Guide to Small Business Communications

Transcription

1 Guide to Small Business Communications Guide to Small Business Communications Brought to you by 1

2 Clear, Simple, & to the Point. Technology can often be confusing and challenging to decipher. As a small business owner you need clear information and simple solutions that save you money and help you reach your business goals. Avaya is helping you reach your business goals. Pat Hume Global Vice President Small and Medium Business Solutions Avaya, Inc. At Avaya we recognize this and that s why we ve put together this guide to provide you with the information you need to know about improving your business communications. We have been serving small businesses just like yours for over 100 years. First as AT&T, then as Lucent Technologies, and now as Avaya. Our heritage has taught us about service, technology, and partnerships. We want to be just that your partner. I hope you ll find this communication guide helpful and I hope you ll call on us to help you grow your business. It s not just communications it s the heart of your business. Pat Hume 2 3

3 Manage Your Business As a business owner your top priority is to grow your business as profitably and successfully as possible. Here are six sections of helpful information that will help you do just that...today. 1 Communications The Choices Are Yours 3 6 Listen to Your Heart Benefits of Better Communications Solutions For Your Industry A Look at Some Case Studies Getting Started is Easy! 4 5

4 1 Communications: The Choices Are Yours It may seem confusing with so many telecommunications choices for local dial-tone, telephone equipment, and long distance. Let s take a look at three choices. We help simplify your options and level the playing field. 1. Basic Service 2. Traditional Systems This works just like at home. You can have several phone lines with voic or an answering machine. This is easy but limiting. Often you lack important capabilities that your customers would expect. This usually serves small business well with 1-2 phones, but is a basic solution that doesn t scale or grow. Traditional communications systems from companies like Avaya use regular phone lines but allow you to utilize capabilities like desk-to-desk transferring, being able to see which lines are in use, conferencing, music-on-hold and voice prompts to direct calls where you need them to go. This usually serves businesses of five or more employees who have basic needs to run and grow. 3. IP Systems IP communication systems allow you to run software that combines your voice and data in a way that helps your employees do more. This integrated solution helps your business connect with customers faster and with more options. , voice calls and voic , calendars and conferences all come together in one simple system, which can be use with multiple devices including your cellular phone, your desk phone or even your PC. This will help you reduce costs and serve customers with a competitive advantage. 6 7

5 2 Benefits of Better Communications Avaya is a world leader in traditional phone systems and IP communications systems for small and medium businesses. What makes Avaya better? A few important little details. Avaya, a world leader. 1 2 Better customer service for sales and support of your customers. Ease of doing business for you and your employees. 3 Increased productivity-making your phones true productivity enablers. 4 Cost savings. 5 6 Cool capabilities, like knowing how many customers called and how many dropped, call recording, listening to your s over the phone, and many others. Auto attendant to answer your main line and transfer calls without a receptionist. 8 9

6 Guide to Small Business Communications 3 Listen to Your Heart The heart of your business is your customers. If you don t connect with them often enough, someone else will. Let Avaya show you how. 1 Let us show you how. Listen to your ! 2 3 digit dial between your multiple office locations. 3 Reduce Long Distance Charges between your offices to Zero! 4 6 Record Conference Calls 5 Track details of phone costs Have an auto attendant greeting answer all of your calls and route them automatically to the correct person or department

7 4 Solutions For Avaya delivers communications solutions that are as unique as your business. Your Industry The Perfect Fit for Your Small or Medium Sized Business We serve many unique business needs: Retail environments Law firms Doctor and dentist offices Auto dealers Salons Travel agents Advertising agencies Finance and accounting firms With Avaya, many diverse industries can benefit from the kinds of capabilities made available through our communications software solutions and those of our partners. Whether it s customer management, accounting, on the road access to information or just being able to see the record of the customer who called in from a pop up screen, Avaya has solutions that deliver. How you use communications makes all the difference. Many of our customers use it to be more competitive. Whether you want your receptionist to see client records as they dial in or you are a retail store owner that needs to have incoming callers in a queue while on hold, communications can truly make a difference in your customers experiences. Lawyers, for example, need access to information while on the road and brokers and sales people need to be able to connect to clients when they call in - no matter where they are. This is what Avaya does. And at the heart of your business is where we want to be

8 5 A Look at Some Case Studies! Avaya has nearly as many unique solutions as it has unique customers. Following are just a few examples of how Avaya s rich functionality, ease of use and scalability won the day. With Avaya, the Choice is Clear

