May 27, 2008
8x8's Call Queuing for Packet8 Virtual Office, a Closer Look
By Michael Dinan, TMCnet Editor
By placing callers in a queue, as opposed to sending them to voicemail when a sales agent or employee is occupied with other customers, a new feature of the Packet8 Virtual Office small business service is designed to help companies accept more calls throughout the day.
Officials at 8x8 ( News - Alert) Inc., a provider of Packet8 business, mobile and residential broadband communications services, say the new “call queuing” function will serve small businesses that get calls into functional areas such as sales, technical support, customer service and billing.
To gauge how the new feature could serve small businesses, TMCnet interviewed 8x8 Director of Corporate Communications Joan Citelli.
1. What sorts of problems do businesses encounter now that the new feature is designed to address?
Our customers were looking to find a way to place callers in a holding queue when no one is immediately available to take the call, rather then send them to voicemail and lose a potential business opportunity.
2. How helpful will the queuing feature be for micro and small-sized businesses, compared to mid- and larger-sized businesses?
The new Call Queuing feature helps price sensitive micro and small-sized business seem much larger in a very cost efficient manner. For mid and larger-sized companies, we offer the Packet8 Complete Contact Center which has a more complete call queuing feature that includes reporting and monitoring tools, etc. We have qualifying questions which allow our Sales Team to determine what the best fit is for our customers.
3. Where does the company see this type of technology going in the future?
The Call Queuing technology opens more opportunities for Packet8 to increase market share. This feature enables us to advertise to different vertical industries and find out what out customers needs are. So we can enhance Call Queuing to fix their needs.
4. What was the impetus behind developing the new feature?
It has been a request for our micro and small sized businesses which need a basic call queuing function when buying VO service but does not required a full blown version from Packet8 Complete Contact Center. Now we have a solution which will address all sized businesses and Call queuing requirements.
5. How does the new feature fit into the larger suite of Packet8 Virtual Offices?
It helped Packet8 to stay competitive in the hosted PBX landscape as well as additional value-add services for our customers.
Michael Dinan is a TMCNet Editor. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
Internet Protocol (IP) | X | IP stands for Internet Protocol, a data-networking protocol developed throughout the 1980s. It is the established standard protocol for transmitting and receiving data
in packets over the Internet. I...more |
Private Branch Exchange (PBX) | X | Originally, telephone features were provided by telephone central office switching systems, often called CENTREX.�PBX systems emerged as customers wanted to have more calling features and control over...more |
(source: http://voipservices.tmcnet.com/feature/articles/29165-8x8s-call-queuing-packet8-virtual-office-closer-look.htm)
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