| Love it or hate is voicemail is here to stay, but how | | | | business, catalogue releases, special offers etc, there |
| can voicemail help improve business processes and | | | | may be occasions when there are more calls coming |
| enhance customer experience? Voicemail is more | | | | in that people to take them. Each lost call can cost |
| than just a simple messaging service attached to | | | | your business money in the short term and customer |
| your office phone system as it was 10 years ago. | | | | loyalty in the long term. |
| Now we can automate processes, provide intelligent | | | | If you went to buy a paper and there was a long |
| queuing and integrated voice response (IVR). | | | | queue you may decide not to wait, however if there |
| The Basics | | | | is a short queue you will probably wait your turn to |
| Voicemail systems vary greatly depending on the | | | | pay. When a customer can’t see the length of |
| telephone system you have. Most systems have a | | | | the queue they will assume the queue is long. |
| couple of options when it comes to Voicemail | | | | However if a customer can be reassured that you |
| systems. A simple system that will intercept a call | | | | are working hard to service their call and you can tell |
| after a predefined period of time that will give the | | | | that customer where they are in a queue and the |
| caller a greeting and the option to leave a message. | | | | average time they have to wait they are more likely |
| The second type is a more complex system that | | | | to stay on the line. |
| offers features to improve productivity, increase | | | | Text to Speech |
| sales and enhance customer experience. So how can | | | | When you’re working out of the office with no |
| voicemail improve your business processes? | | | | access to your email it can be difficult to service the |
| Automated Attendant | | | | needs of your customers. Blackberry’s can get |
| How much time is spent directing calls to the correct | | | | expensive and when you are in the car you still have |
| person or department in your business? Using a | | | | to pull over to read your messages. By using |
| phone system this process can be streamlined to | | | | Avaya’s Voicemail Pro application with Text to |
| give the customer a better service by using an | | | | speech enable you can ask your voicemail to read |
| automated attendant to direct calls to the correct | | | | your emails to you by saying “read my |
| department. When a customer calls a pre-recorded | | | | email”. You can then speak commands to the |
| message will welcome the customer and ask them | | | | application such as delete, next, forward and reply. |
| the nature of their call, that call can then be directed | | | | When you reply to an email the application will record |
| to the correct department. Some voicemail systems | | | | your voice and attach it as a WAV file to an email. |
| will allow each individual user to have their own | | | | IVR |
| personal automated attendant which enables callers | | | | Are you paying your skilled workers to complete |
| to be redirected to another number if the person | | | | simple everyday processes such as a request for a |
| they want to speak to is busy or away from their | | | | brochure or ordering tickets? If you have a database |
| desk. | | | | that is ODBC compliant and most are, then simple |
| Intelligent Queuing | | | | processes could be automated to save you time and |
| For businesses with a lot of incoming calls or | | | | money and offer customers a 24/7 service. |
| businesses that are periodically busy e.g. seasonal | | | | |