data) over the same line.
 
If you are connecting two or more locations, most companies opt for a Point-to-Point Private Line or MPLS network not only for cost purposes, but for security and reliability.

Here is a breakdown of some of the advantages of each type of Internet circuit. Your Internet Service Provider can discuss the most viable and cost effective options with you based on your requirements.  Speak with an Internet Specialist now.


Dedicated Internet Access (DIA)
Dedicated Internet Access provides congestion-free transmissions with speeds that range from 1.5 Mbps - 10 Gbps. DIA is a perfect solution for those businesses that require reliable Internet connectivity, but still want to leverage the cost advantages of using the public Internet. 

Connection Types Available

• T1
• n xT1
• T3 , DS3
• OC3, OC12, OC48
• Fast Ethernet
• Gigabit Ethernet

Advantages

• Reliable, high-speed Internet connectivity - 99.9% network availability guarantee
• Pay one flat fee for unlimited usage
• Supports growing demands for Internet access and data sharing
• Get high-performance network quality and availability with service level agreements (SLAs).
• Manage costs for service provisioning, bandwidth changes, and site development.

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) / VPN
MPLS offers customers a great deal of adaptability when it comes to network set up because it allows them to mix and match access types and speeds for each of their individual locations. This offers a significant cost savings, 10% to 25% over comparable data services (frame relay and ATM); and almost 40% for companies who add voice and video traffic. 

A VPN keeps data safe as it crosses the public Internet by using encryption. A MPLS VPN refers to a virtual private network that is built on top of a multiprotocol label switching network. MPLS VPN is deployed to create a secure connection between branch offices at different geographical locations.

Connection Types Available  

• DSL
• Fixed Wireless
• Ethernet / EoC / Fast Ethernet
• T1
• DS3
• OC3
• OC12
• GigE

Advantages

• Cost savings – Perfect for multi-location businesses and enterprises. MPLS allows for multiple access types and speeds for each of your individual locations to deliver the most cost effective Internet solution while maintaining performance, reliability, and security.
• Private, safe and secure – A VPN keeps data safe as it crosses the public Internet by using encryption such as IP-Sec, PPP, or SSL
• Flexible Routing – Customers can choose a CPE and managed router services, or they can maintain control over their own routing.
• Improved performance – MPLS offers Class of Service (CoS) and Quality of Service (QoS) network-wide routing based on individual business requirements. Data can be split into different categories such as real time traffic, priority traffic, and low priority traffic.
• SLA-Backed - Customers receive 99.9% uptime, network availability, packet delivery, latency, and jitter guarantees.

Private Lines
Private lines provide high-speed dedicated point-to-point connectivity for voice, data, and video applications. Private lines serve as secure options for companies looking to connect to the Internet, connect multiple locations, or interconnect data centers.

Connection Type Available

• T1
• DS3
• OC3
• OC12
• Ethernet / Fast Ethernet
• GigE circuits

Advantages

• No limitations due to network congestion
• Guaranteed throughput
• No restrictions based on time of day or day of the week
• Constant and predictable latency
• A secure, dedicated channel
• A predictable price without usage based variations

Have questions, or would like a free quote, call 888-TOUCHTONE or e-mail sales@touchtone.net.

Job Listing: VoIP Engineer

Position:  VoIP Engineer    

Company:  TouchTone Communications – Whippany, NJ

Experience:  Mid-Senior Level

Job Function: Engineering

Employment Type: Full-Time     
         
Industry: Telecommunications

Job Description

Provide engineering support for TouchTone VoIP and TDM Networks across the U.S. This key position is responsible for technical operations support and performance management of all elements of the TouchTone Network. This position will be instrumental in assisting the company to deliver high levels of service availability.

