By Chris Scott, Emergent

ORLANDO, FL — Nov 11, 2008 — As the economy continues to struggle  many small and medium businesses are experimenting with ways to lower operating costs.  In our experience, communications is one area that is often overlooked.  What follows are several ways that we have been successful in lowering our clients communications overhead.

Have your phone bill audited
With advances in technology, the cost of phone service in the past 10 years has been lowered dramatically.  Most companies, however,  don’t regularly analyze their phone bill to determine if they are overpaying for their telephone service, what new technology is available to them to lower that bill, or how to best take advantage of those new technologies.  With so many choices available, it can be difficult for company managers to select the products and services which best match the unique requirements of their business.  Emergent analyzes each customers specific needs and recommends a customized solution designed to maximize cost effectiveness and system performance.

Eliminate long distance charges with SIP trunks
SIP Trunks (Session Initiated Protocol) are a type of VoIP service that can significantly lower (or in some cases eliminate) the charges associated with calling long distance numbers.  With SIP trunks, the phone system is connected to the internet and long distance calls are routed over that connection instead of the more expensive phone lines from a telephone company.

Cellular Gateways for office to cell phone calls
A cellular gateway is a device that allows you to lower your overall communications cost by taking advantage of the free cell phone to cell phone calls that are included in most cell phone plans. Here’s how it works.  The cellular gateway connects to a telephone line port on your telephone system and routes incoming and outgoing calls (to your cell phones) through a GSM wireless network.  When an employee in the office calls the cell phone of another employee, the call is routed through the cellular gateway allowing you to take advantage of the FREE cell phone to cell phone calls.  When an employee calls the office using a cell phone, they call the number of the cellular gateway also taking advantage of the FREE cell phone to cell phone calls.

Use Call Reporting to eliminate employee misuse
Most telephone systems offer advanced reporting capabilities that can give business owners a wealth of information including details like phone numbers dialed; call duration and extensions and account codes.  This information can be used to ensure employees are working productively.  This information can be also be used to show when the phone system experiences peak traffic times, allowing  managers to schedule employees to work accordingly.

Use VoIP phones for remote and home offices
Networking telephones systems together that are geographically apart allows you to bypass your long distance carrier to call between offices (calls between offices are sent over the VoIP connection). This can lower personnel costs because one centralized receptionist answers instead of a receptionist at each location.  Utilizing a Voice over IP phone and remote desktop applications for the PC will allow a  worker to stay connected no matter where they are located.  Have a valuable worker that is moving?  No need to train a replacement when they can work from anywhere.

About Emergent

Emergent, formerly Telecommunication Professionals, Inc., has been serving the Orlando – Central Florida region since 1988. Emergent is a network services, business telephone and data communications company that specializes in technology solutions that give clients a competitive advantage and increased profitability. The company implements technology plans by providing products that fit the needs of the client. The mission of Emergent is to provide cost justification and investment protection.

The company maintains a full staff of factory-trained, certified technicians, sales associates and customer advocates that believe the dimensions of service quality are time and timeliness of the delivery of the service, completeness of the service, courtesy of those giving the service, consistency of the service, accessibility & convenience of obtaining the service, accuracy of the service, and responsiveness to emergencies.

For more information on Emergent call (407) 834-2700 or contact sales@askemergent.com.