customer service

8 BUSINESS DYNAMICS THAT CAN BE OPTIMIZED BY THE CLOUD

(Reprinted with permission from Mitel)
Certain Business Dynamics are Custom-Made for Cloud Communications Solutions
If you want to spend less time managing communications infrastructure and more time focusing on your core business objectives, it’s time to consider the cloud. Step back and take a fresh look at the forces affecting your business. Check out the list below to see if any of these common dynamics might be driving you to the cloud:
1 | Rapid Growth
Businesses expanding rapidly need solutions that can be implemented just as fast. The cloud provides quick and easy software upgrades with the inherent scalability needed to support growth. Plus, cloud solutions offer greater flexibility for integrations with other technologies you may already be using and the ability to more readily adapt processes in the future.
2 | Multiple Locations
You may have staff in multiple locations, but you need a single solution that supports remote workforces or work-from-home employees without becoming a major administrative undertaking for your IT staff. A cloud solution can easily be deployed regionally or globally, while also creating a more consistent experience for both your staff and your customers.
3 | Mobile Workforce
If you have a substantial number of people who are in the field, on the road or just not at their desks, cloud-based technologies and mobile apps make data easily accessible wherever they are. The cloud also makes it easy for your administrators or IT staff to remotely manage equipment to ensure remote employees …

FOUR WAYS UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS IMPROVES THE CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPERIENCE

With online reviews being so easy to create and share, improving customer service is more important than ever before. In fact, it’s quickly become a top priority for 72 percent of businesses. Many call centers and service departments have switched to VoIP for cost savings, but integrating other unified communications can improve the experience even more.

Unified communication provides a high level of customers service. By combining UC tools like instant messaging, email, and phone employees can communicate simultaneously, thereby getting to the root of the problem faster. If you’re on the fence about implementing UC, here are four ways it can enhance the customer service experience.

 
1. Answer customers’ questions more quickly.
With UC, clients are able to choose their preferred method of communication, which means the time it takes to process a request is dramatically reduced. UC works by integrating a variety of real-time communication tools, with the goal of improving internal communication. Collaboration between customer service representatives and experts becomes faster and more efficient. Telephone features, like click to dial with desktop-based communications, instant messaging, web conferencing, and video conferencing are ways UC can seamlessly connect an organization. This way, you can avoid putting anyone on hold and answer questions more accurately.

 
2. Help customers find the right product.
Have you ever been working with a seemingly strong lead only to have them suddenly vanish never to be heard from again? If that story sounds familiar know you’re not alone; businesses are experiencing …

Should You Use a Toll-Free Number?

Everyone has at least a passing familiarity with toll-free numbers. From jingles to billboards to commercials, businesses offer up toll-free numbers to try to entice people to call. Unless you’ve looked into them before, however, you might not be aware of exactly how they work, and why a business might use one. Here are the basics.
What is a Toll-Free Number?
When a person calls a toll-free number from a landline phone or other service that doesn’t charge per minute of airtime, they don’t incur any charge regardless of distance. This can be helpful for companies that do a significant amount of business outside of their local area, such as national and international organizations, because it removes the cost barrier that might prevent customers, prospects, and partners from calling.

Toll-free numbers always begin with one of a few codes, the most recognizable being 1-800. More codes have been added over the years to include 888, 877, 866, 855, and 844, opening up a wealth of phone numbers–including vanity numbers–and reducing the cost of purchasing a toll-free number.

So considering the low cost, should your business be using a toll-free number? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons.
The Pros
Create or reinforce a corporate image.

No matter how much money you put into marketing and training, branding is ultimately about public perception. A toll-free number is immediately recognizable as a business contact line, and can immediately position your company as large and corporate. For companies who …

Comparing Hosted VoIP Solutions

Businesses are turning to VoIP solutions for their communication to increase the effectiveness of their voice systems and save money. But with increased demand comes increased supply, and it can be difficult to wade through the many companies and services offering VoIP to find the best fit for your company. When looking for your hosted VoIP solution, you should be able to find one that fits your current needs and budget, as well as offers new opportunities to increase productivity. In this blog, we’ll discuss a few key things to consider when shopping for VoIP services.
Reliability
One of the benefits of a hosted VoIP system is its mobility, enabling users to make and receive business calls wherever and whenever they need to. This makes it all the more important that your phone system is working when you are. Outages can happen, so make sure that any VoIP provider you are considering has procedures to prevent them. Read reviews and references to see how good they are at responding to incidents, and determine from there whether or not the provider seems reliable. Remember: reviewers are more likely to comment on negative experiences than positive, so no news might be good news!
Included Features
To stay competitive, VoIP providers offer a variety of features that could significantly boost your phone system’s effectiveness. Features like the ability to migrate your current phone numbers, enhanced voicemail, and auto attendant are included free-of-charge in some plans, available at a …

