Synclio

What Does PABX Stand for, and is it Different from a PBX?

Wednesday, July 6, 2011 – posted by Maty Grosman

The distinction between a PBX (Private Branch Exchange) and a PABX (Private Automatic Branch Exchange) is perhaps an instance of technology traveling faster than day-to-day language can keep up.

Telephone switches have certainly come a long way since the “carriage bolts...teapot lids, and bustle wire” model first introduced back in 1878—and, as common in the wake of progress, a terminological haze remains clouding the public atmosphere long after that ever whooshing train has whistled by.

So if you're wondering "what is PABX? anyhow?!"—don't worry, you're not alone. Here's a brief overview that will clear things up faster than you can say 'choo choo!'

(Or, if you're really in a rush, skip right down to the bottom line)

The Birth of PBX

In the olden days, telephone calls were routed over the Public Switched Telephone Network to a hive of Switchboard Operators equipped with patch cords, who then manually connected them to the recipient. These telephone exchanges were facilitated by the phone companies. With time, reasons of economics and efficiency encouraged large organization to start their own in-house exchange rooms for local communications, and so Private Branch Exchange was born.

Progress Breeds a Whole Family of Acronyms

As technology moved on from analog to electro-mechanical and finally to electronic switchboards and the process became automated, the general term PBX was sometimes broken down into PMBX (Private Manual Branch Exchange) and PABX (Private Automated Branch Exchange) to differentiate between the two.

Solid state electronic systems were christened with their own acronym as well: EPABX (Electronic Private Automated Branch Exchange).

PBX in the Virtual Age: a Return to the Roots.

Today virtually all PBX systems are automated, so the distinction between PBX (or PMBX) and PABX has become literally obsolete. Even the finer technological varieties are largely a matter of semantics—so with the advent of the latest cloud based digital systems, rather than coining yet another acronym, companies were content to adopt the good old ‘PBX’ with the simple prefix ‘virtual’ or ‘hosted’.

The Bottom Line:

While PABX still has its share of adopters, PBX is the widely used term between the two, and for all practical intents and purposes they are both one and the same—to find a manual switchboard you'd have to visit a museum!

Sources:

A Brief History of Toll-Free Phone Numbers

Tuesday, June 28, 2011 – posted by Maty Grosman

What Are Toll-Free Numbers, and Where Did They Come From?

We all know a Toll-Free number when we see one. Hack, some of us who couldn’t even remember their own phone number if their life depended on it can chirrup the Domino’s Pizza 1-800 as if they'd written the darn jingle themselves!

But the toll-free numbers we know and love today actually had their humble origins in a service called ‘Interstate INWARD WATS’, designed by AT&T way back when Disney’s ‘Jungle Book’ was burning the silver screen and Party Costumes were the latest fad in 1967. You see, back then, if someone called collect (read: had the person he was calling foot the bill), the call was routed to an operator, who had to contact the other party for approval.

The thing is, as more and more collect calls were being placed to businesses, the poor operators simply couldn’t keep up to satisfy the demand. What's more, since no business owner in their right minds would have answered ‘No!’ to incoming business, the need for constant authorization has become redundant, and INWARD WATS was introduced to automate the collect calling process and relieve the operators of this burden.

Little did they know at the time that this new feature was destined to revolutionize the business marketing world only a decade later.

From Niche to Mainstream

Initially the service had a limited appeal because, with the way 800 calls were processed, different numbers had to be used in different states. But in 1981 a new processing method and a centralized data-base surmounted this hurdle and enabled the use of a single 1-800 number flat across the nation. That’s when the full potential of auto-collect-calling became apparent and demand started to sky-rocket.

Shaking-off the Shackles

In 1993, an FCC order severed the link between 1-800 numbers and telephone providers, demanding that all toll-free numbers be portable, and thereby enabling business customers to take their numbers with them when making a switch. This obliterated the last disadvantage as companies no longer had to worry about gearing their advertising around a number that might not be around down the road.

Additional 8-- Prefix Introduced and Others Earmarked for the Future

With 800 combinations fast depleting and an end in sight, the 888 was named as the next official toll-free prefix in 1995. The rest of the 8-- series were reserved for the future. 877 followed in 1998, 866 in 2000, and finally 855 in 2010. That’s the latest at the time of this writing.

