Create a Corporate Strategy for Presence Management

Your TeleVantage phone system comes with a wonderful built in tool—Personal Status.  Are you using it for the benefit of your staff and customers? 

For those of us who have worked in companies for a long while and have good memories, Personal Status acts like an In/Out board.  As you left the office, you would move the magnet or write your status on a white board, so co-workers knew that you were either “In” or “Out”.  TeleVantage makes this communication easier by allowing you to change your status at your desktop or from any phone, and by being more descriptive. 

Standard Personal Statuses include “Available”, “Do Not Disturb”, “Out of the Office”, “In a Meeting” and “On Vacation”.  You can also add custom statuses that may be appropriate for your business.  We do recommend, however, that you have a strategy—or agreed upon meaning for each Status.  For example, Do Not Disturb may mean in the office but cannot be interrupted; Out of the office may mean away from my office but still available to accept calls.  By standardizing on the meaning of your Personal Statuses, everyone internally will be speaking the same language. 

For external callers, routing your calls when you can be reached will avoid their need to dial multiple numbers.  And, tying a specific Greeting to your status will further enhance the quality of your message when you cannot be reached.  When “In a Meeting” for example, calls can be routed directly to your voice mail [because you cannot take a call at that time] saving the caller wait-time to get to your voice mail.  And, your greeting can announce that you are in a meeting, thereby indicating that it may take a little longer to get back to them.  Callers appreciate the extra courtesy and avoiding the need to track you down.  One number, one message—everyone is more productive and satisfied!

Resources