With a little forethought and a small time investment (hours not days), you can virtually eliminate the costly and confusing telephone system you have been struggling with or have been putting off purchasing due to SMB budget constraints.
If you’re paying Ma-Bell for a traditional phone line, or have your own confusing pbx switch on location, you’re not making the most of current phone technology. In fact, you may be wasting precious time and money for a system that does not meet your needs and actually takes away revenue.
Maybe you are paying a full-time employee to do nothing but manage the “phone system”, or worse, heaping the responsibility on a part-time additional duty basis to an employee who could otherwise focus on THEIR job.
You may have already joined the quarter million other home subscribers of the Magic jack community. Now it’s time to see how this can be applied to your dinky or medium business.
There are links to reviews of the magic jack included with this article, but in summary:
FEATURES:
- It’s cheap, costs include $40 for the device and 1st year of phone service, $19.95/yr after that
- Being a USB storage device(like a thumb drive), it carries it’s own software and installs when inserted in the USB slot
- You can either create calls using a headset/mic or a traditional telephone (cordless phones & fax machines)
- It comes with “voicemail” forwarded to any email account you wish
- you rep email notifications when new VMs arrive
- Although it’s not a traditional phone ine with 911 they provide 911 where YOU control the address, so you can spot the 911 for ANY area in the US (got a sick mother? )
- Nationwide toll-free is included and international can be had for a price or…
- Send a Magic Jack to anyone you want to call and who you want to call YOU and it’s free WORLDWIDE!
- You can migrate your current landline phone number, maybe your cell number not always, or get a new phone number*
- ALL of this depends on a broadband connection (I recommend Always on like Cable, NOT DSL), and a computer/laptop.
UNFEATURES
- Call quality (QoS) resembles a cell phone, in both sound quality and dropped calls.
- Customer service is basically their FAQs online and that’s about it.
- The device is bigger than other USB devices, but has a dongle to get it out of the way of your other USB plugs
- One yank on the phone cord and “POP”! out comes the MJ
- limited local phone numbers means long distance numbers in some locations
- Ordering the service online or over the phone or using the MJ program can be confusing
* The “local” phone numbers are not always a local call for your city, for instance in Montana the ONLY number they have are local to Helena, titanic if you live in the capital not so broad for the rest of the state.
The savvy entrepreneur has already seen some openings with the above list for cutting costs. Let’s look at a few ways you can gain the most of this new technology for your business.
We’re objective seeing the tip of the iceberg, but here are some cost effective uses:
HARDWARE
- Connect your Home & Work offices
- Virtual Office employee(s) and VAs
- Key Customer and teleconference training
- Anyone who travels for your company
IMPLEMENTATION
- Fax
- Small pbx-like features
- Integration with other tech i.e. Virtual PBX systems
First, HARDWARE solutions.
By simply purchasing the Magic Jack device at $40 ea. you can achieve tons on the recurring phone bill.
1 – Connect home & work offices, buy a MJ contrivance for home and work, for anyone who commutes. After the initial $40 you get 1 year of uninterrupted calling from work to home etc. try out call forwarding thru a virtual pbx
2 – Virtual Office employees or VAs you contract with can now maintain voice contact with no cost to THEM if you simply buy them a MJ arrangement, it’s up to you if you ask for it back at the end of the contract or give it to them for a job well done.
3 – Key customer care and Teleconferencing or training This encompasses many areas but essentially it’s a uncover of the above, for a nominal $40 charge you can ensure your key clients and business partners stay connected again at no fee for them. It’s so easy to exhaust they really won’t have to wade through a tech manual to begin calling you. If you host training over the phone/online through .rdp connections etc. you can send one of the MJs to them ahead of training (perhaps with any manuals) and ask them to call on your $40 dime. Especially if you will have ongoing training with this client. Again, you can choose to just give it to them as a gift. $40 isn’t distinguished when you consider the price of other training materials you use.
4 – The Road Warriors friend Having spent half my life on the road, I can tell you if I were doing that kind of work now, I would hold the MJ without even thinking about it. Being able to call “Local” to my home or the US when overseas for a year for $20 you bet I’m on board. Unprejudiced imagine, you win to the hotel (with broadband access of course) gradual at night, and just want to touch base with home or the office, now you plug in MJ into your laptop and before you can unwrap the baby soap bar, you’re ready to make or receive calls from home FOR FREE minus $20 initial fee 
If you are already paying for cell phones for the travelers maybe you can lop down on some of the primetime minutes by simply buying the MJ, or better yet, give the MJ to them for personal calls and encourage strict business ONLY calls on the cell phone wiht no excuses for wasted minutes chatting with family etc.
