You've got Voice mail

Voice mail, and its associated applications including auto attendant and fax services are key tools in improving the image your business presents to callers.
They help to overcome typical telephony problems encountered by callers such as waiting to be answered by an operator; having to go through the operator even though they know the extension of the person they need; having to call back because a party is engaged or away from his desk; or wanting to contact somebody outside normal office hours.

Let's look briefly at what voice mail and auto attendant are, and the specific benefits that each delivers.

You've got mail
Voice mail varies in its degree of sophistication and in the facilities it offers end users. At its basic level it's similar to an answering machine as it allows callers to leave messages for staff in individual mailboxes. Members of staff are not interrupted to take messages for their colleagues, and they can retrieve them at the most convenient time, without interrupting more important tasks.More sophisticated systems give more advanced message management features, such as allowing users to retrieve messages remotely.

The key question to consider when purchasing a voice mail system is how many mailboxes will your company need? Other considerations include the number of hours of message storage required, the personal greeting length, message retention, extension numbering, and whether security features are needed. Any good telecoms dealer should be able to guide you through these points.

Automated attendant
Automated attendant (also widely known as auto attendant) acts as an extra operator, so customers do not have to wait for their calls to be answered. Callers are asked to dial the extension number they require or are provided with a number of options (e.g. '1' for sales, '2' for customer service). They can also, if necessary, still be passed through to a human operator.

Voice mail and auto attendant also enable automated transaction processing, whereby callers place orders orrequest services via the voice processing system, which can be retrieved and actioned at a later date. Systems such as Samsung's DCS even feature basic auto attendant functions as standard, so make sure you check with your dealer what functions are available on the phone system you choose, before deploying additional equipment.

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