Over the last decade or so, digitally based communications has become the dominant communications medium. It started with Voice over IP (“VoIP”) replacing the terrestrial fixed-line PSTN networks, and latterly with instant messaging over the Internet the default means of inter-personal communications. VoIP is now a mature technology, routinely deployed in business to gain benefits in costs and functionality.Continue reading
One of the major developments in communications riding on the back of improvements in networking and the spread of global networks has been communications using the Voice over IP (“VoIP”) protocol. Simply put, VoIP is a way of using existing digital data networks to carry voice traffic.
It can be implemented by adding hardware and software to an existing network, or by outsourcing VoIP to an external VoIP Service Provider.Continue reading
As the move to online and remote computing grows, the need for actual and potential customers with high-quality support services grows in tandem with it. Call Centres are often the answer.
A call centre is a centralized office or facility used for receiving and transmitting a large volume of telephone calls from customers or clients of a business or organization. Call centres are typically staffed with customer service representatives (CSRs) who are trained to handle customer inquiries, complaints, and requests.
Modern call centres use advanced technology such as VoIP, interactive voice response (IVR) systems, automatic call distribution (ACD), and customer relationship management (CRM) software to efficiently manage and route calls, track customer interactions, and provide a seamless customer experience.Continue reading
Session Initiation Protocol (“SIP”) is a communication protocol used to initiate, modify and terminate interactive user sessions. It supports multimedia communications, including voice, video, and messaging. It is widely used in VoIP implementations. It is not necessary for all VoIP implementations but is required to support some advanced features such as device mobility.
To be a little technical, SIP is an application-layer protocol that defines how the devices involved in a conversation exchange information with each other to set up and control a session.
Overall, SIP is a powerful and flexible protocol that enables a wide range of communication services and applications, including voice and video conferencing, instant messaging, and multimedia collaboration tools.Continue reading
IT departments are under considerable financial pressure. Nothing new, but the events of the last couple of years have forced many businesses to reduce or fix their IT budget while at the same time implementing new strategies. IT Support costs have been increasingly under scrutiny.
Many Businesses now have a significant online presence having adopted e-commerce to replace bricks and mortar outlets. Even if e-commerce isn’t significant, IT infrastructure supports all business processes, and loss of IT services can have a serious effect on business operations including lower productivity, increased operational costs, and frustrated staff.Continue reading
More and more businesses, large and small are seeing the benefits of moving to Business VoIP. The operational and financial cases are undeniable, the technology is now sufficiently mature to support effective remote working and working from home.
One business seeing major benefits with the move to Business VoIP is the Call Centre, often called the Customer Response Centre. Business VoIP brings benefits over and above those normally associated with moving to a VoIP environment.
There are a host of reasons why a call centre should transition to VoIP. Here are 5 major benefits:Continue reading
The “as a Service” concept has become common as Cloud usage expands. We now see SaaS, “Software as a Service” and PaaS, “Platform as a Service” for example. There are other implementations of the concept, generically known as XaaS In terms of customer service, CCaaS, “Contact Centre as a Service” has begun to gain some traction.
In its simplest terms, XaaS is where an IT service is delivered to the end-user remotely using Cloud Technologies. VoIP, including VoIP Phones, is an example where the configuration of the handset, user profiles and perhaps phonebooks and contact lists are delivered from a central repository in the Cloud held on a hosted server.Continue reading
Many organisations have implemented VoIP Solutions as part of their move to an Integrated Communications Strategy. Usually, the rationale includes the financial benefits of toll-free long-distance and International calling, improved customer relations, and better performance and productivity in the workplace.
However, if the VoIP Solution is not properly implemented and managed, problems can arise over time. Without becoming too technical, here are some of the more common
Many businesses have recognised the need for improved customer relations recently. Many customers have moved to an online basis, often as e-commerce rather than a physical business. As a result, their customer management arrangements (“CRM”) need to be upgraded.
Often CRM is a part of a wider unified communications system, where all internal and external communications, voice, video and data are linked on a common set of standards, platforms, and information sources. A VoIP implementation is a key part of that.
Simply put, a contact centre is a portmanteau term for a central point from which all customer interactions are managed. It is usually a combination of call centres, offline support centres, and other channels of customer interaction. They may operate using a common Customer Response Management system (“CRM”).Continue reading
Digital Convergence, and the creation of a Unified Communications (“UC”) platform have been embraced by many organisations. A UC is the movement of all digital communications traffic, data, VoIP for business and video, over a single physical network through a variety of software platforms.
Obviously, maintaining optimum response times for all classes of traffic is necessary, especially for VoIP for business and video. It is a vital balancing act that IT performs, usually through the creation and management of Quality of Service protocols.