Toll-Free Numbers Today

Though the scene has changed dramatically over the 30 or so years since toll-free numbers experienced their first boom, and though today many transactions can be completed over the web without ever picking up the phone, Toll-free numbers still have their place in everyday business—both for practical reasons and for the prestige they’ve gained over the years.

What’s more, with modern advances in telephony technology (such as hosted PBX products and VoIP calling) not only are toll-free numbers easier and cheaper to come by—the entire underlying structure of accepting collect calls is, for the first time, affordable enough to come within the reach of small-business pocketbooks. Now that’s exciting!

To read more about toll-free numbers and how you can get your own, check out the posts below.

Sources:

Labels: 1-800, 1-855, 1-866, 1-877, 1-888, history of toll-free numbers, hosted pbx, virtual PBX, what are 800 numbers, what are toll-free numbers

posted by Maty Grosman @ 4:27 PM

Synclio Goes International: New Website Launched in China

Monday, June 27, 2011 – posted by Maty Grosman

Exciting news out of the pipeline here at the Synclio HQ.

We have taken our first virtual step across international waters with the launch of a brand new Chinese website. This is part of a continuous effort to extend our awesome virtual PBX services to international communities just as we do to North American markets. We realize it takes different kinds of people to make the world go round (and not only because we happened to hear that song playing on the radio!)

So if you’re a proficient reader of ancient logograms, a curious cosmopolitan, or perhaps simply a Google robot (*wink wink*), we invite you to sail over to www.synclio.cn or http://www.synclio.com.cn/ and enjoy our little slice of the orient.

Feel free to start spreading the word around in any language you can master—sing it, swing it, ring it, ding it, clap it, snap it, yap it... whatever it takes to let your overseas friends know that Synclio's virtual PBX is coming soon into the language near them.

First step China—then, THE WORLD! (*evil laugh*)

One satisfied customer at a time!

13 Tips To Help You Design IVR Menus Better than the Pros

Thursday, June 23, 2011 – posted by Maty Grosman

IVR technology is a great concept. An automated phone menu can provide useful information, route calls to the most qualified support person, and even completely automate simple tasks without ever reaching a live agent. So why is it we keep hearing people swearing and moaning as they recount their latest encounter with ‘a machine’?

When not properly executed, automation can become a source of frustration—and sadly the worst offenders are often those big and well-established organizations we, as small business owners, have learned to look up to and take example from. So many of us naively follow in their footprints and perpetuate the very mistakes that got callers plunking out hair—all in the name of enhancing customer service.

Fortunately, planning and executing an effective IVR menu design is really not all that complicated, and these simple tips will have you doing it better than the pros:

