Integrating Voice, Fax and Email - Unified Messaging
Most businesses today operate using three main types of traditional communication. These are:
- Voice
- Fax
By using true Unified Messaging, all messages are delivered into one place - such as Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes and Mozilla Thunderbird - or over the phone using your voicemail facility.
Providing personnel with voicemail, means every member of staff can have their own individual messaging facility, called a mailbox. Once activated, normally at the touch of a button, a caller will normally be prompted to either leave a message, or press 0 for the operator, and in some cases press 1 for a mobile.
Below is an example of Microsoft Outlook, utilising Unified Messaging, where all voicemails, emails and faxes are show within Outlook - one place to manage all your correspondence.
The next image shows the control of a voicemail, once it has been opened - in a similar way as when you double-click on an email to open it to the full screen view. As you can see, you can control the playback, forward the message, change the playback device (speakers, headset, handset). and so on.
Features and Benefits of Unified Messaging
- Personal voicemail with a unique number for all users
- Personal faxing with a unique number for all users
- Fax from any application without leaving your seat
- Integrate your current Email service (Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes & Novelle Groupwise)
- Voice, Email, & Fax Messages displayed in Microsoft Outlook / Lotus Notes Novelle Groupwise
- Log on from home, or the office
- Email messages converted into voice, with an option to send your voice comments back to the sender
- Add voice comments to any fax, voice message, & Email, then send original message with your comments
- Emails, Voicemail & Faxes sent to your PDA/ Blackberry's
- Live reply to a voicemail message
- Sophisticated voicemail features such as skip back/ forward in 3 second increments, speed down or slow up the message, auto attendant, call queuing, follow me etc
- Texts sent to mobiles to alert you of a new message
Features and Benefits of Voicemail
- Customers can leave precise messages, no more unreadable paper messages
- Reception is no longer spending most of the time writing messages
- Messages can be accessed remotely 24 hours a day
- An Automated attendant can answer calls during busy periods, playing a welcome greeting
- Some voicemail systems will be able to forward a message to your email