Now that’s only what you can do by being nice enough to purchase MJ devices for everyone, now let’s explaore some of the cool things that can be set up on the USAGE/Implementation side of the house:
1 – FAX Although officially not supported yet, key word being “YET”, faxing can be done from anywhere again as a local call with no special setup, just plug in and send. Again, you might consider integrating with a virtual pbx system for a smoother operation especially if you wish to offer fax wait on capability.
2 – Private Branch Exchange (private telephone switchboard) although it’s far from a PBX or virtual PBX system, the magic jack will allow 3-way calling and take voicemails. Once you have the MJ phone number you can marry it with a virtual pbx and get full-featured use of a pbx with the orders or significant calls coming to your MJ phone.
If you have set up your business to be on autopilot, send a MJ to your order takers and Cust Aid VAs and let the calls come in with no per minute charges coming attend to you.
3 – Integrate The most effective expend of technology means marry-ing or integrating several solutions to create a full-featured robust solution.
If you aren’t familiar with virtual-PBXs look into using one like onebox, for service starting around $10/mo., prices go up depending on usage, you get 1-800 access and the same basic features that a geeky full-time phone switch programmer at your company can create, with less cost and hassle.
- Have calls routed within the PBX to various voicemails, but more importantly following the Tim Ferris way of doing things, you can have them follow YOU or any of your employees and VAs, no matter what phone or time of day they will be at that phone number, giving the illusion of 24/7 customer support.
Routing can also include having the really important calls directed to the MJ device number/voice mail so you get ONLY the most pressing calls, again, from anywhere in the world (With broadband access).
Well, this is again just brushing the surface of what the world of VoIP and devices like the MagicJack can garner for the SMB world, for more info please visit http://squatchtech.ning.com and follow the articles relating to small business technology use.
Your uncle BobSquatch
Related Posts
Filed under Small Business Pbx by on Jan 24th, 2011. 
For a business that is impartial starting out and has a limited budget, an Internet-based phone system will save money, provide maximum flexibility and make a stout first impression on customers. In the past, businesses that have wanted a sophisticated phone system have had to spend thousands of dollars to purchase and install hardware, only to be locked into equipment that quickly becomes obsolete. By using an Internet-based phone system (sometimes called a virtual pbx) the business owner can be up and running within minutes for very cramped upfront cost, and will always have the most up-to-date technology at his or her disposal.
There are many companies that offer Internet-hosted phone systems. In choosing one, you will want to consider the features offered, any set-up charges (which are typically less than $100), the monthly account charge, and any charges for calls made and received. If you already have a phone number, you will want to check if it can be ‘ported’, or transferred to the new provider. Most companies offer both toll-free numbers and local phone, so if you are getting a new number, you’ll need to choose. You may also want to check if you will own the number, which will allow you to transfer to a different provider in the future.
The central feature of a hosted phone system is the auto attendant. When callers dial your number, the auto attendant will answer the call and indicate a list of extensions and other options. In addition to listing available extensions, many auto attendants include dial-by-name capability. Once the caller chooses an extension, the auto attendant will either send the caller directly to voice mail or else ring one or more physical numbers for a set amount of time before sending unanswered calls to instruct mail. It is up to you to program the attendant to follow the sequence of actions you wish, and this can vary by extension, time of day, and day of the week. The actual phone can be located anywhere – in your office, across town, or in another county.
Although a hosted phone system can be set up using standard phone lines, the most flexibility and cost savings are achieved when you use the system with VoIP phone lines (calls are transmitted via the Internet), and IP phones designed to plug directly into your local area network. While this will increase your initial cost, it is well worth the investment.
Related Posts
Filed under Small Business Pbx by on Nov 15th, 2010.
Business phone systems are essential to the tranquil operation of your business, especially if you’re running a itsy-bitsy venture. A phone system is one of the most indispensable communication tools in a company, so the quality of the setup and equipment is very distinguished.
When you purchase a telephone system for your business, it’s important to take budget into consideration as well as your specific needs. The equipment you purchase should handle the requirements of your business now and into the future.
