Telephone Systems Global

Telephone Systems, Virtual Auto Attendant

A virtual auto attendant is exactly what it sounds like, service that guides you through a phone system with the end goal of speaking to a real live human being. Going virtual can allow the smallest of companies to puff up their chest and act like the big boys, those Fortune 500 behemoths. But is that what you really want, an impersonal service guiding your clients through a maze of button pushing or saying yes or no to a voice prompt? That is exactly what you will need to decide while considering this option. There is something to be said from both sides of the platform, it sure is nice speaking to a person who is personable and not cold. However, there is also something to be said about the efficiency, standardization and cost savings by going virtual.

You have a few different options when choosing a virtual auto attendant, you can go with the PBX system which can efficiently handle any task like a real person, such as dial by name and extension, prove a company directory for individual guidance and much more. You can easily create custom voice prompts unique to your business needs and automatically set it up for non-business hours too. You can use software functionality to manage it on an individual user basis, so they can have it ring to their cell phone, deliver voice messages as emails, screen calls, do not disturb, fax services and a host of other functions.

As an alternative, hosted PBX phone systems can be relatively inexpensive and can be set up quickly. Some are as little as $10 a month for a few users and offer good functionality with options to upgrade should you find the need to add more.

Some of the features available to you at a very low cost to enter point are:

• Day and Night Greetings and Menus
• Dial-by-Name Directory
• Unlimited Extensions
• Follow-Me
• Custom On-Hold Messages
• Call Routing
• Automatic Call Distribution
• Call Screening
• Live Call Transfer
• Voice Mail
• Zero-out to Operator or Attendant
• Message waiting notification by email, phone or pager
• Sends your messages to your e-mail
• Receives your Faxes
• Delivers faxes to your e-mail
• Announcement-Only options
• Question and Answer message taking format
• Send Talking E-mails
• Tickler Reminder Service

So consider a few things, do you have more value in a real person taking on these tasks? It may be part of your business and something longstanding customers enjoy. You may find that automation has a place, if so consider a low cost hosted PBX solution.