Reliability

At times, a person’s freedom is at stake. It is important for a law firm to have its lines of communications up and running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When the phone or data lines do experience problems, the communications company should be proficient at diagnosing the problem and fixing it right away. Reliability of communications systems is especially important in this field of work.

Options

There are a number of ways that lawyers can keep in touch with their clients without being present in the office at all times. When they are on the go, their phone can be forwarded to their present location for quick access. For example, if they are working at home, the phone can ring there. If they prefer to work from their mobile phone, calls can reach them on this line as requested. On the other hand, they may need some privacy regarding their home telephone numbers or cell phone lines. As important as it is for defendants to have fair representation, it is not necessary for them to have complete access to the lawyer’s home telephone number. Some small business telephone systems offer an option that presents all calls from the office number, whether the user is at home, at the office or on their cell phone. This is one way to ensure personal safety in the event of angry or disenchanted clients.

Accessibility

When the office is closed or short staffed, an automated attendant can handle incoming calls. The needs of the client can still be met without having someone on staff to give them personal live attention. The necessary parties can be reached through automated options as needed. For example, if someone is in jail or is being questioned by the authorities, they need assistance right away. Using an automated attendant, the attorney can be reached immediately if he so chooses. The call can be put through or a message can be taken, depending on the lawyer’s preferences.

Meetings

There are many ways for lawyers to conduct business. While some is done over the phone, it is also a growing trend to do it through videoconferencing. This eliminates the travel expenses involved with long-distance cases where the client is far away from the lawsuit jurisdiction or depositions of witnesses are taken all over the country. Even two parties in the same town that do not do well in the same room with each other may choose the videoconferencing capabilities to conduct meetings and settlement proceedings to lessen the animosity. When small office communications systems offer videoconferencing capabilities, this ensures versatility and convenience for not only the attorney and his staff, but also for his clients.

There are many options a law firm can choose in its communications systems. Regardless of the choices made, it is important that they function well, are fixed promptly when they don’t, and offer convenience and safety for both the law firm and its clients.

Understand

First, it is important to know and understand your customer as well as his/her business. Having the customer tell you what the value is allows you to know what motivators are present for a change to be made. Typically, motivation can be found in one of three circumstances:

1. Business Goal: The customer wants to increase profit margin or stakeholder value in order to maintain or expand the business.
2. Business Concern: The customer has objectives that must be met, such as increasing productivity, ensuring quality customer service, cost management, etc.
3. Problem: Typical issues that arise on a day to day basis, such as dropped calls, mediocre customer service, etc. These problems limit the customer’s ability to achieve their business goals and/or resolve their business concerns.

Question

Now, you can ask thoughtful questions in order to identify the customer’s goals, concerns and/or problems. It is vital to know how they will perceive the value of your product, as it can differ from person to person. Here are some tips to follow when asking questions:

1. Don’t pitch your solution just yet: Now’s not the time to promote your product or ask if their business would be positively impacted by it. You should be asking questions about the customer’s goals, concerns and problems – what is bringing their business down or preventing them from improving.
2. Utilize your knowledge: Familiarize yourself with the customer and their industry when forming your questions. Make sure you are aware of the industry: its trends, competitors, customer needs, etc. 
3. Make them think: Ask them what the outcome would be if nothing was done to resolve their concerns and/or problems.

Organize

Before pitching your solution to the customer, make sure your presentation is thoughtful and organized. The business objective and related business issues should be vetted out, and the daily problems should be outlined as well. That will make the transition to your solution and the value of it much smoother, and highlight the logical aspects of it to the customer.

Working as a cloud-based video conferencing solution, LifeSize Connections provides a very simple and cost effective way to seamlessly connect with anyone, as it is compatible with both desktop users and hardware endpoints. It easily extends high-definition video collaboration across your company, sparing you of not only your dollars, but your IT resources. The cloud-based provisioning allows remote employees to connect immediately so meetings can go off without a hitch, but it doesn’t stop there: its built-in firewall traversal facilitates secure video conferencing with customers, vendors and other companies.

