Technical Issues

If you’ve been considering reviewing your existing phone system or communications setup, you may be feeling overwhelmed by what seems a huge number of acronyms or abbreviations – ‘SIP’, ‘VOIP’, ‘CLI’, ‘DDI’ and now ‘CTI’. Hopefully this blog should break it down for you. CTI, or Computer Telephony Integration, combines telecommunications and computers – it comes as part of all Ayo’s phone system offerings. Thanks to the benefits of CTI, being limited to the use of the desk phone to make and receive calls is now a thing of the past.

In environments with heavy administration, or use of a computer, CTI becomes particularly useful. For example, in a GP Practice, or Dental Surgery, where reception staff are handling upward of 100 calls daily, whilst booking appointments on the computer, updating records, locating & informing of test results….working between a desk phone and managing the computer isn’t necessarily the most efficient setup. Using the Ayo desktop application, interlinked with the business phone system, staff can answer incoming calls, ‘click-to-dial’ numbers on-screen, transfer calls and more – all from their computer. In the time it takes to retrieve, manually dial, hold the receiver of a desk phone – all can be done without.

In 2021, as a general ‘rule of thumb’, when seeking a new Phone System for your business you should ensure it has a competent CTI offering. As demonstrated during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, seamless and confluent communications across all staff devices has never been more paramount – as we simply don’t know when we may have to work out of the office.

For Customer Service-facing roles, whether in a contact centre environment, or a reception, CTI becomes particularly useful in increasing operational efficiency and staff productivity. In a contact centre, for example, staff can receive calls through their desktop/laptop computer, with integrated soft-phones offering all expected features, such as: Answer, Hang up, Hold, Transfer, Mute, Conference Call etc, without the need to handle hardware such as a desk phone.

Another benefit is CRM-integration, whereby CTI ‘pops-up’ a brief record of the incoming caller’s details and other information for the call handler to view, meaning they won’t need to ask any unnecessary questions.

All-in-one Call Management

Call handlers, whether in a reception environment, contact centre or similar, can seamlessly place & receive calls directly through their workstation. All typical features, including answer, decline, transfer, hold, conference etc. are available.

Simpify Tasks – Boost efficiency

Many apps and software can integrate through the CTI system. Examples of integrative applications include the likes of Salesforce – where CRM information can be automatically inserted into the call flow. The caller’s information ‘pops-up’ on-screen for the call handler by seamlessly matching their credentials (Name, number etc.) with the existing information in the CRM. This allows the agent to view all customer information & history without having to spend time ‘catching up’ on it at the beginning of the call – saving valuable time. In one single feature, this increases the customer experience levels, satisfaction, whilst also boosting efficiency & productivity.

Instant Caller Records

The caller record ‘pop-up’ on the agents workstation gives all relevant information about the caller (name, number, email address, customer history etc.). The call handler can greet the customer or client by name (offering a more friendly caller experience) and have full access to all relevant information instantly. Again, this saves a lot of time in collecting details from the customer, cross-referencing, and potentially having the caller wait on hold whilst the agent checks.

Data-Driven monitoring of agents

With the benefits of GDPR-compliant call recording, live monitoring, managed call history (for managing missed/unhandled calls), manager’s can instantly understand the overall performance & efficiency of their team. As a data-driven feature, manager’s are automatically provided multiple pieces of data of which they can ultimately make decisions from – allowing them to specifically target areas of concern/improvement. This as a package ultimately ‘trickles down’ into better customer service & satisfaction ratings.

Data-Driven Call Routing

As CTI integrates with most CRM/Database services/software, by utilising data from business records or their CRM, calls are routed to the member of staff best-suited or qualified to handle the caller’s needs. Through use of automated, data-driven decisions, this feature directly increased the productivity and efficiency of the agent, and can reduce call waiting times for the caller – resulting in a more positive customer experience.

If you’d like to hear more about how CTI can help your business, please leave your details below and we’ll contact you.

In terms of collaboration software for businesses, Microsoft Teams is certainly a hugely popular choice amongst businesses worldwide – however its voice feature has been poorly served. Microsoft’s own roster of calling plans don’t serve what businesses require, and we’ve been hearing it a lot from our customers.

This is why we’ve adapted our communicator to accommodate full integration of Microsoft Teams for our customers, at no extra monthly charge. The new integrative features include enhanced flexibility & robustness, call recording with PCI-compliant options, international numbering, call routing and so much more. Since launching the new integration update, our customers have all voiced their approval and are now benefitting from fully-fledged voice services over Microsoft Teams – contrary to their experiences before of unfit direct routing, low technical intelligence & resilience.

Improves Collaboration

Schedule online meetings, live-chat with colleagues, and have an overall easy-flowing communication line between staff and customers – without voice connection problems, jittering or distortion.

Feature Rich

You’ll still have all of the amazing features our communicator platform has to offer, but now with the added extra of seamless Teams integration, making, receiving and transferring calls on audio or meeting setup can be done seamlessly.

Customisation & Integration

Integrating Teams with the Ayo communicator allows for even more integrations to help support & grow your business, without the hassle of using a badly served voice add-on.

If you’re frustrated with how voice-over-teams is serving you, let us know your details below and we’ll be in touch to discuss further.

ISDN is essentially the network that’s in place to carry telephone calls when you talk, and data for using the internet. The infrastructure behind this is, in essence, the same as what it was when first introduced in the 1800’s! Long due a change then, eh? The problem with such an antiquated network still operating today, is that it’s very costly to maintain, and these costs are always rising, thus it makes sense to switch onto something new. This is where the switch-off comes in.

BT, who runs the network across the UK, is switching their network to be IP-Based. You may recognise this acronym, having seen the likes of VOIP, or SIP before. Rather than having an old connection that carries both voice and data, it’ll be a fast data connection, which also carries voice calling.

The change will allow businesses a lot of additional options when it comes to voice calling, but nothing too major needs to be done. The phones are all relatively similar, and of course work in the same way. However, you may wish to look at upgrading your system for future-proofing, and to unlock a variety of very useful features IP-based phone systems come with to help your business.