Business Phone System Features and Benefits

Auto Attendant - Allows callers to be automatically transferred to an extension without the intervention of an operator or receptionist. Many auto attendants will also offer a simple menu system (e.g. "for sales, press 1, for service, press 2," etc.). An auto attendant may also allow a caller to reach a live operator by dialing a number, usually "0".

Auto Dialing - An auto dialer automatically dials telephone numbers. Once the call has been answered, the autodialer either plays a recorded message or connects the call to a live person.

Automatic Call Distributor - Distributes and routes incoming calls to a specific group of terminals that agents use. These systems are often found in offices that handle large volumes of incoming phone calls from callers who have no need to talk to a specific person but who require assistance from any of multiple persons (e.g., customer service representatives) at the earliest opportunity.

Automated Directory Services - Route callers to a given employee by keying or speaking the letters of the employee's name.

Automatic Ring Back - When a caller reaches a busy line they often have little choice but to wait on hold or call back at a later time. Automatic ring back provides a third option. The caller can request that the telephone system call back when the line is free. The caller can then hang-up and wait for a phone call.

Call Accounting - Captures and records use of your traditional voice and VoIP networks. Advantages of Call Accounting include the ability to read, interpret and allocate costs according to the originating and terminating locations of each call. Whether you use traditional telephone lines with a PBX or VoIP over your telecommunications network, Call Accounting allows you to determine if there is a more cost-efficient way of making and routing calls, as well as enabling reporting on telecom service usage by end users and business units.

Call Blocking - Allows a telephone subscriber to block incoming calls from specific telephone numbers.

Call Forwarding - Is a telephony feature which redirects a telephone call to another destination (e.g. a mobile telephone, voicemail box or another telephone number where the desired called party is available).

Call Park - A feature that allows a person to put a call on hold at one telephone set and continue the conversation from any other telephone set.

Call Pick-up - A feature that allows one to answer someone else’s telephone call. In places where “call pick-up” is used, the telephone sets may be divided into zones. Under such an arrangement, using “call pick-up” will only pick up a call in the same zone.

Call Transfer - Enables a user to relocate an existing telephone call to another phone or attendant console. The transferred call is either announced or unannounced.

Call Waiting - Enables a called party to temporarily suspend an active call and pick-up an incoming call.

Camp-on - With Call Waiting, an extension user may call a busy extension and wait in line (Camp-On) without hanging up.

Conference Call - A telephone call in which the calling party wishes to have more than one called party listen in to the audio portion of the call.

Custom Greetings - A personalized greeting message used in place of an automated voice greeting for voicemail.

Customized Abbreviated Dialing (Speed Dialing) - Allows the user to place a call by pressing a reduced number of keys.

Busy Override - Allows the calling party to override the busy signal on the called party in order to break into the ongoing conversation.

Direct Inward Dialing - The telephone company provides one or more trunk lines to the customer for connection to the customer's PBX and allocates a range of telephone numbers to this line (or group of lines) and forwards all calls to such numbers via the trunk. As calls are presented to the PBX, the dialed destination number (DNIS) is transmitted, usually partially (e.g., last four digits), so that the PBX can route the call directly to the desired telephone extension within the organization without the need for an operator or attendant. The service allows direct inward call routing to each extension while maintaining only a limited number of subscriber lines to satisfy the average concurrent usage of the customer.

Direct Inward System Access (DISA) - The ability to access internal features from an outside telephone line.

Do Not Disturb (DND) - Prevents calls from ringing on an extension for which DND is activated. Some Do Not Disturb (DND) attributes include directing the call to a preassigned extension (like a secretary or assistant) while others allow the call to go through to the extension but restrict the response to a visual indication.

Follow-me (aka Find-me) - Determines the routing of incoming calls. The exchange is configured with a list of numbers for a person. When a call is received for that person, the exchange routes it to each number on the list in turn until either the call is answered or the list is exhausted (at which point the call may be routed to a voice mail system.

Interactive Voice Response - A technology that allows a computer to interact with humans through the use of speech recognition or telephone keypad. Enabling customers to service their own inquiries by following the voice prompt dialogue.

Music On Hold - Plays recorded music to fill the silence that would be heard by telephone callers who have been placed on hold.

Night Service - For a set period of time during the day (usually those hours outside of normal office or work hours), incoming calls are automatically redirected to an auto attendant, voice mail system, or night watchman.

Public Address Voice Paging

Shared Message Boxes - Allows a department can have a shared voicemail box.

Voice mail

Voice Message Broadcasting

Welcome Message