Make a clear distinction between information lines and customer support numbers. The first provide automated information (such as transit schedules, tourist information, etc), while the second may provide information but also route calls to live agents. That’s a big distinction, so make sure you advertise the number accordingly. This will ensure people call with the right expectations, making life easier on both ends of the line.
Keep the number of options to a minimum. The figures commonly tossed around are 4-5 at the most. You’d do well shooting for 3. Now, you may point out that some big conglomerates use more, and you’ll be right. But how many of us actually had a good experience calling such companies? Usually the experience is anything BUT positive, and the main reason we stick with them is we don’t really have an alternative (or the alternatives are just as bad). Since your small business hasn’t likely gained such indispensability, you’ll have to work twice as hard to keep customers happy. Because happy customers don’t call the competition.
Of course, if you’ve done your best to minimize options and you still end up with more, go ahead and use them—this is just a guideline. But your motto should be: the fewer the better.
- Group items under broad categories and branch out from there. A short root menu with several sub-menus can be much easier to navigate than a single loooonngg menu.
- Leave complicated tasks to a live agent. Avoid over-automating. If a customer calls with a complex task better get him quickly to someone that can help rather than frustrate him with an IVR overload.
Position common queries first so that as many callers can find what they need as quickly as possible.
Keep prompts short. People can only listen to pre-recorded options for so long before frustration kicks in. Keep things clear, direct, and to the point. You may want to check out our Tips to Help You Record IVR Voice Prompts Like a Pro for some pointers
Don’t forget to leave a way back from sub-menus. Nothing is more frustrating than reaching a dead-end, then having to hang up and call back again.
Include an option to have the prompts repeated. Some people are not as quick as others on the uptake, or may simply get distracted. Make it easy for them to replay your message. If possible, include both the option to go back just a little bit, and to restart right from the top.
Don’t force customers to be polite when interacting with a machine. Patience can be a hard enough virtue to maintain with real people, let alone with an automated service. If your customers know where they need to go and make a selection in mid-sentence—don’t force them to sit through. Skip the recoding and move on (A.I. hasn’t reached the point yet where it might take things personally)
Leave a clear path to a live agent. If the number is listed as customer service number, make sure there’s indeed a person at the end of that pipeline. Otherwise, list it as an info line. (You might want to check out these Seven Deadly Sins of IVR)
Ask only for information you’ll actually require, and use it effectively. We’ve all experienced the frustration of calling a credit-card company and going through the hassle of inputting our card number, expiration code, etc—only to be asked for the same information again when connected to an agent. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.
CRM integration can help ensure all relevant information is recorded and effectively shared between team members, so customers aren’t repeatedly asked the same questions.
Voice Recognition technology keeps getting better all the time, and incorporating it can certainly increase convenience. Just keep in mind that it’s not flawless and accuracy tends to decrease when used with mobile devices. You’d use it to supplement your touch-tone interface, not to replace it.
Let your employees test-drive your system before it goes live and ask them to provide you with honest feedback. They’ll be able to catch things early on before they become a problem. Plus, familiarity with the calling process will help them later when dealing with customers.
Consider implementing surveys to get first-hand responses straight from your customers. This can lead to some great improvements and, at the same time, show your customers that you care about their experience. You can hire a company to do this for you, or use a service like Survey Monkey and do it yourself.
Find out if your system keeps record of call routing and take time to investigate where customers got stuck, where they had to go back, what prompts they had to repeat, how long they spent resolving an issue, where drop-outs occurred, etc. These can indicate troublesome areas with your system and suggest future design improvements.

Keeping these things in mind when you plan your IVR menu will help you design a simple, user-friendly structure that will make calling support a source of solace rather than frustration to your customers—which is as it should be.

Labels: design IVR menu, hosted pbx, interactive voice response, IVR best practices, IVR design best practices, IVR tips, virtual PBX, voice prompts

posted by Maty Grosman @ 4:34 PM

Do You Have a Solid Business Model or are You Building Your Castle in the Air?

Monday, June 20, 2011 – posted by Maty Grosman

It can be tempting to think that you’ve got it all figured out; that your business is ticking like a Swiss clock, or that your new idea is the best thing since sliced bread. Falling in love comes naturally to us humans. But as in Shakespeare, so in business, love has a way of distorting proportions. That’s why we must be careful when flirting with muse and hold up a mirror once in a while to make sure that we’re not being misled.

While many factors contribute to the value of your business model, the bottom line is your bottom line: Profit.

This Doesn’t Apply To Me

Before we start, you know what they say: evasion is often the first sign of a problem.

No human being is infallible or omniscient. We all have something we could learn, and any one of us is capable of error.

If you think you’re out of the woods simply because you’ve managed to secure funding or go into operation and it’s only the young and the inexperienced that fall prey to elementary mistakes—think again.

One needs look no further than Pandora's tell of woe for an example. Here’s a company that’s been around for some 10 years, whose earnings and operations run up millions of dollars, who’s got a great service everyone has raved about at one point or another...and yet, who still hasn’t made it out because they cannot become profitable (more on this later).

It’s not an isolated case either. Recent history is full of companies that went up and under, all the way back to the dot com bubble. So it never hurts to re-examine your math. A reality check now can save a lot of heartache later.

One Golden Rule: Profit is Fundamental

People can go into business for various reasons: thirst for challenge, need for a diversion, scratch an itch, or simply to put the kids through college. These are all equally valid from a personal standpoint. But economically, a business can only have one purpose: to turn in a profit. Anything else, by definition, is not a business.