9 Taking the Call I DRIVE SAFELY! Gets Drivers Back on the Road with The Avaya Solution Thanks to the Avaya IP Office solution, our customer responsiveness has improved as our business continues to grow, says Sanchez. I m confident this trend will continue as we become more acquainted with its rich capabilities and benefits Business Challenge Online traffic school I DRIVE SAFELY! provides roundthe-clock training and customer support to anyone looking to regain a driver s license or reduce insurance rates. In December 2002, the company needed a communications solution that would effectively manage its contact center operations and provide high value professional development for its agents. Customer Service Director Elizabeth Sanchez also wanted a solution that would scale as requirements demanded and produce comprehensive reports that she could share both with her teams and with the company s executives. The Avaya Solution After looking at various alternatives, Sanchez chose the Avaya IP Office solution because of its robust reporting features and call-routing capabilities. Since implementing the solution, I DRIVE SAFELY! has enjoyed increased agent productivity and revenues, not to mention improved customer satisfaction. The company expects savings of more than $768,000 in agent staffing costs over a five-year period

10 The Rock Star Lifestyle It is no small wonder, that when it came to installing a new communications system, Rod Stewart wanted the best solution available. That solution was from Avaya. Rod Stewart s voice is his career. That s why he chose Avaya. The Rod Stewart Challenge Rod Stewart is one of an elite group of artists who have demonstrated the staying power needed to remain at the top of their profession. But being a rock star isn t just about living the high life. To be a serious player with a life-long career in the music industry takes a great deal of hard work and dedication, and involves an enormous amount of detailed planning. When Rod was on the UK leg of his 2002 tour, he was based at his estate in the South of England. With so much to take care of in terms of logistics, it soon became clear that his existing telephone system was simply not good enough. Rod and his team wanted a single system that had the capacity to use and the Internet as well as provide telephone extensions throughout the whole estate, from the house itself to places like the swimming pool and stable complex. In addition, Rod wanted to be able to add further extensions as necessary. These were all functions that his existing telephone system could not supply. have to spend more than half their time away from the office, and in order to keep things running smoothly, they need to be able to stay in touch, by and over the phone, from wherever they are in the world. The Avaya solution The Avaya IP Office IP403 system was chosen. A midrange IP Office solution that offered the rich functionality, ease of use and scalability that were needed to take Rod s business communications well into the 21st century. The team called upon an Authorized Avaya Business Partner to design, configure and implement the IP Office solution. The new IP-enabled system means that, wherever they are within the grounds, Rod and his team can receive or transfer a call, and even set up a conference call or download their s. And wherever else they are in the world, they have access to exactly the same features. But as well as providing plenty of on-site connectivity, the new system also had to offer the power to deal with important communications when Rod and his team were on the road. The pressures of the music industry mean that they 18 19

11 Making the Connection Amerindo Boosts Productivity and Reduces Costs with the Avaya IP Office Solution In late 2002, when Amerindo Investment Advisors needed to link its New York headquarters with offices in San Francisco and the United Kingdom, it needed a system that was both cost effective and easy to manage. Business Challenge Because Amerindo specializes in technology stocks, Chief Technology Officer Alan Peterson felt the firm needed a system that would be well positioned for current and future technological developments. The Avaya Solution After looking at both Avaya IP Office and a solution from Cisco, Peterson selected the Avaya solution based on its sheer number of user-friendly features, IP capabilities and ability to grow incrementally and add applications. Among other things, the solution allowed Peterson to institute threedigit dialing between the New York and San Francisco offices, which eliminated toll charges for calls between offices and resulted in an annual savings of around $48,000. I am a one person technology department, says Peterson, so I needed a smooth transition process for the end users and a new system in place that was easy to administer from anywhere. I also wanted to show a return on investment to my Chief Financial Officer that went above and beyond technology benefits. The Avaya solution satisfied all of those criteria and more

12 6 Getting Started is Easy! Moving your business forward is as simple as picking up the phone and calling Avaya. We ll handle everything else. Call Avaya. We ll guide you from there. Step #1 Get Ready! Contact Avaya and arrange for a free communications assessment Select Option 2 Step #2 Get Set! Let us prepare your complimentary communications solution proposal with return on investment calculations. Step #3 Go! Let Avaya take all the worry out of your communications. We ll help you get started quickly with the right solution for your business

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