Subscribers to RingCentral’s business VoIP services will receive a new feature this year that allows them to continue making certain calls even when they lose Internet connectivity. The company prides itself on providing customers with maximum uptime and while its goal is to deliver 100% reliability, unfortunate circumstances sometimes prevent that from occurring. For example, during a...
As nearly 60% of consumers prefer to communicate with customer service via chat and email, much of the blame falls on the shoulders of outdated call center systems. For example, if a customer has a nuanced issue that a menu system wasn't designed to address, and you can't afford the staff to take phone calls 24/7, what do you do? That's where conversational IVR comes in.
While it might not be...
Maintaining a robust wide area network (WAN) is among the more expensive and challenging aspects of managing an enterprise network. SD-WAN or software-defined networking is being rapidly adopted among organizations with a desire to optimize network traffic across multiple locations while helping to reduce costs and increase reliability.
Corporate data coming from branch locations is no longer...
Interactive voice response (IVR) is an effective way to maximize call center efficiency and improve customer satisfaction on many fronts. Allowing customers to interact with an automated answering system – whether through using the buttons on their phone or by speaking with conversational IVR – reduces call volume. This is especially true for spikes in call volume. At the same time, IVRs...
SIP trunking allows companies to use a telephone PBX for sending and receiving calls over the Internet instead of the standard Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). Installing SIP trunking modifies a Private Branch Exchange (PBX) box so it gains VoIP capabilities. However, SIP can handle more than just voice calls, including text messages, images, and video calls, making it suitable as a...
Unlimited cellular plans have become a rarity. Unless you have a grandfathered account from years ago when mobile carriers offered unlimited data options, most “unlimited” plans are subject to fine print that commonly includes soft data caps and throttling. However, Verizon has updated its offerings to include a prepaid hotspot plan with truly unlimited data – no caps and no throttling...
The war among office collaboration platforms is just getting started. Although Slack prevailed in early battles with rivals such as HipChat and Stride, which Slack acquired from Atlassian in 2018, the company faces an increasing amount of pressure from industry veterans including Microsoft and Cisco, who are vying for a dominant position in the rapidly growing market for workplace communication...
The proliferation of digital technology has made it possible to accomplish many jobs from anywhere there’s a Wi-Fi connection. While remote work may evoke images of someone stuffing envelopes in their underwear, an increasing number of professionals are seeking opportunities to work from home at least part of the time and many companies are beginning to recognize the perks associated with...
Although there are obvious benefits to having an auto-attendant, many (if not most) people would still prefer to communicate with a human instead of a machine. Any negative feelings about your automated answering system will only be exacerbated if it provides information that is outdated, unhelpful or downright erroneous. Beyond simply damaging a customer’s impression of your company, it could...
