Hogan Communications - Frequently Asked Questions

Question: Analog or IP cameras. Which should I have installed?

Answer: Analog has no ethernet distance-limitation and the equipment is still typically 10% cheaper then IP, but that gap is closing quickly. IP is more flexible and less expensive to install because you can use the existing infrastructure. IP also uses Power Over Ethernet (POE), which reduces costs. Plug and play capability allows for use anywhere on the network. The majority of today’s systems are hybrid systems which take advantage of both the analog and IP systems.

Question: Do I have enough lines and or people answering the phones? How can I tell?

Answer: You need to monitor the "traffic" of the phone system. A reporting package that is capable of traffic reports is a must. A traffic report will tell you when your peak periods are, when you need more people answering the phone and how many lines you need to have installed on the telephone system. Many businesses keep ordering new lines whenever a customer complains about a busy signal. Quite often the busy signal is generated due to the fact that there is a hunting or forwarding problem and not a lack of lines. In any case you should consult a local professional who can design a phone system with reports included.

Question: If you have 4 people that answer incoming calls, how can you equally divide the calls between the answering stations?

Answer: We have a product that is called Automatic Call Distribution (ACD). We recommend the installation of an ACD that would involve the answering stations "logging in" to the ACD. At this point the telephone system will intelligently divide the calls between the stations. You can supervise the ACD at a large screen phone and provide help to the agents by monitoring and tracking agent and queue data.

Question: What is VOIP and how can it help my business?

Answer: VOIP - is an acronym for voice over Internet protocol. Simply put this is the conversion of voice (analog) conversation over the network. The network can consist of your local area network, wide area network or the Internet.

I divide VOIP into two categories, VOIP trunking (replaces telephone lines) and VOIP stations. I will address trunking first; VOIP trunking can replace your existing telephone lines. Companies offer VOIP trunking over high-speed bandwidth connections, in essence they are using your internet connection to connect to a network that allows you to make calls over their network infrastructure. This allows you to dial from MA to CA over the same network and incur little or no long distance charges. Obviously the advantage here is the cost savings in regards to long distance dialing. The consideration that you need to make is about bandwidth; although many ads claim that VOIP is free you have to be careful. You have to budget for the amount of phone calls and the quality of the audio, audio calls over the internet can consume anywhere from 20Kb - 120Kb per conversation. So keep in mind if you have a cable modem connection that has a download speed of 1 Mb and upload speed of 256 Kb you may consume 120 Kb of that pipe with one VOIP conversation.

The second category that I use for VOIP is VOIP stations or a VOIP telephone system. VOIP stations can replace your existing business telephone system and offer most of the features that you currently use in your office. VOIP stations are phones that would plug-in to your existing network and route to a VOIP telephone system (server). The advantage of having a VOIP telephone system is the ease of moving phones anywhere on your network, internal or external, and connecting to your main office. We have 4 offices that are connected using VOIP and VOIP phones. This allows remote offices to share voice mail, reception and telephone trunks. This design allows for remote users to see who is on the phone at the main office and to transfer calls directly to one another via Internet connections. The advantage here is obvious, VOIP completely integrates your local and remote user as if they are all in the same building.

Question: Can we work on our phone system and perform basic administration functions without having to call a telephone company?

Answer: Yes, our new Toshiba systems all have very user friendly browser applications that allow you to log in to the phone system and make simple changes in your office. These changes would include but not be limited to: adding voice mail boxes, changing passwords, moving extensions, adding speed dials and programming station buttons.

Question: We don't have a receptionist. Our office shares in reception duties but our office personnel move around quite a bit. How do we answer calls from the copy room or the shop area?

Answer: In this case you would use the call pickup feature. Simply press pickup and * to answer any incoming call. Or press pickup and the station number and you will retrieve the call that is ringing at that station.

Question: My sales staff is on the road and I send them email and voicemails all day long. They can call in and retrieve voicemails but they never get their emails on time. How can I take care of this?

Answer: Two words, "unified messaging", we have a product that will combine your voicemail and email. When you call in from the road you will enter your voicemail box and you can then retrieve voicemail messages as well as email messages. The email will be read to you via a text to voice application. You will not receive file attachments.

Question: On Fridays I work out of my house and I would like to get all of my calls. What do we need to do?

Answer: We can design a system that will externally call forward any calls that route to your station directly to your house or a cell phone. We can also notify you when you receive a voicemail, the system will call you and directly connect you to voicemail and prompt you for your password.

Question: I own three businesses. I have one administrative office. Do I need three voicemails?

Answer: No, you can tenant your system. When calls come in they will direct to the proper answering stations and the receptionist will have a labeled trunk that tells the receptionist which company is receiving the call. The voicemail will have separate auto attendants with individual greetings for each company.

Question: Everytime someone takes vacation, they have to ask another person to check their voicemail. What can we do to make this easier?

Answer: Carbon copy, you can easily copy all messages to a covering station before you leave for vacation. This way you will have complete coverage and you will also have all of your messages when you return.