Desired Skills and Experience
 

• Must have a thorough understanding of call flows and signaling protocols which include SIP,   RTP, TDM including ISDN, DTMF and FXS/FXO, TCP/IP, LAN Switching, Routing protocols, L2/L3, device configuration, VLAN, etc.
• Must have strong knowledge in the following: Sansay VSXi or similar VoIP Telephony, Lucent LCS or similar TDM experience, Cisco and Juniper data networking routers and switches.
• STRONG KNOWLEDGE and combination experience of TDM - signaling PRI, CAS(DTMF), FXS/FXO, Data - LAN/WAN and VoIP - SIP/RTP.  
• Demonstrated experience using Wireshark and other quality based IP tools used to monitor Jitter, Packet Loss, etc.
• Knowledge of telecom principals and terminology, including DID and Toll Free numbers, LATA OCN and NPA/NXX.
• Full understanding of VoIP architecture, including SIP and VoIP implementation.

About TouchTone Communications

Headquartered in Whippany, NJ, TouchTone Communications is a privately-held, debt free company established in 1993.  TouchTone provides nationwide voice, data and VoIP services, including Dedicated Voice and Data, Hosted PBX, Enterprise SIP, Call Center Termination, Conferencing, MPLS and Ethernet, and Switched LD services to residential, SMB, public sector enterprise, government and wholesale customers.  TouchTone is a facilities-based carrier offering services through its own proprietary network and through multiple Tier 1 networks, with major points of presence in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and Newark, NJ.  TouchTone prides itself on providing the highest quality service at the most competitive rates, while always maintaining highest levels of customer service. 

What We Offer

* High-energy atmosphere                * Work with a highly motivated and dedicated team

* Competitive salary                         * 401K

* Medical    Benefits                         * Generous PTO program

Send cover letter and resume to JOBS@TOUCHTONE.NET.

Need to get the word out fast? An IVR solution can help!

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) solutions are increasingly being implemented by both small and large businesses to improve overall customer experience and to cut costs.

An outbound IVR solution allows companies to deliver automated, personalized messages to hundreds of people quickly and inexpensively. Messages can be pre-recorded or event triggered. Event triggered messages can offer a wide range of options and/or require further action to be taken by the person answering the phone (for example, “Your appointment is scheduled for Monday, July 21. To keep this appointment, press 1. To reschedule, press 2.”). Responses can be collected through the phone’s keypad or though spoken words with voice recognition.

Common applications for outbound IVR applications include:

• Appointment reminders
• Payment reminders
• Order statuses
• Shipment notifications
• Appointment confirmations
• Account alerts
• Shipment notifications
• Surveys
• Refills/reorders
• Fundraising requests
• Notifications and closings

Industries benefiting from IVR technology:

• Financial
• Airlines
• Banks
• Pharmacies
• Political
• Travel and tourism
• Polling and surveys
• City and state governments
• Non-profit organizations
• Schools 
• Churches 
• Healthcare organizations
• Customer service and call centers
• Collections agencies

Benefits of outbound IVR solutions:

• Cost advantages – leveraging VoIP technology, large volumes of outbound messages can be sent quickly, reliably, and inexpensively.
• Frees up office personnel and call center employees to work on more valuable tasks.
• Calls can be made off business hours when customers are more readily available.
• Flexible and scalable – IVR technology allows different events to trigger different responses allowing for a better overall customer experience.
• Proactively reach customers – avoid high volumes of inbound calls during business hours.

IVR service and software provider reputations depend on who they choose as their voice termination provider. An IVR solution is only as good as its ability to complete calls.

TouchTone Communications works with Tier 1 carriers to deliver reliable, quality voice termination to IVR service and software providers. TouchTone's high-performing switch and redundancy capabilities can handle a massive amount of concurrent calls without sacrificing quality. With pay-as-you-go pricing and no short duration penalties, customers can count on TouchTone Communications to deliver consistent, quality voice termination to support demanding needs.

Looking for IVR voice termination? Call 1-888-TOUCHTONE, or e-mail sales@touchtone.net.

What’s Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

and How Can It Help Your Company or Business

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is an effective tool to get messages out in a timely, professional, and cost effective manner. Many businesses are using IVR technology to help cut costs and to improve customer sales and support.

Interactive Voice Response allows a computer to automate interactions with telephone callers through the use of voice recognition and touch-tone telephone keypad entry.

IVR solutions use pre-recorded voice prompts and menus to present information and options to callers, and entries made on a phone's keypad to collect responses. Some also enable responses to be gathered through spoken words through voice recognition.