The type of business phone system you implement will depend on the size of your company and your plans for future expansion. Most basic phone systems advance with options such as voicemail, a receptionist station, call transfer capabilities, and room for expansion. A KSU telephone system is the most common type in this category – it’s a small box mounted on a wall that requires software to run. Many name brands sell this type of phone system, so it’s not difficult to find a vendor.
PBX telephone systems are another option. KSU systems are perfectly acceptable for about 10-40 users, but if you have a larger organization PBX is the next step up. PBX stands for private branch exchange system, which is essentially a small private switchboard just for your company. This type of phone system is needed for larger businesses because it’s the only telephone system that can handle a lot of activity.
Whether you go with a hosted PBX or a virtual PBX, this is the only setup that can handle a large amount of incoming calls, route connections, and process everything quickly and precisely. A hosted PBX or virtual PBX comes with a lot of different features as well, such as automated directories of employee extensions, call parking, conference calling capabilities, and customizable voicemail services.
A whole host of designate name vendors sell PBX systems, so it’s easy to salvage something that will suit your business perfectly.
Luckily, setting up a business phone system doesn’t have to be expensive. These days the Internet makes it possible to purchase low-cost systems from vendors over the web. Certain services even allow you to set up a virtual phone system through the Internet that provides all the features you would normally get with hardware.
A business system also needs high-quality phones to work properly, whether you’re setting up a classic phone system or are venturing to try VOIP services that promise to cut costs significantly. Ayala phones offer excellent features for a small or large office environment. Ayala phones provide everything you could ever need in a business telephone without a large price tag.
In the end, the specific phone system you decide to establish for your business will depend on more than one factor. What suits your needs may not be right for another company. Do some research ahead of time to figure out what kind of system will fulfill the requirements of your business and work best with the number of employees you currently have at the office.
Related Posts
Filed under Small Business Pbx by on Oct 8th, 2010.
Internet services from a local business with limited hours for tech support and set hours in which anyone is in the building or office is at times frustrating. If it’s a small business with few workers incoming calls are sometimes ignored if there is another customer being attended to in the office. This can obtain it insensible trying to reach someone in the building during working hours when your service is down.
If you can’t get through to talk to anyone, sometimes all you get is an answering machine, it can leave you in the dark wondering when your service will be back online or when to expect it to be back online. It could be hours or days offline before the problem is fixed.
If you are getting Dial-Up or DSL from a local business sometimes you can consider when your Internet service will be back online by what you hear when you call your Internet service. During office hours, tech support hours or after office and tech support hours if you call and nobody answers or the regular answering machine message doesn’t play but you come by a different message, what the message says can tell you that the problem is being fixed. And you’ll know when the Internet is back online by calling your Internet services office or tech support number.
If you get a message that says “the companies lines are busy” or a similar message that lets you know someone is working on the problem. If the lines are busy, you can’t get through to use the Internet, to leer when your Internet service is benefit online call the same number for the office or tech support. If you hear a explain of the same message “the companies lines are busy” then the Internet is still likely to be down. When you call the same number and don’t hear the message that “the companies lines are busy” but the regular-recorded message for after hours or when no one is available to answer the phone then the Internet should be serve online.
This is just one way that you may be able to tell when your Internet service is back online. It may not work but in some circumstances and not for all Internet services. Some services will have representatives and tech support available twenty-four hours a day while others will not, which is something to think about if you are changing services or starting out.
Related Posts
Filed under Small Business Phone Service by on Sep 29th, 2010.
Miniature businesses face enormous challenges in today’s economy. Saying that is a tremendous understatement and I apologize to the millions of small business owners who wear so many hats for not being able to effect it into stronger words. A one or two person company is unexcited responsible for all of the same business processes as a 10, 20, 50 or 100 person company. Some of these processes include finances, sales, marketing, legal, and human resources. They are also responsible for how they expend (or not use) technology to help their business. The use of technology within the small business world is growing quickly, perhaps faster than some would like to admit, and is infiltrating every business function. The result is that it is affecting almost every business decision and either helping to solve problems at one end of the spectrum or causing headaches at the other.
Obviously, business processes have evolved over time. Many years ago, the processes were much simpler. The common merchant simply had to understand the supply and demands of their products, how to deal with the revenue, and how to be able to be sure to get the most for their invested dollar (choose low, sell high). (Yes, this is an oversimplification.) Then, a customer slipped and fell while shopping, sued the pants off of the merchant and the need for attorneys to help prevent this from happening to others was birthed. As more and more litigation reared its ugly head into the affairs of diminutive business, the need to retain legal representation as a permanent member of the staff became paramount.
