Well Telax Hosted Call Center, of course! We’re excited to announce that Call Centers for Dummies, 2nd Edition is now available for purchase.

The book’s authors (Real Bergevin, Afshan Kinder, Winston Siegel and Bruce Simpson), in their infinite wisdom, chose to consult a number of leaders in the call center industry and Telax Hosted Call Center was among them.

Call Center for Dummies, 2nd Edition

The book aims to provide a “fast and easy way to improve call center management and response.” Coincidentally, Telax Hosted Call Center is a fast and easy way to improve call center management and response. Read one of our case studies or check out a demo. Anyway, if you’re wondering what we contributed to the publication, remember that copies are available online and in major bookstores.

Hint: Our bit comes after page 200.

Happy reading!

We continually look to innovate and improve on our solution and are excited to announce that with Telax Hosted Call Center, you can now benefit from native IP termination. What’s that, you ask? Well…

Native IP termination basically means that instead of using hard phones, your agents can rely on softphones registered to Telax and there is no need for third-party IP provider to offer termination. You now have a way to receive IP calls using Telax’s network agnostic offering. That means you’ll have multiple networks at your fingertips, in addition to the regular old public switched telephone network (PSTN).

There are many advantages to native IP termination. For one, you’ll be easily able to point your calls to another data center in the case of an outage. It also means that agents need as little as a headset and an Internet connection to answer customer calls and make outgoing calls as well.

And because this new functionality is native to Telax, it means your calls will be going straight from us to you, with no additional players to add cost or complexity.

To enable your Telax Hosted Call Center solution with presence support please contact your account manager or request a free demo now.

We’ve been working on some new presence functionality in our Call Center Agent application and we’re happy to report that we have now launched these latest features.

We’ve always provided an ergonomic phone book, where thousands of entries could be searched with minimum keystrokes. We’ve continually focused  on reducing RSIs (repetitive strain injuries) while enabling fast access to essential information for the most efficient call routing.

Now, Telax has taken its directory to the next level by providing real-time presence information for other users logged into the system.  No more dialing an agent that is not available, and waiting for the system to prevent the call out, or provide with appropriate message.

With this new functionality, users can now proactively determine who is the resource available to leverage, instead of dialing around.  Agents are sorted by teams with fast search enabled to find specific individuals in a list. The presence window, only a click away from the directory, remembers your last request, so if on the “Logged Agents” was the last group selected, it will be the default for your query.  One click dialing or transfer engage after easily finding the most suitable agent for your needs.

To enable your Telax Hosted Call Center solution with presence support please contact your account manager or request a free demo now.

Your IVR is your customer’s first point of contact. It’s the step in the customer experience that sets the tone for the entire interaction. When you make a good impression, accomplish a conversion or lose a customer altogether, your IVR was a factor. So to help you build a killer IVR that will leave you customers and your customer service staff smiling, we’ve compiled 4 essential tips:

1. Let the customer drive your IVR design. Put the options that’ll be most selected first. If you get twice as many calls for sales than you do for technical support, your menu should reflect that. “For sales, press 1, for technical support, press 2.”
2. Respect your customer’s time. Your customers have got better things to do than navigate through your IVR. Do everything you can to make the IVR interaction short and efficient. Indicate to the customer how many options will be available in a menu. “Please select one of the following three options.” Give your callers an easy way to return to the previous menu or to speak to a real agent.
3. Make your customers feel at home. Use language that’s comfortable for your primary demographic and keep it consistent. Employ the same professional voice talent for all of your prompts and ensure that an appropriate tone is used.
4. Leverage available technology. Take advantage of CTI technology to improve the customer experience: look at implementing advanced functionality like virtual queuing and smart call routing.

We’re all somebody’s customer and simply put, life is too short for crappy IVRs. If you’d like to find out more about keeping your customers and staff happy, get a free demo of what Telax can do for you.

Pyjamas: Some work-from-homers are sticklers for a regular work routine, including business casual, even when sticking close to home. I, however, am of the school that believes, “Thou shalt have pyjamas.” I work better in flannel: it’s a fact of nature. Everybody’s different and it’s hard to accommodate those differences with a corporate dress code. Having the ability to wear whatever my little heart desires allows me to focus less on the runs in my pantyhose and more on what’s important: my work.

Savings: It’s truly incredible the money (and time) you can save by avoiding transit to and from work, a coffee here and there, a food court lunch. In the context of my spending habits, working from home is equivalent to about $65 a week or $3250 a year in savings, plus the time saved in interminable commutes which I won’t even begin to calculate. It’s practically like getting a raise (which is not to say I wouldn’t still accept a real one…).

Pets: Speaking on behalf of my two cats and two rats (yes, rats), working from home is really the best. They’re happier, I’m happier. There are tons of studies that say that animal companionship helps regulate mood and is good for general health. Those studies may not have dealt specifically with rats, but I’m sure they would have, had they realized how cool rats are. For people who don’t have pets, the same principles apply to plants. A very scientific study (conducted by yours truly) concluded that plants tend to die less in the care of work-from-homers, with the exception of cacti, which seem to die more, from overwatering.

Solitude: I don’t remember the last time I was able to sit quietly and reflect at the office. “Kate, can I ask you a question?” (Internal dialogue: That WAS a question.) Happens all the time. But when I’m working from home, I can take fifteen minutes to truly dedicate my grey matter to a particular strategy or report. Some of my best work happens in solitude. As one my favourite Telaxers likes to say, “No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.” I can’t give him full credit: it’s Voltaire. We’re cool like that.

Flexibility: I couldn’t possibly list the pleasures of working from home without touching on one of the most appreciated of them all: flexibility. Particularly for people with kids, the flexibility of working from home is an amazing gift. Of course there are still deadlines, meetings and expectations of availability that must be met. But if you have to run out for an errand or an appointment, the time is easily made up in the early morning or late afternoon from the comfort of the home office. It’s magical and a MAJOR perk, not to mention the fact that cloud-based solutions like Telax Hosted Call Center allow you to access that kind of flexibility from anywhere with an Internet connection and a telephone. Working holiday, anyone?

I could go on a great deal longer about the benefits of working from home, but the rats are dying for celery snack and I’ve got an appointment with some sustained thinking. Telax remote worker, over and out.