For example, airlines use an IVR system to help retrieve flight information and real-time flight delays. They can set up their IVR system to recognize callers by their registered phone number.

For example: Would you like to check the status of your flight to Chicago? For yes, press or say 1. To hear additional options, press or say 2.

Businesses and companies use an IVR to help direct customers to the appropriate party and to help streamline customer service.

For example: Hello and thank you for calling Joe's Auto Parts. If you know the extension of the party you wish to reach, please enter it now. To speak with the operator, press 0 at any time. For Sales, press 1. For Support, press 2. For Billing, press 3. To repeat this message, press pound.

TouchTone Communications’ customer, New York-based Dial Global, is a full-service radio network that produces and distributes radio programming to more than 6,000 stations in the U.S. One of their services, Radio Voodoo (an IVR system), answers phones for radio stations and makes it possible to use caller recordings in station programming. Dial Global provides the technology, and TouchTone provides the toll-free and DID termination.

"Radio Voodoo is a service that specializes in allowing radio stations to have their phones answered by an IVR. Stations then use the audio left by listeners during radio shows or in promotional announcements. Radio Voodoo has partnered with TouchTone as a provider of toll free origination and DID termination. As you can imagine, radio station traffic has great highs during contesting and sometimes great lows depending on market size. TouchTone has been able to balance the sometimes huge spikes from stations in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles while servicing the smaller stations in Lubbock, TX, Massena NY and St. Joseph, MO. 

The best part about working with TouchTone has to be the customer service. At Radio Voodoo, so much of our success has been the team at TouchTone coming up with creative ways to find solutions to our problems. They are energized, engaged, and do not rest until we arrive at a solution. TouchTone is very much a part of the team that has made Radio Voodoo a must have for radio stations across the country."

~Dee Perkins, Distribution Sales Manager
Dial Global

Looking for IVR voice termination? TouchTone Communications provides quality, low-cost in-bound (local and toll-free) and outbound calling to IVR service and software providers. To learn more call 888-TOUCHTONE or e-mail sales@touchtone.net

How Call Forwarding can benefit your business

Click here to view larger image

First impressions count, especially in business. That's why it's important to have a phone system that not only makes you look and sound professional, but guarantees that your customers reach you when they need to.
 
Call Forwarding allows you to forward calls to another phone number (including a cell phone or home number) so you never have to worry about missing an important call.

You can set up rules, menus, and queues based on your needs. 


Call Forwarding categories include:
-    All Calls
-    When Busy
-    Do Not Disturb
-    No Answer
-    Selective Forwarding
-    When Out of Service
 
With Call Forwarding, you can also choose to have calls blocked all together, or sent directly to voicemail.

Call Forwarding is included free with TouchTone’s Business VoIP phone service. To learn more, call 800-900-5474, or visit http://www.touchtone.net/business-phone-service.html.

More Business VoIP phone service features.

TouchTone Communications Offers 30-Day Free Trial of Business VoIP Phone Service

NEWS ALERT

WHIPPANY, N.J. (April 28, 2014) – TouchTone Communications, a nationwide voice and data provider, today announced a 30-day free trial promotion of its Business VoIP phone service.

Using existing Internet connection, Business VoIP delivers a complete turnkey business phone solution including unlimited local and long distance, faxing, conference calling, and full-featured VoIP phones.

The free trial was designed to help businesses who are considering making the switch to a VoIP service more easily evaluate how well VoIP technology can cut overall costs, increase productivity among employees, and simplify IT management. The 30-day trial includes TouchTone’s standard office Business VoIP voice plan plus rental of a VoIP phone. Those interested in participating in the free trial can sign up at https://www.touchtone.net/business-phone-service-free-trial.aspx.

“In addition to considerable cost savings, Business VoIP provides a disaster proof, feature rich and scalable phone system at the fraction of the cost of traditional phone service,” said Pino Bio, President of TouchTone Communications. “With dozens of enterprise-class calling features to choose from, even the smallest companies can look bigger and sound more professional overnight.”

The system allows users to make and receive calls anytime, anywhere and from any device, and also connects multiple locations, remote employees and home offices under one main number, one extension list and one set of unified calling features.

