Virtual Office Resource

Cloud telephony is not relegated to simply providing the ability to make and receive phone calls or providing a virtual office. From security to advanced voice features we have yet to reach the tipping point in cloud telephony innovation and imagination.

At ITEXPO, Phone (News - Alert).com, an eight-year-old cloud-based voice communications service provider illustrated a few examples during the session “Expanding Horizons – Innovative Uses for Cloud-Based Telephony.”

Senior Vice President at Phone.com, Joel Maloff (News - Alert) opened by making something quite clear, “Our focus is in the small business seeking an alternative to traditional telephony…Our willingness to listen has led to unusual business opportunities.”

The first example offered was Spectrio, a technology enabled marketing partner that Phone.com (News - Alert) is working with to provide end to end solutions for. Starting with the auto attendant and IVR prompts, the solution was enabled to answer frequently asked questions first—saving time on customer service. Phone.com also improved the on-hold experience, bringing value to the business by providing a way to offer retail and commercial sales offers.

Recently, Christopher Mohr reported LiftMasters and Phone.com announced an extension of their partnership. While every business needs a phone system, the primary result of this relationship is for the creation of next generation electric gates and door Solutions. Simply put, to two are applying VoIP to security, and intern alleviating the need and cost of a conventional phone line.

The session explored geo routing. In this instance, a national accounting firm was running advertisements on national TV and XM radio. The challenge here is ensuring calls are routed in an intelligent manner, and Phone.com was able to provide a means for calls to be distributed based on a caller’s local area code and put them in touch with the relevant state or country.

Another interesting use case is the hospitality industry. In this instance a hotel was seeking a way to improve communication and ease of use simultaneously. All employees were required to carry a walkie talkie to ensure open lines of communications. Something everyone has on them at all times, the smartphone, serves as a worthy replacement to the radio. The solution was to provide the hotel with push to talk (PTT) functionality. The implementation saved cost for the hotel and improved day to day operations.