Investors’ money will do you no good if, at the end of the day, all you can do is spend it. The term ‘investment’ presupposes a return, as distinguished from a ‘charitable donation’.

So look carefully at your business model and ask yourself how it’s going to be monetized. Make sure that your strategy is viable. The best idea or innovative service will be worthless if you can’t make it profitable.

Take Groupon and the social buying concept. It sounds like a great idea on the face of it, but the numbers tell a different story. Sure, some such ‘new ideas’ can generate enough hype and sell for millions of dollars even without having the right foundation—fulfilling their originator's dreams of early retirement—but that sort of scheme always depends on a ‘greater fool’ to come around.

If your goal is to build a long-term sustainable business that would bring real value rather than start passing a hot potato around, you can’t do it without profit.

This might sound elementary—but it’s been the breaking of many enterprises, large and small.

There is no ‘New Economy’ where the old rules no longer apply

This comes up time and again in different manifestations. The basic idea is that some new technology comes around, or a new environment is created, and people start thinking that all previous knowledge is irrelevant. But that’s just typical pragmatism.

Fundamentals are Fundamental. They do not change with new fads any more than the laws of physics alter when you adopt a different style of architecture.

What held true in the past will hold true today—otherwise, that knowledge isn't fundamental.

For an example of this today, look at the App Store Gold rush. Here’s what author and independent telecom consultant Tomi T. Ahonen had to say about it in his blog:

"The free apps hysteria is totally a repeat of the previous tech bubble, the dot-com bust of year 2000-2001. Suspending all market realism, believing that magical billion download numbers of free content somehow have created an alternate economy where normal rules do not apply."

It’s easy to fall into this trap, especially with pressures mounting all around to stay relevant and get noticed in our increasingly virtual world. But unfortunately the first thing out the window in this case is profit.

Growth CANNOT Substitute Profit

The notion that ‘Growth’ can substitute Profit was particularly popularized during the dot com bubble, and still persists today.

Back then, as the internet grew popular and online presence peaked—a new objective emerged: to garner new users. Companies came up with dozens of free schemes, products, and services aimed at attracting new customers, with not a thought given to how this mass of users will be converted into a profitable bottom-line. The implicit idea was that, once users have been accumulated, profit would somehow magically appear (not unlike the half-naked Indian in the movie ‘Wayne’s World’ saying ‘If you book them, they will come’—perhaps just as hallucinatory)

Today, with the popularity of social platforms and the heavy investment in online marketing, it’s perhaps more important than ever to keep this in mind. Sure, you want to have presence and get noticed—but not if it's going to cost you your arms and legs!

The goal of marketing isn't to cripple your business but to ultimately promote your well-being.

This is not to say that building a strong base of dedicated users can’t be a powerful auxiliary on your way to realizing wealth, only that you must have a clear idea of how you’ll manage the conversion.

Earnings vs. profit

It’s also easy to get lost in figures. In order to really evaluate the health of your business, it’s not enough only to look at your earnings. It’s important that you factor in all your costs and expenses to ensure your bottom line remains profitable. In fact, not only profitable, but profitable enough to realize your long term personal and business goals.

If you look at Pandora, their business model did account for revenue streams by incorporating ads into free accounts and offering ad-free premium accounts. But, according to SoundExchange spokeswoman Laurie Anderson as quoted on Cnet, they miscalculated the ratio of the revenue generated by this scheme to their operating costs (primarily the per-spin copyright license fees), and failed to make growth count. That is, to translate ‘more users’ into ‘more revenue’. This suggests a flaw with their initial business model.

Conclusion

So whether you’ve just began exploring a new idea or already headlong into running your new venture, it’s never too late or too early to re-evaluate your plan. Just like a navigator keeps consulting his charts with an eye on the horizon, so you'd be wise to do keep rechecking your course if you're to arrive at your desired destination.

Did you account for viable revenue streams? Are they enough to get you profitable? Did you get caught up in the rush to subscribe new users and forgot to cover your own bases?

These are just a few of the questions that can help you stay on course.

If there’s one thing history has taught us is that it tends to repeat itself, and perhaps the fact that it does means some of us can’t learn even that. But you can avoid this vicious cycle by simply learning from the past.