Managing LifeSize Connections is just as easy as using it: administrative control is on a web-based console, allowing for easy changes such as managing user accounts, obtaining call data reports, and modifying your network’s bandwidth settings. So now you’re connected, what else can you do? The conferencing features not only help employees maintain productivity levels, but actually increase them. With guest invitations and up to 9-way multi-party HD calling, you avoid spending time updating someone post-meeting. In addition, data-sharing allows for everyone on the conference to have access to pertinent files.

Easy to implement and with pay as you go pricing, LifeSize Connections is the perfect answer for a mobile, dispersed workforce seeking a high quality, low cost video conferencing solution! Contact us today at www.bencomm.com to try a free 30-day trial.

• Comprehensive Control
  • Call handling: capable of muting callers
  • Federated presence with GoogleTalk contacts
  • Microsoft Exchange calendar mining
• PC Integration
  • Embed communications with Microsoft Outlook and Salesforce.com
  • Click to call
  • Send messages to anyone in the corporate directory
  • Check both voicemail and email simultaneously
• Efficient Call Control
  • Manage calls through Avaya one-X Portal
  • Features such as holding or transferring calls can be done from interface
• Instant Messaging & Presence
  • Stay connected and responsive throughout the day
  • Collaborate with GoogleTalk contacts, both internal and external

These features will provide your company with numerous benefits that will keep your business running smoothly. Employees will be able to save time on navigating different applications on their desktops while prioritizing their work, allowing for enhanced efficiency and non-stop productivity. Additionally, there will be an improvement in customer service as the instant messaging, click to call, and presence features all assist in faster response times. Avaya IP Office will also deliver on enhanced cost effectiveness, with the ability to integrate the system into existing investments.

To learn more about how to improve your communications solution with the Avaya IP Office, please contact us at www.bencomm.com.

Mobility

One of the most important points to communicating while on the go is being able to do it quickly, safely and effectively. Mobile twinning with a simultaneous ring, for example, allows the real estate agent the opportunity to use a cell phone as an extension of their office phone, with a headset if preferred. When agents are on the road, they can still take calls from buyers, sellers and lenders without missing a beat. Moreover, rather than requiring people to dial different numbers to reach them, contacts only need to know one number. The phone will ring wherever the agent is, eliminating the feeling that clients are tracking their agent down to get information.

Placing calls on the go is equally as important to receiving them. A popular option for small business communication systems is for all calls to be placed with the appearance that they originate from the office, as opposed to a home or cell phone number. This allows agents to maintain a professional appearance, even if they are working from home in their pajamas or on the road to a closing.

Messaging

Many potential homebuyers pursue real estate possibilities outside of regular office hours. Oftentimes, employers are less than understanding when employees handle personal business on company time. As a result, it is important for potential buyers to be able to reach a realty office or leave a message for an agent at their own convenience. Some phone systems for small businesses allow agents to be notified when there is a new message, regardless of their location. Being able to immediately receive messages may be important for some calls, but not others. This gives the user the ability to receive all messages, weeding out the minor calls for office hours and handling the important ones immediately.

Conferencing

It used to be necessary for real estate agents to meet with other agents and their clients in tow to foster question and answer sessions or iron out details with regards to closings and offers. Using conferencing capabilities, this step can be taken with a simple phone call. Agents can have multiple parties on the line to make the discussions faster and easier without gathering everyone in one place. When a deal is on the brink of going through or falling apart, this is an important step.

As long as real estate agents are constantly on the go, they will need small business communication systems that can keep pace with reliable service and cutting edge technical capabilities. This can be achieved by utilizing mobile and office-based options that connect personnel, regardless of their location.