7 Reasons You Might be Losing Customers

A business that is losing customers on a consistent basis is in trouble over the long haul. Customers are the lifeline of any organization. However, today’s business environment is characterized by high customer turnover due to stiff competition. If you’re losing customers and can’t figure out why, it’s time to take a good hard look at how you’re doing business.

1. Changing Too Many Players

Customers do not buy from companies but from people. Relationships are the lifeblood of a business, irrespective of its size. Therefore, to retain long-term customers, a company should not rotate salespeople, key contacts, or customer service representatives unless it has to. A business should foster any relationships forged by employees since they are rarely interchangeable.

2. Treating Existing and New Customers Differently

Offering incentives and discounts to only new customers may cause resentment among the existing ones. A business should think carefully about the carrots its offers new customers and ensure that it rewards existing ones equally – if not more. Although new clients have an immediate top-line impact, total sales to existing ones typically result in a greater impact on the business’ bottom line. And it’s always more cost effective to keep a customer than it is to earn a new one.

3. Focusing on Price Rather Than Value

Being a low-cost provider offers a competitive edge at first, but this strategy is difficult to sustain over the long haul. Instead, a business’ goal should be providing the best …

What a Local VoIP Vendor Can Offer

VoIP (Voice Over IP) can offer huge advantages to modern businesses. However, buying a VoIP phone system for your organization can prove to be a challenge. In addition to choosing between an on-premise and cloud-based VoIP solution, you also have to find the right vendor for the job.

Regardless of which VoIP service provider you decide to hire, having local support from them can make a big difference. It’s always a better idea to hire a local VoIP Michigan provider because of the following reasons:
1. On-site support from qualified technicians
When you buy VoIP services from a local vendor, you can count on getting the assistance of trained professionals on the spot. They will not only answer all your queries regarding system implementation but also suggest which solution (on-premise or cloud-hosted) would be better for your needs.

Great technicians will be able to guide you every step of the way so that you know exactly what you’re signing up for.
2. Work alongside your IT department
Working with a local VoIP means no more going back and forth questioning who is doing what to your systems. The skilled members of the VoIP team will work closely with your IT department so that everything goes smoothly.

The team will do their best to ensure that no outages or downtimes occur, and every part of your communication technology functions exactly as it should. Good things happen when the expertise of a local vendor and the experience of IT …

10 Ways Your Phone System Improves Your Customers’ Experience

Business competition in today’s economy is fierce. Your customers expect the highest level of care, and you and your staff need to be reachable, professional and customer-focused at all times – no matter where you’re working.

If that’s your business model, is your phone system supporting you and your employees like you need to support your customers?

Use this checklist to evaluate if your business communications give your customers the experience they expect from their chosen providers. Give yourself a point for every line you can check off. When you’re done, count your checks.
Reachability and Professionalism

Customers can access your sales staff anytime and anywhere, with mobile capabilities that direct incoming office calls to your sales staff’s mobile phones.
Outbound calls look professional, coming from the main company number, even when your employees are using their smartphones or other mobile devices.
Customer focus is enhanced by integrating your Outlook and CRM tools with your phone system to track conversation history with your client.
Employee productivity is increased by merging call records with customer records to improve sales trending projections and staffing optimization.

Employee Productivity

Employees can bring their own device and integrate it with your phone network.
Teamwork is made easy with voice and video calling, instant messaging and desktop sharing.
Employees feel secure that voice and data are safe, even in public hotspots.

Cost Effectiveness

Ongoing administration, such as adding a new employee, is easy vs. labor intensive.
Local support is available to train your staff to use features …

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Millennia Technologies is a full-service voice and data solutions company for midsize to enterprise customers. Specializing in UCaaS , CCaaS , Cybersecurity , IoT , Voice , Cloud , and more. Our passion is firmly rooted in showing clients how well-designed data solutions can significantly accelerate business operations, and then celebrating their goal-shattering successes.