Make Business Meetings Easy with a ShoreTel Business VoIP Solution

You are flat tired of airports, you want to be home for the summer and home in the fall, rather than constantly take plane trips for one-day meetings. If you are a business owner it is even more critical not to be gone, unless you are on vacation. Even seasoned travelers are getting tired of the airports and just want to do more, and be more efficient. Looking at options with a business VoIP solution might be the answer to your challenges.

Are you not sure you can do a successful remote meeting? The first thing to do is make sure you are running a good meeting. Do you have the right people at the meeting? Do you have an agenda? Is the meeting something that can be handled by others.? Do a self-check on how your meetings are going. 

Once you have honed in on your ability to have a meeting remotely, you can look at the hardware or software you might need in order to effectively make the meeting happen. The ShoreTel business VoIP solution has the ability to make meetings happen. This state of the art solution allows for both audio and visual conferences. Meetings you control with the options for audio and visual meetings done right through your ShoreTel system. You will no longer have to get on that plane.

Now instead of having that remote worker traveling to the home office, or the client’s site, use the technology to allow you to work from the comfort of your home office or your office conference room.

If you still have questions, give us a call at Gaynor, and we are happy to come to your place of business and provide you a demo of a ShoreTel business VoIP solution. Whether you are in Chico, Yuba City, Ukiah or Eureka, we are here to serve the North Valley’s communication needs.

About Us

Gaynor Telesystems Inc. has been proudly serving the North State Communities of Chico, Yuba City, Marysville, Eureka, Arcata, Sacramento, Davis, Woodland, Redding, and Red Bluff for more than 40 years. We hope the information you found in this blog was useful. To learn more about how we can help you install, maintain or service business communication solutions, please contact us at 877-Gaynor1. 

10 Ways Your Office Phone System Improves Your Customers’ Experience

Today’s office phone systems capabilities allow you to work anytime from anywhere. You may view this as either a good or bad thing – sometimes you don’t want to be accessible – but business competition in today’s economy is fierce. Your customers expect the highest level of customer care, and you and your staff need to be reachable, professional and customer focused at all times – no matter where you’re located.

If that’s your business model, is your phone system serving you like you serve your customers?

Use this checklist to evaluate if your office phone system gives your customers the experience they now expect from their chosen providers. Any items you can’t check off may signal that you could be getting more out of your phone system.

Reachability and professionalism

• Customers can access your sales staff anytime and anywhere with mobile capability that directs incoming office calls to be received on your sales staff’s mobile phones

• Outbound calls look professional, coming from the main company number, even when your employees are using their smartphones

• Customer focus is enhanced by connecting your CRM tools with Outlook to give you conversation history with your client

• Employee productivity is increased by merging call records with customer records to improve sales trending projections and staffing optimization

Employee productivity

• Employees and partners can communicate in ways that are easy and intuitive through audio and web conferencing, regardless of where they’re working

• Employees use presence features to be reachable by establishing if they are in the office, out of office, or in a meeting by using presence features

• Teamwork is made easy with voice and video calling, including screen sharing

Cost effectiveness

• Ongoing administration, such as adding a new employee is easy, not labor intensive

• Local support is available to train your staff to use features that improve customer experience

• You have the option of outsourcing your phone system management to an experienced local company

How did you do? Depending on your responses, here are some things to think about.

• If you scored an 8-10, you’re using your phone system to improve your customers’ experience as they work with you.

• If you scored a 5-7, there may be some phone system features you can use to improve your company’s competitive positioning and your customers’ experience.

• If you scored less than 5, it’s time to look at phone system capabilities you can bring to your company to help your staff be more reachable, professional and customer-focused.

You want your employees to function effectively while improving company productivity and increasing customer satisfaction. Your phone system should help you do all that – and boost your competitive advantage.

If you’d like to discuss your office phone system’s capabilities and see what’s possible for your business, contact Gaynor Telesystems below!

About Us

Gaynor Telesystems Inc. has been proudly serving the North State Communities of Chico, Yuba City, Marysville, Eureka, Arcata, Sacramento, Davis, Woodland, Redding, and Red Bluff for more than 40 years. We hope the information you found in this blog was useful. To learn more about how Gaynor Telesystems Inc. can help you install, maintain or service business communication solutions, please contact us at 877-Gaynor1.

Schools and ShoreTel Business VoIP Solutions: A Winning Combination

School systems all around Northern California are looking for phone system upgrades.

School budgets have been slashed and E-Rate funding has dramatically changed. IT departments have been tasked with looking for a long term communication solution.