Good luck!

What’s ‘Your Business, Anywhere’ Anyway?

Friday, June 10, 2011 – posted by Maty Grosman

So you’ve seen our motto. Nice eh?

Now you want to know what the heck we mean, so let’s roll up our sleeves and delve in to uncover poetic intentions:

What is Your Business?

What makes your business YOUR business? What defines it and gives it an identity?

If you think of it, a business is really a system of managing resources to deliver a certain service or product.

This gives us three classes of constituents—Resources, Method, and Product.

Resources are the elements you use or manipulate to deliver/produce your service or product. These include Staff, Funds, Equipment, Raw Materials, Real-estate, etc.

Method is the way you go about delivering or producing said service or product. Here you have the back-end stuff (which includes everything from the manufacturing or creative processes to boring old accounting) and the front-end stuff—the last mile that comes in contact with your customers. Your front-end includes sales, support, customer-service, etc, which are inspired by your corporate values and philosophy.

Product/Service is the end value you have to offer.

While all three make up your business, it is the method that shapes out who you are as a corporate entity. And if the back-end is responsible for shaping the tangible aspect of who you are—the ‘what’ you’ll have to offer—the front-end is responsible for the ‘personal’ aspect of who you are—or for ‘how’ you will offer it.

Together, they make up your identity.

So where’s ‘Anywhere’, how do I get there, and how can I bring my business along?

Now that we’ve established what defines your business, let’s examine the second part.

Anywhere is short for any place, any time, any way... let's just call it 'Freedom'.

If your business is defined by your method, taking your business anywhere means maintaining your method no matter where you are and providing the same level of experience to your customers and to your employees regardless of your geographical location.

Traditionally, service-oriented businesses were tied to a physical office primarily because employees had to access the necessary equipment, stay interconnected, and maintain a uniformed front—all to provide a consistent level of productivity and service.

Today, however, much of this has changed. Personal computers have grown robust enough to process the most demanding tasks and affordable enough to become a staple in every purse (this includes male-purses).

So, perhaps with the exception of manufacturing , equipment today no longer poses a problem to mobility. This leaves us with maintaining uniformity and inter-connectivity: letting employees that work from different geographical locations plug into a single hub and collaborate as if they were in the same room.

Cloud technology enables just that.

Many different software programs have emerged to take your back-end up to the cloud—anything from documents (Google Docs, Dropbox) to CRM applications.

A virtual PBX does the same for your front-end, becoming the digital hub your employees can plug into for all their communication needs.

A single toll-free number becomes your uniformed professional front, and all calls are subsequently routed in accordance with your custom call rules to reach the designated person(s).

In an office environment, you sometimes have to transfer a customer to another department, or to put them on hold while you dial a different extension. A cloud-based system lets you do exactly the same thing, no matter if the other person happens to be across the hall, across the road, or across the ocean. Your customers and employees will enjoy exactly the same experience as if he was sitting in the next room using a traditional system.

And because all tools and data are up there in the cloud, you don’t even have to carry around any fancy equipment—just a single device that can get you online.

This not only frees your regular employees to work from home or to stay connected while on the road, it also means you can think bigger and in certain cases outsource tasks overseas, creating your very own transatlantic team that will beat with your core values and philosophy.

Conclusion

Technology is finally ready to unshackle us from old constructs and break the bonds of physical locality. The globe has become a tiny little ball really; snap your fingers, and you'll almost as easily land anywhere you like. Now, your business can follow.

We’ll give you the tools. Just add your personal touch and take Your Business, Anywhere.

Beat the Traffic—Forever: A Virtual PBX Phone System Can Help You Migrate Your Office to the Cloud

Wednesday, June 1, 2011 – posted by Maty Grosman

The alarm clock wakes you up in mid-dream, and you feel more tired than you did when you first went to bed. Breakfast is a mess: you burn your toast, dry your eggs, and spill your coffee—but there's no time to bother. 06:30, you’re out the door.

“It’s looking good” you keep chanting to yourself—until you hit the highway; an accident a few exists down has caused two lane closures, and you might as well be driving down a parking lot.

