Quarterly Newsletter October - December 2007

In this Issue

Call Recording Series

Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

Your Holiday Schedule

Lower Your Tax Burden

Fall Back - Time Change Reminder

Did You Know...TeleVantage Put to the Test

Upcoming Events

Holiday Closings

Call Recording

When you hear the words ‘call recording’, what is the image that comes to mind? Most people think of its use in a call center but call recording has many uses outside of the call center environment that can improve customer service and increase employee productivity. In addition to being an excellent training tool, call recording can aid in note taking, dispute resolution and other areas. Visit the Resources area of our website to read our 3 part Fall Series on Call Recording.

Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

How much more work could you get done if you only answered calls that pertained to you? IVRs can help reduce up to 95% of routine calls handled by the switchboard.
By implementing an IVR companies can allow customers to access routine information such as account balances, order status, directions & hours and more. And IVRs can service customers around the clock. This works well for service oriented organizations like insurance offices and customer service call centers.

Why not go one step further and integrate with an auto-dialer program and create a two-way IVR that reminds customers of appointments and allows them to confirm or reschedule.
For more information on IVRs, visit our products section at www.AlternateAccess.com

Your Holiday Schedule

That song, Over the Fields and Through the Woods evokes images of classic Norman Rockwell holidays: Grandma’s turkey dressing, mom’s famous dessert,visits with family and friends. With all the things to look forward to, it is easy to overlook your auto attendant’s holiday schedule.
Alternate Access recommends setting your auto attendant’s holiday schedule at the beginning of each calendar year. Whether you take five minutes to email or call your administrator or you update the system yourself, this plan ahead strategy can take one item off your busy holiday ‘to do’ list.

Ensure that your customer’s needs are being handled during the holidays, visit www.AlternateAccess.com for more information on Auto Attendants and TeleVantage’s point and click administration console.

Lower Your Tax Burden

Have Uncle Sam help foot the bill to get your phone system up to date by taking advantage of the Section 179 tax code deduction this year. This section of the tax code allows qualifying business purchases to be deducted in the year of purchase and service rather than being depreciated. In May of this year, the expensing limit increased to $125,000.00 if the original purchase was not greater than $500,000.00; the enhancement begins in January 1, 2007 and is valid until December 31, 2010.

Time Change Reminder Fall Back...Later

Clocks will return to Standard Time on the first Sunday in November (November 4). This is one week later than the traditional last Sunday in October.

Did You Know

In May 2006 an industry magazine put TeleVantage through a rigorous battery of tests. They found it installs easily, works with a variety of devices and integrates seamlessly.
Read the Article

Upcoming Events

March 2008

Alternate Access will be exhibiting at the Northeast Floral Expo in Hartford, CT March 1-2, 2008

Holiday Closings

Wednesday November 21, 2007
Thursday November 22, 2007
Friday November 23, 2007
Monday December 24, 2007
Tuesday December 25, 2007