Schools and ShoreTel are that winning combination. Here are some reasons to look at a ShoreTel Premise Solution for your business VoIP Needs.

Funding Options

Going out to a formal bid takes time, money and resources. Once you have narrowed down your VoIP communication options, you can look at purchasing methods for a new system.

ShoreTel is authorized for purchases via CMAS, WSCA/NASPO and PEPPM, just to name a few. These organizations allow purchases off the GSA and limit bidding requirements. (Check with your purchasing department for internal requirements).

So instead of getting bids from 20 different companies with 20 different solutions, you can narrow your search and have an idea of the pricing, as it has already been bid.

Central Administration

As the IT department, taking over the installation and maintenance of the business VoIP communication solution may be the last thing on your list. With the ShoreTel one-system architecture, you can have one main site and deploy your schools sites on your schedule.

You have options for integration of your current switches, so you can have a 2-3 year installation plan. With each site installation, you are adding parts to the site, but all the programming is done in a central location.

You can start the configuration and programming while schools are in session then deploy and cut over any lines over holiday breaks. No longer are you waiting for school holidays to do complete installs.

Special Pricing for Schools

ShoreTel wants to work with schools on their VoIP solutions. That is why a standard K-12 school gets an automatic $90 off list price for handsets. They have handset models in all shapes and sizes. The classic classroom IP phone will be $99 after the discount. No more $200 or $300 IP phones. When combining government discounts and handset discounts, you can save even more, allowing that IT phone system budget to do more. ShoreTel is committed to the lowest Total Cost of Ownership. To learn more, check out this article from Nemertes Research.

The key for any successful installation at a school is choosing a provider for the business VoIP solution. Gaynor Telesystems has been installing phone systems, VoIP solutions, and more in schools for over 30 years. 

We have the ability to sell via the government programs, and the know-how on installation timelines, process, and maybe most importantly, we understand how to interface with both IT, school administration, and teachers. 

To learn more, check out our success story with Modoc School District.

We are here to help schools choose the right solution. We know that budgets are squeezed, security is critical and timing is paramount.  Contact us today, we can meet with you and review all your options for a business VoIP deployment, whether it is this summer, or next year. 

About Us

Gaynor Telesystems Inc. has been proudly serving the North State Communities of Chico, Yuba City, Marysville, Eureka, Arcata, Sacramento, Davis, Woodland, Redding, and Red Bluff for more than 40 years. We have the information you found in this blog was useful. To learn more about how Gaynor Telesystems Inc. can help you install, maintain or service business communication solutions, please contact us at 877-Gaynor1.

8 Questions To Ask Yourself About Your Current Hosted Phone Systems

You may think you have the latest and greatest hosted phone system. But in truth, if the system is more than 2 to 3 years old, the technology has really changed. Today’s business environment is fast-paced and competitive. Today’s phone system technology makes it possible for you to know your customers and your customers to know your business. Most likely, you’re investing in ways to make sure you’re harnessing the power of all of your technological business resources. But what about your phone system, especially if it’s over 5 years old?

If you’re not already considering how to get full value from your phone system, you should be.

Savvy business owners or their IT staff know that a cloud phone system, like the products by ShoreTel partners in California, can multiply business success by integrating mobility, applications and collaboration under one valuable umbrella.

So maybe now is the time to ask these questions about your current hosted phone system:  

1. Does your system provide business intelligence based on call data and elegant integration with other important business applications (CRM, ERP, applicant tracking systems, etc.)?
   

2. Do users have direct access to a live person who can answer their questions and quickly solve their problems — without engaging you?
   

3. Are you confident that your phone system is secure and completely protected against hackers — both via the handset and the cloud data center?
   

4. Do you have access to intuitive, easy-to-use tools for phone routing and find-me/follow-me rules?
   

5. Does your provider leverage redundancy and failover to prevent against catastrophic phone system failure for your business?
   

6. Does your phone system offer on-demand training for new users or refreshers for current staff, and enable employees to be as self-sufficient as possible?
   

7. Can you view the status of your cloud provider’s system at all times to assess issues and average wait times?
   

8. Is your phone system so intuitive and easy-to-use (no two-week lead times to add a new employee, headaches managing changes, etc.) that it frees you up to focus on more important priorities?

How did you do with the simple test? If you have more than 3 uanswered questions, you should think about what your current phone system is doing to drive value for your business. Your phone system holds a significant opportunity to empower your business and employees with the right kind of tools and technology to drive integration, security and performance. The ShoreTel Cloud platform is a game changer.