If you receive errors when attempting to view this white paper, please install the latest version of
Adobe Reader.
"In the face of this constant change, Tippit helps thousands of real phone system buyers make better decisions every day.
We also help buyers assess vendors who can solve their specific business problems. Tippit's ability to track and measure the Telephony buyer's research, evaluation and purchase habits provides a fascinating look into the Telephony market."
Source : Tippit
IP Phone Features that will make your Life Better
IP Phone is also known as :
Hybrid IP PBX,
IP PBX Systems,
Internet Telephony,
IP Communications,
IP PBX,
IP Phone Service,
IP Phones System,
PBX Phone,
PBX Telephone Systems,
Telephone System,
Voip,
Voip Communications,
Voip Systems,
Voip Telephone Systems,
Wireless Voip Phone.
What you should look for in an IP phone and how it can help boost productivity and ease of use,
as well as impress your employees.
VoIP has plenty of mainstream appeal for business, but many companies have yet to
discover the perks of IP phones. In fact, research firm In-Stat found that while total IP phone
annual shipments will grow from 10 million units in 2006 to 164 million units in 2010, only
40 percent of IP PBX (Private Branch eXchange) seats are
configured with IP phones.
Certainly price is one factor keeping businesses at bay. IP phones, after all, are often the
highest cost component in migrating from a traditional phone system to VoIP. Promising to
help companies get more bang for their buck, however, are a whole host of special features
included in most IP phones. The challenge is identifying these key attractions and ensuring
that employees make proper use of them.
While key features can vary from phone to phone, here are the ones that can make your
employees' lives better:
CMC (Client Matter Code): Having trouble keeping track of your billable hours? An IP
phone can help. Professional services companies, from law offices to accounting
firms,
can now associate inbound and outbound VoIP calls with specific billing or tracking
codes. Specified by a system administrator, CMC can track factors including the length
of calls for each client ' information that can later be packaged into detailed reports
for accounting and billing purposes.
Corporate Directory: Why keep a Rolodex when you can use your phone to search
for coworkers' and clients' numbers? Simply press a soft key or a button to place a call
to the phone number in the directory listing. These listings may range from corporate
contacts stored in Microsoft Active Directory to your personal contacts in Microsoft
Outlook. Either way, searchable directories appear right on the phone's display for
convenient access. Some IP phones even go so far as to provide users with at-a-glance
presence information for an entire corporate directory list so that they can instantly
see which co-workers are available or on the phone.
Touch-screen Display: Whether your goal is to watch streaming video or simply
monitor incoming calls, an IP phone's backlit, pixel-based, touch-screen display can
bring images to life. And by simply pressing a phone screen, you can access a full range
of applications in seconds instead of pressing cryptic key codes on the number pad.
E911 (Enhanced 911): E911 is an enhanced version of the 911 emergency service
that automatically delivers a caller's personal information, such as name and
address, to a local dispatch center or Public Safety Answering Point, as required by
the Wireless Communications and Public Safety Act of 1999. Although increasingly
incorporated into VoIP packages, E911 has long been plagued with implementation
problems, so it's worth asking your service provider what steps ' and obstacles '
are involved. The Federal Communications Commission has even jumped on board,
issuing an order to providers to notify their customers of the limitations of E911
service.
Enhanced Voice Mail: For a modern-day road warrior, picking up voice mail
messages can be a painstaking process. Pagers, cell phones, BlackBerrys, laptops
' there's simply no shortage of devices you need to check. With an IP phone's
enhanced voice mail, however, you can listen to your voice mail over the Internet
using the Web interface of your VoIP service provider or receive your messages as
email attachments. What's more, the media files can be saved for future access or
archiving. Enhanced voice mail also allows you to be notified of new messages
wherever you are, through your mobile phone or pager. Additionally, travelers can
listen to their messages from any phone available.
IP Video: It may not earn you frequent-flyer miles, but video-over-IP is the next best
thing to being there in the flesh. As a result, some IP phones include features such as
advanced VGA resolution camera sensors, color and rotatable LCDs, video call Hold/
Transfer/Forward, video phone books, and video-capture capabilities. At least in a
basic sense, you can engage in videoconferencing with geographically scattered
colleagues and co-workers.
Communications Control: So your entire California-based executive team is
attending a conference in Utah? Rather than have them waste time calling in for
voice mail messages, redirect all business-related calls to their cell phones using
an IP phone's communications control features. In fact, nowadays, companies
can manage an entire VoIP system across multiple sites with nothing more than a
browser-based interface.