Voice 2.0 Solutions

Businesses are in a constant struggle to control overhead. CompuNET International utilizes voice technology that can offer businesses a choice of solutions which can lower telecommunications costs and, in many cases, enhance productivity. We would need to assess your communication needs and environment, so that we can recommend the right solution to fit your needs and budget. As telephone systems are rapidly becoming part of the data network, it is increasingly important to choose a strategy that requires equipment that complies with open standards and emerging technologies. Unfortunately, we are observing that many businesses today are making their telephone technology decisions based upon poor criteria or technological evaluation.

In their most basic sense, telephone systems route inbound and outbound calls from one party to another and they do that simple task efficiently and in high volume. However, today employees don't just sit at their desks and make and receive phone calls. People are on the move, collaborating, traveling and working from home. They are inundated with phone calls, email, instant messaging, cell phone calls and constant meetings. Work has transformed from a place into an activity.

Communications application products provide the tools to make organizations effective in this new environment.

Here are just a few examples:

Voice/data/video convergence. Voice, data, video and IM can all travel the same paths via IP. The convergence promise is that businesses will only need one line for all these types of traffic, dramatically reducing or eliminating costs and simplifying set-up. In addition, businesses could eventually eliminate most of their current phone expenses as well.
Fixed/mobile convergence (FMC) is a related idea. Just as all types of data are moving toward being carried via IP, developers are trying to create do-it-all devices and/or software that will send and receive calls, e-mail, video and IM over the most logical (and cheap) route. FMC should provide smooth transitions from gadget to gadget—say, moving the same call from landline to cell phone to laptop—based on a standard called SIP that routes calls and messages to the most appropriate device at any given moment.

Presence management. The quality of a person being online or not, and available or not, is called “presence.” Voice 2.0 companies have presence-management products that create a single phone number through which the world would reach a user’s cell, PDA, landline and laptop. Eventually, those products will manage calls based on which device a user is accessing, their upcoming appointments, and how available they are. This is a potentially huge efficiency for businesses, and knowing whether someone is available and receptive is also valuable to call centers, which would save money on both calls and unproductive voice mails.
Faxes. Fax traffic is currently carried over phone lines via a standard that is incompatible with IP. Several companies have developed work-around solutions to this problem, typically by sending the fax as an e-mail attachment. Also, a new international standard called T.38 should soon smooth the way toward true fax-over-IP.).

Customer-service contacts. So-called “click to call” products let consumers chat with a company’s sales or customer-service rep instantly, at no cost to either party, without even dialing a phone number or installing new software. This is a potentially powerful tool for creating connections,

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