Traditionally, businesses around the world exchanged electronic information in two ways: speaking via telephones, and exchanging data via communication networks. Voice and data system architectures were radically different, with voice offering two-way, real-time communication and data using a store-and-forward approach. The emergence of the Internet as a communications infrastructure provides an architecture that offers the best of both worlds, and lays the foundation for simpler, more powerful integration of voice, data and multimedia communications using common infrastructures.

What’s SIP?

Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is recognized as an excellent way to fully achieve integrated communications over Internet infrastructure. Its flexibility makes it ideal for video, VoIP, presence and instant messaging. The implications of SIP to your businesses can be significant. Today’s business environment increasingly relies on effective communication between people and locations.

Advantages of SIP Today

• Cloud Redundancy: Adding SIP trunking to your existing VoIP system takes all the advantages of a hosted solution and applies them to your more feature-rich on-premise PBX, including backup auto-attendant, cloud routing of calls, and cell phone redirect.
• Backup Trunking: (See BenComm Express offer on page 1.) For businesses not ready to use an entire SIP trunking solution, the advantages of using SIP as a backup are abundant. With existing trunking in place, adding SIP as a backup:
  • Gives yet another layer of redundancy.
  • Adds bursting capacity: If you run out of traditional trunks, your IP PBX can start using SIP trunks.
  • Auto-attendant in the cloud: If there is a full system, Internet and trunking outage, callers to your system will get a cloud based menu with the same options as your PBX. The routing, setup in advance or on the fly, would then route to cell phones.
• Burstable: With SIP trunks, the number of voice channels is flexible and can expand to your needs.
• Local Presence Anywhere: SIP is not a geographically located service, therefore it allows you to have an office location that can present itself as multiple locations while appearing local.
• Futureproof: Protects your original investment by adding new services and capabilities via downloadable software. For example, presence is an inherent feature of SIP-based systems; it allows the system to recognize your location and availability, routing communications to the correct locations and devices as your schedule changes.

SIP in the Future

In time, you will create your own individual profiles to instruct communication networks on your preferences for how and where you can be reached, by whom, and when. For example, dialing your phone number will reach you wherever you are, on whichever means of communication is available to you at the time (cell phone, PDA, PC, tablet or even a wearable communicator). Furthermore, location-based services when traveling provide countless options to you based on your personal profile. You can make dinner reservations, alert your London office when your plane lands, tell your hotel what newspaper you typically read, all preferences which you can set and/or change at any time.

Interested in taking advantage of SIP? For a limited time, BenComm is offering a 5 SIP line solution for your phone system at only $49.95 a month. With this offer, you will be provided with the following:

• 5 SIP lines (expandable to 15) in case your regular phone lines go down
• Cloud-based auto-attendant
• Overflow for regular trunks
• Overflow for conference calling

To learn more about SIP, please contact us today at www.bencomm.com or 240.238.1234.

• Multiparty Conference Management: Just as if you were in the office, you can initiate a voice conference and launch it with a one-touch option. You can invite, view, mute and drop participants at any time during the call – all via mobile device.
• Instant Messaging: You can simultaneously chat with multiple co-workers on your mobile device and keep track of your ongoing conversations.
• Integrated Presence: Viewing your co-workers status has never been simpler. Presence integrates both the calendar and geo-presence when determining someone’s availability, therefore allowing you to see if they are in a meeting or in a different time zone. Users can also manually set their status if they do not want to be disturbed or are away from their desk.
• Visual Voicemail: This allows users to view their voicemails with date and time information, allowing them to prioritize their messages. Users can also hear voicemails as they are being recorded, allowing the user to pick up the call mid-message message if they so choose.
• Directory Access: Workers are able to search contacts to connect with their colleagues via instant message, call and more.

One-X Mobile Preferred is the perfect solution for a user who is constantly balancing their work from home, office and travel platforms. With this release, workers are able to extend their IP Office functions to Android devices; compatibility for Apple products will be released by Avaya later in the first quarter. To learn more about how Avaya’s IP Office 8.0 mobility features can enhance your business, please contact us today at www.bencomm.com.