“We are a small business with several offices. Phone systems always required a ‘closet’ for the equipment and an expense commitment. Our problem was keeping in contact with employees when they were working out of the office,” said Bob DuVal, President of UCC, Inc.

“With TouchTone we have no equipment to house, our phones are portable and we have one telephone number no matter how many locations we use. Monthly usage charges are much less. Our employees are always linked with one phone system no matter where they are working. The TouchTone system is reliable, call quality is perfect and if we need help utilizing a seldom used feature, the customer support staff is knowledgeable and quick to help,” added DuVal.

The service eliminates upfront capital investments and ongoing overhead expenses by enabling businesses to leverage the cloud as a platform to deploy communications devices and applications.  Both the service and PBX are fully managed off-site by TouchTone Communications; so unlike traditional phone systems, customers do not have to install and manage complicated and costly equipment.

Although large communication providers like RingCentral, Vonage, AT&T and Verizon are in the hosted VoIP game, Bio believes that not only does TouchTone’s Business VoIP phone service compare in both price and features, but outperforms in customer service.

“TouchTone’s Business VoIP caters specifically to small and medium sized businesses and home offices. Many times with larger providers these types of customers get lost because of their size. SMBs are the bread and butter of America and we want to make certain that they receive the same great benefits of a Fortune 500 phone system, but at a price that they can afford,” said Bio.

Businesses and IT professionals can select from a choice of plans, may mix and match feature sets including advance calling and unified messaging features and choose from a variety of VoIP Phones from Cisco and Polycom.

TouchTone Communications offers a comprehensive portfolio of voice, data, cloud and managed services that can be customized to meet the communications needs of any size business.

About TouchTone Communications, Inc.:
Incorporated in 1993, TouchTone Communications provides a comprehensive suite of voice and data services  via its proprietary network and through multiple Tier 1 service providers. Serving residential, enterprise, SMB, government and wholesale customers nationwide, TouchTone prides itself on providing the highest quality service at the most competitive rates, while always maintaining first-class customer service.  For more information please call 1-800-266-4006, or visit http://www.touchtone.net. More information on TouchTone can be found at: 

Twitter: @TouchToneNet
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/touchtone-communications
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TouchToneCommunications
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TouchToneComm/feed

How can an Auto Attendant help your business?

The benefits of an auto attendant.

An auto attendant acts like a virtual assistant and replaces the need for an actual receptionist or operator. An auto attendant automatically greets callers and directs them to the right person or department by simply pressing a button.

For example: for Sales, press 1; for Support, press 2; to dial by name, press 3.

It can make any size business look bigger and sound more professional overnight.  It is one of the many powerful calling features offered by Business VoIP phone service.

Customize your auto attendant to suite your needs. You can set up your auto attendant with the following options:

-    Dial by name directory
-    Dial by extension directory
-    Transfer to user
-    Transfer to a user’s voicemail
-    Transfer to another Auto Attendant

You can set up multiple auto attendants, including an auto attendant for employees.

For example:

To speak with John, press 1.

Once the call is transferred, a second auto attendant can be set up with additional options.

To leave a message, press 1; to reach me on my cell, press 2; to speak with someone in Support immediately, press 3.

Benefits of an Auto Attendant:

-    Look bigger and sound more professional
-    Replace the receptionist and/or operator
-    Route calls efficiently and effectively
-    Customize (set up separate auto attendants for business hours, after hours, and holidays)
-    Record directly from your phone or upload a pre-recorded greeting

To learn more about TouchTone’s Business VoIP phone service, visit http://www.touchtone.net/business-phone-service.html.

Expand Your Customer Base to Include IVR Solution Providers

If you haven't already included IVR service and software providers to your customer demographic, it's time you expanded into this very lucrative market. Depending on their size, IVRs can average thousands, if not millions, of minutes in traffic each month. If you know of any IVR companies in your area, call or e-mail them to see if they need a (new) long distance service provider. And if you don't know of any, the Internet is a good place to find some.
 
So what's an IVR?
An IVR (Interactive Voice Response) allows a computer to automate interactions with telephone callers through the use of voice and touch-tone telephone keypad entry. Many business and enterprise customers (such as credit card companies, pharmacies, call centers and political campaigns) are using IVR applications to help cut costs and help improve customer sales and support. They provide the technology, but require a reliable service provider to deliver quality, low-cost voice services.