By the time you inch towards the nearest off-ramp, it’s already 07:00. You figure you’ll just cut through the side-streets, but no joy—orange signs indicate you’ve just entered construction hell.

A last minute turn—there’s a broken down city bus blocking your way.

A U-turn—the rear of a garbage truck has you stopping every quarter block.

It’s 09:15 when you finally reach the office, and all you can think is: “how can I possibly reproach my employees when even I can’t make it here on time?!”

Sounds like the sob-story of a typical morning commute?

It doesn’t have to be.

A virtual PBX phone system can be your first step in migrating your office to the cloud. You may have heard the saying ‘Home is wherever YOU are’? Well, as of now, your office can be, too!

Professional Image

Employees were traditionally required to work from an office because there was simply no other way for them to function as, and maintain the image of, a single company. You didn’t want your staff taking calls on their personal phones, for instance, because a mosaic of numbers on an ad could give customers the impression of a disjointed operation.

But a virtual PBX phone system lets you choose a single toll-free number as your store-front, meanwhile routing all incoming calls to the appropriate person as set out in your phone tree. This person can be in the next room, or half-way across the ocean—your customers will experience the same service they would calling a physical office.

Save time

According to the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 2005-2009 (the latest data available), the average American spent 25.2 minutes traveling to work. That’s 50.4 minutes daily assuming the same duration for his return trip—or almost an hour in practical terms. A quick calculation spits out 218.4 hours yearly (assuming a work-year of 260 days), or just over 9 days.

Of those surveyed, 13.3% traveled at least 30 minutes, and 8% suffered through a whopping 60 minutes or more.

Now imagine that instead of wasting all this time and energy on the road, you and your employees could invest them in work or in your personal lives. Those precious hours evaporated along the highway serve no one but oil sheiks, cut-men, and the IRS. But an extra hour each day to spend with loved-ones, go to the gym, or catch up on sleep can significantly improve your quality of life.

That’s without getting into the possible ill effects of long commutes on health and marital life...

Better quality of life = better state of mind = improved performance = better business.

That’s just simple math.

Save Money

Time is money. But there are other aspects to commuting that are more readily tangible. Transportation takes vehicles—company-owned, individually-owned, or city-owned. That’s more than just a capital investment: vehicles require insurance, annual inspections, maintenance, and, of course, gas—an increasingly expensive commodity.

Public Transportation calls for a fare, which also factors in the aforementioned costs, and even if you’re lucky enough to live nearby and ride your bike to work, that trusty old steed of yours still runs up a lump of expanses.

So whether transportation is covered by the company or by individual employees, it will still invariably find it's way to bite you in the bottom-line.

On the other hand, you might find many of your staff members willing to accept a modest pay-cut in exchange for the convenience and benefits of working from home.

Conclusion

That was just transportation. Factor in the costs of rent, infrastructure, insurance, and other overhead, and you’ll soon realize that any way you slice it—unless your business calls for frequent face-time with your clients (the in-person kind, not the iPhone kind)—downsizing or even completely eliminating your physical office would be a far more sustainable solution. For you, for your business, for your employees, and for the environment.

Whoever thought that helping the world could be as simple as helping yourself!

Let Synclio help you mobilize your office. Our motto is ‘Your Business, Anywhere’, and not without good reason.

Contact Us

Synclio

The Birth of PBX

Progress Breeds a Whole Family of Acronyms

PBX in the Virtual Age: a Return to the Roots.

The Bottom Line:

Sources:

Related Articles

What Are Toll-Free Numbers, and Where Did They Come From?

From Niche to Mainstream

Shaking-off the Shackles

Additional 8-- Prefix Introduced and Others Earmarked for the Future

Toll-Free Numbers Today

Related Articles:

Sources:

Related Posts:

This Doesn’t Apply To Me

One Golden Rule: Profit is Fundamental

There is no ‘New Economy’ where the old rules no longer apply

Growth CANNOT Substitute Profit

Earnings vs. profit

Conclusion

Related Posts:

What is Your Business?

So where’s ‘Anywhere’, how do I get there, and how can I bring my business along?

Conclusion

Related Articles:

Professional Image

Save time

Save Money

Conclusion

Related articles:

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