Then we have the tax laws which have slowly become proverbial thorns in the sides of shrimp businesses. Changes in the tax laws, ambiguity, and the fear of missing something primary have led many small business owners to retain the external professional befriend of an accountant. Many small businesses commonly have accountants as members of their executive advisory board right along side their attorneys.
And so it goes, needs arise, small business owners try to do it themselves (at least initially), and then they bring on experts to handle the needs. Usually, though, the businesses retain the experts only after some other poor sap has demonstrated what happens when the experts are not alive to in the process. The threats of legal action or severe penalties due to tax issues have proven to be a motivating factor for many companies.
Technology is in the beginning stages of this integration process. Most microscopic business owners believe that they can handle their technology challenges with little outside abet. A large number of tiny business owners work extremely hard at writing or hiring friends to develop their websites, setting up their emails and getting their company lap tops or desktop computer workstations. Having succeeded at getting those things in place, many of these business owners believe that they have done all it takes to have a top-notch technology program. Yet, at the end of the day, most are shocked when they derive that their technology budgets have been blown or company profits are not where they should be although they have performed due diligence in every other area.
Technology has and continues to change and evolve at an enormous rate. Innovations thought unheard of yesterday are commonplace today. For example, just a few short years ago, the most common method of tracking appointments was via the use of day planners. Changes to a person’s calendar were often tedious and required some coordination. Now, many people use their cell phones and personal digital assistants (PDA) to not only track their calendars, but also to check email, voice mail and a variety of other things designed to keep them in touch with their business and personal matters.
Unfortunately, the nature of the technology changes and implied implications within business present tremendous challenges for small business owners. Now, instead of just being able to focus on delivering excellent service to its customers, the miniature businesses must be able to understand how technology is affecting the very nature of their business. How, for example, has the ability to be able to use a “push-to-talk” communications system impacted the construction business? How has the advent of the Internet affecting bookstores and the music industry?
The problem is that these changes are happening fleet, very quick. These changes include everything from hardware improvements, better software, and improved processes for using both hardware and software together. Having not only knowledge of the changes but also the wisdom that it takes to understand how newer technologies can affect your bottom line may determine your level of overall future success.
If you are a itsy-bitsy business owner still doing everything yourself, consider the following simple questions. You may have a website, but do you understand the intricacies of search engine optimization (SEO)? Or, what is PBX, and which is better for your business, virtual PBX or on premise PBX? How great should you be spending on software updates? What about network protection; how much is enough? And how much time are you actually spending worrying about these types of issues at the risk of neglecting other pressing matters.
And, how has the utilize of technology affected the ability of companies to stay in business when the unthinkable happens? Despite of the use of technology, many companies don’t have very good disaster recovery or equipment replacement plans. (If you don’t know what a disaster recovery plan is, then we have a real problem; seek succor immediately.) If your company doesn’t have a plan for replacing equipment such as computers before they die, then the idea is to have serious issues once they do, and they will. And, when they do, it is too late to prevent or mitigate the repair cost and it is definitely too late to avoid the loss in business productivity. There are literally thousands of questions like these that can keep a small business owner up at night; or, at the very least, take up enough of your attention to make you less effective during the day.
So, what is it going to take for you as a small business owner to realize that the time is now for you to retain a technology expert as a key member of your team much like an accountant or an attorney? A technology expert worth his or her salt will be very proactive in helping to identify issues well ahead of time. The retained expert acting as a key member of the staff will develop technology plans that support the company’s business plans and goals. This expert will ultimately save the company thousands of dollars per year while allowing the business owners to do what they do best without worrying about technology-related issues. They will pay for themselves in so many ways that you’ll wonder just how you got by without them in the past.
If you have a small business, and you are doing it all, then it is likely only a matter of time before disaster strikes. It may strike in an positive manner such as a network or computer break that ultimately costs money or results in lost productivity. Hope for that, because the alternative is much less pleasant. The alternative? Well, it is when you notice that your competitor is able to deliver their product or service cheaper, faster, and with a higher quality than you and your staff. You notice that your bottom line seems to be getting trimmer, slowly at first, and then faster as time goes.
Sorry to say, but it is at that point that you are likely on your way out of business.
Related Posts
Filed under Small Business Pbx by on Aug 20th, 2010.