October 31, 2012
Phone.com's Virtual Office Services Keep You Connected During Harsh Weather
By Amanda Ciccatelli, TMCnet Web Editor
With Hurricane Sandy having torn through the Northeast over the last few days, we are all feeling the after math of this monster of a storm. One very negative impact of Sandy’s strong winds is massive power outages, which means for many, no phone service. But, if you are a Phone.com (News - Alert) SMB customer, you are in luck!
These days, many SMBs are switching to Internet-based telephony or VoIP as they benefit from the cost savings and flexibility of hosted or cloud-based VoIP solutions, especially in times like these. Most SMBs rely on the Internet to achieve VoIP connectivity, so even the best hosted solution provider cannot deliver service if the Internet connectivity goes down due to weather likes Hurricane Sandy’s.
Phone.com sat down with TMCnet during the height of the storm to discuss how its services can get your business through power outages that last for days.
With most office, home or home office lines you are tied down to a device or a number that you complete lose connection to when power goes out. But, with Phone.com if you have a landline that goes down when power goes down, it can be easily fixed before or after the power goes out.
“You can set up the phone number so that another phone will ring if your main device is out of commission,” Ari Rabban (News - Alert), founder and CEO of Phone.com told TMCnet. “If somebody calls that number, it will ring on your cell phone no matter if your power is out. You can even forward calls to any other device using Phone.com’s services to serve an individual or an entire office.”
Since customers have been looking for a cost-effective disaster recover solution, Phone.com created solutions to match different size offices. Phone.com hosted PBX (News - Alert) mimics the company’s call routing as in the event of an emergency when the office Internet connectivity is out, the calls can be forwarded to employees’ cell phones. In case the SIP provider fails, the company re-routes its main number to an alternate hosted VoIP solution like Phone.com and continues working as if nothing happened. Additionally, if you have broadband and your cell or copper land lines are down you can use Phone.com with a soft phone on a PC or cell phone with WiFi.
“In a matter of seconds, switching the main number over to an alternate destination - can save the day,” explained Alon Cohen (News - Alert), EVP/CTO at Phone.com in a Venture Capital blog post.
For smaller businesses, instead of hosting the main phone number with Phone.com, the company can host the number with a cell phone provider. The number is then set using a disaster recovery cell phone to forward calls to Phone.com. If the Internet connectivity fails, Phone.com re-directs the calls to a cell phone of its employees using its services. In case Phone.com fails, the company can redirect all calls to its alternative hosted telephony solution provider that supports the company phone tree and forwards the calls to employees’ cell phones until the problem is fixed, all for as little as $15/month.
Phone.com customer service agents are there to help 24/7 to help customers through the forwarding.
“People might think that having a physical phone system is more survivable than Phone.com in situations like a hurricane. But, that’s not true when it comes to Phone.com’s cloud-based solutions. If that phone system is damaged or you are out of service you can send calls to other places and that business continuity remains,” explained Joel Maloff (News - Alert), vice president of Channel Development at Phone.com. “We believe our type of service is even better for these types of disaster situations.”
“As long as you have a Phone.com number it doesn’t matter what device you have you can still get your call,” said Rabban.
Phone.com has informed its customers on all social media channels what they can do to maintain connectivity during and after Hurricane Sandy. Rabban said, “It’s all part of being able to better serve our customers.”
Edited by Jamie Epstein
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