TouchTone Communications customer, New York-based Dial Global, is a full-service radio network that produces and distributes radio programming to more than 6,000 stations in the U.S. One of their services, Radio Voodoo (an IVR system), answers phones for radio stations and makes it possible to use caller recordings in station programming. Dial Global provides the technology, and TouchTone provides the toll-free and DID termination.

"Radio Voodoo is a service that specializes in allowing radio stations to have their phones answered by an IVR. Stations then use the audio left by listeners during radio shows or in promotional announcements. Radio Voodoo has partnered with TouchTone as a provider of toll free origination and DID termination. As you can imagine, radio station traffic has great highs during contesting and sometimes great lows depending on market size. TouchTone has been able to balance the sometimes huge spikes from stations in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles while servicing the smaller stations in Lubbock, TX, Massena NY and St. Joseph, MO. The best part about working with TouchTone has to be the customer service. At Radio Voodoo, so much of our success has been the team at TouchTone coming up with creative ways to find solutions to our problems. They are energized, engaged, and do not rest until we arrive at a solution. TouchTone is very much a part of the team that has made Radio Voodoo a must have for radio stations across the country."

~ Dee Perkins, Distribution Sales Manager
   Dial Global

TouchTone provides quality, low-cost in-bound (local and toll-free) and outbound calling to IVR service and software providers. To learn more email business.support@touchtone.net.

What's Trending In Telecom

In this day in age, it is technology that stimulates our senses and gives us a feeling of innovation and creativity. In the world of telecom, innovation increases year-by-year.

Over the past 25 years, technology, especially in the world of telecom, has changed the way we work and play almost beyond recognition. We want, and expect, more powerful devices and applications to help us do things faster, better and with more ease. 

But keeping up with technology trends can be overwhelming, and you may find yourself asking, "which technology trends are for me."

The obvious answers are to determine your needs, read and research (we've helped you with that one, read below!), try it out (many companies offer free trials), and if you don't understand it, don't be afraid to ask questions. 

Here's a list of some of today's trending topics in telecom and technology. 

Telecom Trends

1. IP services- More and more companies are moving away from TDM and switching to IP services, such as SIP. Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) provides many benefits for businesses including lower calling costs and a large capacity to serve an entire organization regardless of its size.    
2. Mobile Device Management (MDM)- As the use of personal devices in the workforce increases, the need for businesses to incorporate mobile device management becomes a necessity in order to protect corporate information and reduce security risks. If you’re looking for a MDM vendor, here is a list of the 10 leading vendors in the market today, drawn from the leaders and visionaries in Gartner's 2013. Magic Quadrant for Mobile Device Management Software.
3. Apps, apps and more apps- Chances are that you have a smartphone, a tablet or maybe even both. These devices have transformed the way we communicate, especially in businesses. Mobile apps prove to be especially useful in businesses because they can help manage day-to-day activities (schedule meetings, manage contacts, set reminders, money/account-managing, etc.). If you haven’t done so already check out these great apps: Brewster (personal address book), Contactually (contact management), Asana (plan, organize and stay in sync with your team), and Basecamp (project management). There is an app for almost anything nowadays!
4. The Cloud- With today’s dynamic office environments, cloud services are proving to be a surefire way to reduce costs and streamline operations. So what does it mean exactly ‘to move to the cloud’? 

For some, the cloud means a storage locker in the sky; a place to save documents, pictures and videos online so that they can be stored, accessed and even shared whenever and from where ever there is Internet connection.

Not only has this made our personal lives easier (we no longer need to e-mail documents to ourselves or burn a CD of vacation pictures for family and friends), but businesses are looking into cloud-based data storage in support of protection efforts such as replication, backup, archiving, and disaster recovery. 

For others, the cloud serves as a way to provide cost effective and scalable voice and data services. Commonly known as hosted communications or business VoIP, voice is provided over an IP backbone (the cloud) – the PBX and service is fully managed offsite by the provider. Cloud-based phone service provides more robust functionality beginning with crisp, clear voice quality and an abundance of features not available with traditional phone service. Since the service is completely outsourced and the PBX does not reside at the customer’s premises, upgrades are automatically provided by the provider in the background so there aren't any costs to upgrade. Learn more about cloud-based phone service.

