June 2009 Archives

760 Area Code Change to 442

Who Will be Affected? All customers with a 760 number will have to change the way they dial.  The new 442 area code will serve new customers in the same geographic region as the current 760 area code, which extends from Bridgeport in the north, south to the Mexican border, Camp Pendleton on the west, and east to the state line.

Read the full article here: 760 Area Code     -Dr.VoIP

For ShoreTel Support or CISCO Support, visit https://www.drvoip.com/

Every call center has peaks and valleys.  Normal businesses using business voip operate with very predictable calling patterns.  Traffic over the normal business day, starts out slow and peaks between 10AM  and 2 PM on most voip for small business in the afternoon, then trickles down.  The old Bell Curve distribution pattern!   Continue Reading...

Fax Machines on ShoreTel?   It is not uncommon for system administrators to create a user named FAX SEVER, then define it as EXTENSION ONLY.    Though I personally have been trying to eliminate all the forest eating fax machines and printers on the planet, it would appear that Fax machines are going to be with us for quite some time.   Even with a fax server, people want to stick a piece of paper into the machine and watch it "go through" after dialing the distant end.   Continue Reading...

Microsoft Office Communications is a powerful collaboration tool.  The MOCS provides web conferencing, IM, audio conferencing, desktop sharing and also provided  SIP.   For purposes of this brief discussion, we will stay focused on the Internet Messaging component of MOCS.     With the Release of ShoreTel 8+, the Professional Call Manager  provides both desktop to desktop video conferencing and Internet Messaging.   The Internet Messaging component makes use of a Microsoft OCS server and the ShoreTel solution integrates the solution as an application server defined within the ShorewareDirector portal.

 Internet Messaging, or IM as it is popularly referred to, seems to fall into two corporate philosophy camps:  companies who absolutely abhorrer its use; and companies who find it to be an essential business tool.  Those companies who do not allow IM of any kind typically have very tightly controlled employee desktops, enable website filtering and block IM ports for Yahoo, AOL, Google and others.    Sometimes the excuse is HIPA/Sarbanes Oxley compliance or a general concern that employees might communicate private company information out this internet portal.    Companies that find IM to be essential can be broken down into two additional categories: those that allow IM clients on an ad hoc basis and those who want total control of the IM client.

Microsoft OCS provides a solution for that last group of customers; those that need IM but want to control and monitor its utilization.   MOCS enables you to "record" all IM conversations to an achieve server to meet those HIPA and Sarbanes Oxley compliance requirements and to assure the content of IM does not violate Corporate use policy.   MOCS also enables you to set up "federations" so that inside IM participants across the Company can communicate with Yahoo, AOL or Other corporate MOCS users outside the domain.   All in all, MOCS is the great unsung hero of the Microsoft Servers!

The integration of ShoreTel Professional Call Manager and the MOCS is not that complex, but falls under that summary statement "well know, to those who know it well".    Microsoft clearly has a VOIP strategy in which the MOCS plays a key role.   Working with a ShoreTel IPBX and a Professional call manager, it becomes a viable solution for adding IM to and existing ShoreTel voip installation.  The video is just a quick overview of how you actually deploy the integration.  -DrVoIP

For ShoreTel Training or CISCO Training, visit https://www.drvoip.com/

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We have been actively working with VoIP since 1999!   Since 2001 we have installed well over 10,000 ShoreTel desktops and one characteristic of these VoIP environments has surfaced into high relief on the radar screen here in technical support:  A VoIP solution is only as good as the computer Network it runs on!  Network Monitoring - a Necessary Evil?  When someone mentions network monitoring, most network administrators immediately start thinking: overpriced, large server requirements, difficult to install, time-consuming to configure.  Continue Reading...

Prior to version 7 of  ShoreTel, backing up your ShoreTel system was very straight forward. There was a single folder in the root directory named d:\ Shoreline data. This folder contained all the information that was required to completely restore your ShoreTel system from a bare metal server in the event of a major disaster. The folder contained the configuration database, which at the time was kept in Microsoft Access. Continue Reading...

As noted in a previous post, there are reasons that you might want to consider using the standard Agent tool bar.  The Standard Agent tool bar enables the manipulation of an call center contacts (voice, email and chat)  with an unobtrusive GUI.  The toolbar can be standardized for each agent or a supervisor can allow agents to create there own tool bars.  There is a setup icon that enables the ability to add or remove icons associated with different contact center functions.  Again, the system administrator can "lock" this function and push out a standard Agent tool bar to assure system uniformity.   In a "shift" based contact center in which different people sit at the same desk and extension at different times (e.g. Day, Night, Weekend) you can create an Agent tool bar icon that will prompt the Agent to enter their Agent ID and Extension number.  In this way, the ShoreTel PBX can be setup with non-specific users, as the ShoreTel Contact Center can track usage by Agent ID.

Signing into the Agent tool bar prompts you to enter three items of information: Agent ID, Agent Extension and Email Address.  The Agent Email address is only used when your ShoreTel Enteprise Contact Center is setup to route incoming email messages to the next available Agent, in a manner similar voice calls.  Once logged in, there is an icon for Agent tool bar setup.   There are four basic areas of tool bar setup:  Telephony, ACD, Window and Other.  The Telephony setup enables you to add icons for common phone features like transfer, hang-up, conference and Divert incoming call!   The ACD setup enables wrap up, release and other common functions including the ability to request Supervisor Intervention.   There is a Call Window, Queue monitor, Telephone manager and Desktop Wall Board in the Window setup section and currently the "other"  option enable you to create an icon for launching an external application.  There are also tabs for setting Preferences, Contact Information, Ring and Queue Alerts.

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