When the weather is bad, the last thing you should do is get in your car. Instead, you have the option to work at home. If you approach it correctly, a communications system such as Avaya IP Office can help you weather the storm without missing a beat. Here’s how:

• Set up your office phone at home: Any employee in your business can easily set up their office extension in their home, either using an IP phone or a softphone software on a laptop/PC. All you need is an internet connection to handle your calls, and all your speed dials and other short cuts will be present – callers won’t know the difference.
• Activate a new greeting: If the weather is going to impact business performance and you want to let callers know, take the opportunity to remotely update the greeting on your business’ auto-attendant.
• Call overflow: Do you have an additional office in another location that is not affected by the severe weather? Then use that office to handle calls for the office that is closed. With Avaya IP Office, calls can automatically be diverted to the other office or location (callers won’t even notice).
• Conference bridge: Don’t forget that Avaya IP Office gives you two built-in, 64-party conference bridges. If you need to get everyone in your business on the line at the same time, it won’t be a problem.

Don’t let severe weather get in the way of doing business. Take advantage of the flexibility that Avaya IP Office gives you to sail (or sleigh) right though. Check out this free white paper to help guide you with implementing a well thought out telework program for your business.

Statistics show that accountants of all varieties spend an average of 35 percent of their workday on the phone. Their clients require for them to be easily reached, especially with the impending tax season. Retaining all the important details of monetary matters, accountants must be able to promptly notify their customers of inaccurate figures and changes in law that will affect the bottom line. The constant communication required with clients, financial institutions and government agencies makes a reliable voice and data network an integral part of their business.

A knowledgeable telephone installation technician will be able to set up a network that includes not only voice, but fax and data lines as well. Paperwork is a key part of accounting, and therefore should be delivered promptly to a client through fax or scanned into an email. Financial data may be downloaded with a data line from individuals and financial institutions as well. Moreover, the technician should be able to install and test an individualized network that works best for the specific needs of the small business accountant, in addition to educating the office staff on how to use it. Collaboration may be required with the IT person to ensure maximum efficiency of the data system.

Time is of the essence in many of the financial matters that accountants deal with on a daily basis, and any interruption to the telephone network can cause some major headaches; furthermore, any disruption of data streams from financial companies can wreak havoc, in that the information contained therein may be lost.

Should there be any downtime on the network, the telephone technician must be available to make prompt repairs. Understanding trouble analysis and the ability to resolve the issue in a timely fashion is of the utmost importance. The technician should define the problem and be able to offer preventative measures to deter future issues; this may include hardware and software provisioning, thus the technician should be experienced and proficient in both.

Having competent and reliable telephone system installers is an integral part of the success of a small business accounting agency. Fully understanding the needs of the company and how to properly initiate and maintain a customized network is essential. For more information, please contact us at http://www.bencomm.com/contact/.

Fortunately, there are applications that work in conjunction with your communications system to bridge that gap, letting you have a dashboard for all your communication needs: messaging, voice, e-mail, and even SMS! All of your contacts, both internal employees and important external contacts, can be contacted with a simple click of your mouse.

• See who is available in real time: the presence status of people inside and outside your organization. Many UC solutions for small business only provide presence status of contacts inside your organization.
• Enhanced features such as ‘Pounce’ provide immediate notification when a contact becomes available
• Take advantage of calendars: hover over a contact and it will display what time they will finish their meeting or when they will be back in the office
• You are on the phone with someone and have to call them back. Schedule the call from the current call dialog box, which automatically adds it to your Outlook Calendar
• Missed calls? Now you can keep track of them and see the contact details and current presence status so you can quickly and easily connect

A great example of this type of application is Advatel’s InTouch tool.  InTouch is a simple plug-in for your email client, and it doesn’t require separate servers, which minimizes installation time and keeps the cost low.  The enhanced productivity you gain enables you to operate ‘faster than the speed of business,’ increasing your competitive edge and ensuring you are always on top of collaborating with your most important contacts.