Business VoIP: Stay Organized, Be Successful

Staying organized in a business can get a bit tricky, especially if your day-to-day activities consist of running around, doing errands and making important phone calls. From the numerous calls you receive and need to make, to all the people you need to meet with, it can all get very hectic.

So what can you do to ease up this hectic life and get a bit more organized? Try considering TouchTone’s business VoIP phone system, a perfect solution for small businesses (2-10 employees) who want to gain a competitive edge. Business VoIP provides powerful calling features to help you stay organized.

Unlike traditional phone service, Business VoIP provides your business with enterprise-class business features, as well as professional and advanced service (including unlimited calling). And the best part is, it’s a lot cheaper than traditional phone system and service.

TouchTone’s Business VoIP system would work perfectly for you if:

1. You prefer to pay less and get more out of a phone system (i.e., enterprise-class calling features, unlimited talk).
2. You prefer to use newer technology versus old and outdated traditional technology.
3. You don’t want to invest in an IT person to handle the maintenance and the setting up of your phone. TouchTone covers all that for you; from maintenance to setting up, we got you covered!

Some features to help you and your business get organized and keep up with your fast-pace environment are:

• Call Forwarding- Allows you to redirect incoming calls to another number, voice mail, or block the call all together. You choose what type of calls, as well as when calls are forwarded. Call Forwarding categories include: All Calls, When Busy, Do Not Disturb, No Answer and Selective Forwarding.
• Selective Call Management- Also known as call screening, with selective call management you can selectively reject or accept calls made from specific numbers so that you can manage your time more efficiently.
• Web Management/Web Portal- You can make adds, changes or moves 24 hours, 7 days a week through the self-managed Web Portal. Access all your contacts, voicemail messages, call logs and much more. Organized business here you come!
• Hunt Groups- One of your worst nightmares is probably losing your valuable customers and clients. This could be an outcome of poor customer service. When a customer or client calls your company, you want to make sure they are being taken care. The Hunt Group feature is extremely helpful when multiple lines are in use. For example, when a line goes unanswered or is in use, the call is automatically routed and transferred to another user, and so on and so forth. This powerful feature will ensure that your phone is answered by someone in your company at all times.

The type of phone service you use for your business plays an important role on the functionality and future success of your company. Take your business to the next level with Business VoIP.

Any questions? Feel free to leave comment!

Work Smarter, Not Harder with Business VoIP

Thanks to VoIP technology, customers have more options now than ever before when it comes to choosing a powerful and cost efficient phone service. Business VoIP offers a wide range of powerful calling features that can even make the smallest business look bigger and sound more professional overnight.

Your needs, budget, and company size will dictate which business VoIP service is best suited for your unique needs. In the end, it comes down to either hosted PBX or an on-premises SIP compliant IP phone system with SIP service.

An effective phone system will meet both your current and future needs, and grow as you grow. Before deciding on a business VoIP service, be sure to ask yourself a few important questions.

1. Which best describes your phone system project?

A. Installing a new phone system
B. Replacing an existing phone system
C. Upgrading an existing phone system
D. I like my phone system, but not my phone and/or Internet/data bills

2. What features do you want in your phone system?

Read more (download entire e-book instantly)

SIP Trunking or Hosted PBX?

5 important questions to ask before buying a business phone service/system

Having reliable Internet and voice is important to the everyday operations and growth of a company. Fortunately, with the introduction of VoIP (Voice over IP) technology, customers have more options now than ever before when it comes to choosing a dependable and cost efficient communications solution.  But with so many VoIP service options on the market, choosing the right business phone service and system can be overwhelming. 

In the end, it comes down to either hosted PBX or an on-premises SIP compliant IP phone system with SIP service. Your needs, budget, and company size will help dictate what VoIP service you should consider.

If you are considering buying a business phone service and/or system, here are some questions to ask yourself before starting your search. 

Have questions about SIP trunking or Hosted PBX, connect with a TouchTone representative at 1-800-900-5474.