August 2013 Archives

When you have been involved with the design, deployment and management of customer premise telephone systems for as long as we have, you think you have seen it all.   Over the years as we learn form our mistakes we improve our “best practice” list to assure others gain from our experience.   When I was barely a teenager, I learned how to assemble a string of MF tones using a Hammond organ keyboard.  Recording two keys at a time, you could create toll call routing instructions that could be played back after making a 1-800 toll call before the terminating end answered! ShoreTel Support ... Read more on Hacking ShoreTel

After your first 100 or so Contact Center Scripts you begin to wonder if it would be possible to generate a “killer script!".    Mastered UCCX Tutorial. No matter how many hours you sit with clients and do your very best to extract their call handling requirements, it just never seems to be enough!   Generally, you have some block of professional hours to complete the script, test, train and turn up before “go live”.   Continue Reading...

If you have ever tried to decide on a new hosted business VoIP solution for your company, then you have most likely run into, and been frustrated by some of the “gotcha’s” that VoIP company’s use to get you to consider their service above all others. Even when you have narrowed it down to just a few options, you have likely struggled to perform a   comparison of VoIP services that helps you make a final decision. Need CISCO Support and CISCO Training ... read more on DrVoIP ShoreTel Blog

I very seldom comment, in this technology blog,  on company policy and just try to stay focused on VoIP.   This time I am speaking out as a ShoreTel Shareholder, you know one of the people who bought into the $10 a share IPO (at about the time they were suddenly sued by Mitel for patent infringement)?  ShoreTel stock (SHOR) is now trading at $3.50 or so?   The company has been through at least three CEO’s post start up and they are now scouting for yet another.   Continue Reading...

Martin Sloan CCIE Voice Candidate #211151677 speaks for the entire CCIE Candidate community (DrVoIP included) when he wrote the following letter:

I’m writing you this morning to express my great disappointment in regard to Cisco’s recent announcement to retire the CCIE Voice track with no reasonable upgrade path to the CCIE Collaboration.  I know that you’re well informed as to all the arguments which are being made against this decision on Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets, so I won’t go into any detail on why I think this is a bad decision.  At this point, the facts are well laid out for everyone to see. CISCO Support and CISCO Training ...Read more on the CISCO Certification letter.

If you have managed a contact center of any size, sooner or later, you will be asked to make a change on demand. A contact center supervisor feels the need to have a “team” meeting in the middle of the work day and needs the entire staff to be present.  This means nobody will be logged in to take calls. This is the point they call you, the contact center administrator,  and ask that you not only close the queue but record a new closed greeting. Continue Reading...

Anyone who has been deploying telephone systems for any length of time has run into the “language” issue.   Though I am personally tired of having to “Press one” for English, the fact remains that we market on a global basis even if we are a small local business.  It is rare to encounter an Automated Attendant or Call Tree that does not offer us the option of selecting another language for Cisco Support or ShoreTel Support.  In the States, Spanish tends to dominate the motivation to change language and it is invariably offered to all callers. Read more on ShoreTel ECC and CISCO UCCX on DrVoIP Blog

With an estimated 45 percent of Americans now using smartphones (66 percent for those under 30), it smartphones are starting to bleed into the enterprise. And now some businesses are beginning to evaluate whether they can manage their phone system needs directly from a smartphone. 
ShoreTel Softphone or ShoreTel Phone, Read more on DrVoIP ShoreTel Blog.

Have you ever call into a customer service function, been answered with “all of our Agents are currently busy with other customers, please wait and the next available customer service representative will be right with you” and then waited and waited and waited.   It probably crossed your mind that maybe they all went home!   Is it possible that a call center could queue a caller for service when nobody is actually logged in to handle the call?   Well, the answer is absolutely yes! For CISCO UCCX Training Videos and CISCO Training, Read more on UCCX Scripting on DrVoIP Blog