Balance Life and Work Your Way

On October 11, 2016
3:09 pm
Filed under Product

It seems that the more technology intertwines itself in our lives, the less time we have for ourselves. This was nowhere more apparent than a recent presentation I saw at the Asbury Agile conference where Jonnie Hallman, a Brooklyn-based freelance designer/developer explained how many times he had physical breakdowns from working too much. For some reason, technology has brought us to a point where we refuse to leave work at the office. Do you really need to answer that call or reply to that email? What’s nice is that the same technology that keeps us connected also gives us the

When you’re a sole proprietor or part of a really small team, too much success too fast can be overwhelming if you don’t have a call center solution. What do you do when you’re on a call with a customer looking to upgrade his service, then call waiting starts to beep in? Do you put the happy customer on hold to see what the second call is or do you let the second call go to voicemail and risk losing a call? We’ve put a lot of effort into the feature set of our business phone service in the cloud specifically

Phone.com CTO and Executive Vice President Alon Cohen recently presented on the history of VoIP at the MoNage conference hosted by Jeff Pulver. Pulver and Cohen have a long history together, highlighted by the fact that together they were the first entrants voted into the VoIP Hall of Fame. For those in the know, Cohen is really the only option for this kind of presentation. Without Cohen and his groundbreaking work at an Israeli startup named VocalTec, there might not be any commercial VoIP today. VocalTec faced many obstacles on the road to VoIP, and if not for a major pivot it might never have

Phone.com was designed from the ground up with small business in mind. To that end, we built a web portal that is as powerful as it is intuitive. What does that mean in real world terms? You can take control of your phone system in minutes so you don’t take valuable time away from your business. A quick example is our Instant Provisioning feature. Buy phones from Phone.com and they ship to you pre-configured. All you have to do is plug them in to an Ethernet port and you’re ready to take and make calls. As we like to say, it’ll

It’s a real dilemma. You’re scheduling an important business call, but your calendar is unpredictable. Do you give them your office number or cell? If you give them your office phone, there’s a risk you’ll miss the call if you have to step away from your desk. On the other hand, giving out your cell phone number could really put a kink in your positive work/life balance. It can also sometimes appear a little less than professional. That’s why Phone.com gives you the tools you need to take your business with you. With Phone.com, your office number goes with you.

“Thank you for calling, can I put you on hold?” No matter who you call, at some point you’ve heard the line above, assuming a human even answers the phone in the first place. As a business that depends on telephone-based support, placing a customer on hold comes with certain risks. Some of your customers will wait indefinitely and some will hang up immediately, but the vast majority of your callers will fall somewhere in between those two extremes. For those callers who will wait, what’s the best way to keep them engaged? Well, we know it’s not muzak. The

We posted a blog recently about the benefits of adding an international number to your account and received a few questions about how it is done. It’s a simple process, really, with just five steps. Start at your control panel and select “Add a Number.” In the Add a Number menu, select “Search Global Numbers” to bring up the country selector. The country selector is not all inclusive and there are many regulations and reasons why a country might not be listed. If the country you need isn’t listed, call customer service to learn more about availability. For countries with immediate availability,

At Phone.com, we support customers using a wide range of phone types with our service, even if we don’t sell those phones directly. Unfortunately, manufacturers sometimes discontinue the sale and support of certain models as they introduce newer ones to replace them. In September 2016 Polycom will stop selling all phones in the SoundPoint IP series, although the phones will continue to receive software updates and support until the end of 2019. We encourage all customers to consider the VVX Business Media Phone series, which replaces the SoundPoint IP series and offers better functionality and a richer experience. Please contact

Global marketing in the 21st century relies on a number of methods. Email is still a top tool while social networks and collaboration tools have combined to make things much easier, but many times nothing beats actually talking to your customer. No matter your telephone service provider, you can always expect your U.S.-based customers to be able to reach you. For international callers, however, it can be a different story. High international rates and confusing dialing processes might keep potential customers from dialing in. Even worse, if you have existing global customers they might think twice before placing an expensive

Here at Phone.com, we can do a lot of neat things with our virtual PBX system, since we’re not beholden to the traditional rules of telephony. One of the coolest tools we offer is our Phone.com mobile app. All you have to do is download the app to your device and suddenly your Smartphone is a work extension! But, of course, that’s not all it can do. The Phone.com app comes with a host of useful features you’ll never find on a conventional business phone, including: Data and WiFi calling. You’re in command of your data plan. Choose to call using data or your WiFi,

There are some phone numbers that are so unforgettable that you find yourself singing them to yourself in the shower as part of a popular jingle or reciting them as you dial your favorite pizza place. These vanity phone numbers are more than just numbers – they’re numbers that also spell out words. Instead of dialing 847-4992, you’re dialing 84-PIZZA and ordering a medium pepperoni with extra cheese because that’s what you have committed to memory. It might seem silly, but we’re creatures wired to recognize patterns that make the world easier to remember and process. We as humans do this

Did you know that every Phone.com extension on your account includes a FREE conference bridge, allowing your team to run conference calls with ease? Yes, free conference calling! There are some great benefits to this free feature, including: High definition voice quality Up to 500 participants Unlimited minute usage Here’s how to make the most of your conference bridge. Accessing Your Conference Bridge Mouse over Configure and click Manage Users and Extensions. Click Edit for the extension you want to use. Click Conferencing on the left side bar. Click Get Conference Bridge. Your conference bridge number, conference ID and moderator PIN