International Numbers

One of the major advantages of a modern communications system is evident in the case of companies with multiple workplaces. The fact that you can have a single telephone switchboard that unifies all these locations also contributes a lot to reducing costs and streamlining communication and collaboration between employees in different locations. If you opt for the cloud-based PBX option, the cost reduction and efficiency increase even more; Hosted PBX solutions often include instant messaging, fast file transfer, conferencing and more.

These points of work can all be linked to the same phone number or can be assigned individual numbers; this can be especially useful for points of work in other cities or even other countries (for which international numbers can be assigned), where it is important to have a local number when calling customers/collaborators in the area.

Example: In the case of a company based in Sibiu and working in Germany, communication between the two interiors will be free and unlimited, thus eliminating the costs of international calls. The German point of work can be assigned a German number on which to receive local calls (from customers or suppliers in Germany, so that they are charged normal national rates) and can call them by displaying that German number; at the same time it can also be assigned a Romanian number to call and/or receive calls from/on that number.

 

 

International Numbers

 

 

contact the Optivoice team for a Hosted PBX solution that suits your business

 

Romania in the charts

Even if it seems that this year Romania has lost 3 more places in the top of the countries with the fastest internet, according to a report published by Bloomberg, we are still on an honourable 6th place, being surpassed by Israel and some Asian countries, traditionally situated on the first places.

Good internet speed is not the only thing that puts us in the top, but also the number of specialists in the field. In Romania there are 64,000 certified IT specialists, placing us on the 1st place in the European Union and 6th in the world in the number of specialists per capita, says the American research company Gartner Inc. Many large IT companies are attracted to Romania by the quality of the workforce and the low cost, among them: IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Intel. IP telephony

A top ranking that does us less credit is that of cyber attacks in which we rank 9th at the end of 2013, according to a study by Akamai Technologies Inc. But authorities are making efforts to lure hackers to the other side of the law.

The large number of software specialists and the good internet speeds offered in the country, the launch of 4G internet and the expansion of wi-fi hotspots are suitable ingredients for the proliferation of applications and software; practically, there are all the prerequisites for the rapid adoption of new technologies, the move to IP telephony with its major advantages being in the very near horizon the logical solution that companies of all sizes will adopt.

Learn more about Optivoice IP solutions

Whisper & Barge-in

Whisper & barge-in are some of the lesser known features of PBXs, used until recently only by the customer services of large companies are now accessible to companies of any size, can be incorporated into Hosted PBX solutions and thus substantially reduce the cost of accessing them.

In translation, they mean “whisper” or “interrupt” and they do just that. A manager or supervisor can listen in on ongoing employee calls with customers and intervene during the call in different ways:
-to be heard only by the employee, the “whisper” function
-likes to be heard neither by the employee nor the customer, just to listen, “barge-in” function

whisper & barge-in

The functions are very useful for customer service or sales teams, but not only. While the reports may be very good quantitative indicators, they do not say much about the quality of the work. These functions allow an evaluation of the quality of the employees’ interaction with the outside world (customers, suppliers, collaborators) and the real-time correction of any erroneous information transmitted to them. In the case of new employees they can be used as effective training tools and support in the first days of work.

Optivoce Hosted PBX solution offers whisper and barge-in features; learn more directly from us

In-flight calls

For business people who spend a lot of time travelling by air, the future sounds promising and is very close. Whereas until recently, passengers were asked to turn off their electronic devices of any kind, especially mobile phones, and thus could be impossible to contact for hours on end, technological and legislative developments may radically change things.

avionfinal

On the one hand, there are airlines, such as British Airways, which since the end of last year have started to allow passengers to use electronic devices (mobile phones and tablets) throughout the flight, including take-off and landing, demonstrating that this does not reduce the level of safety and does not violate current legislation. They will have to be kept in “airplane mode” which cancels the connection to the mobile network, instead allowing wi-fi use. On the other hand, technological developments have also taken hold in the skies and many airlines have started to provide broadband connections on board aircraft. With a VoIP app installed on your mobile phone or tablet and wi-fi turned on you can keep in touch with family, colleagues, partners and clients and can carry out your work unhindered even from 10,000 meters altitude.

PBX-IP PBX-HOSTED PBX

The first public telephone exchange appeared in 1877, the man who built it, Tivadar Puskas, was an engineer of Hungarian origin who was part of the Transylvanian nobility. It was a manual plant, requiring a human operator. Automatic power plants appeared in 1891, the first such plant being installed in Romania in 1927.

PBX-IPPBX-HOSTEDPBX

Office telephone exchanges initially appeared for economic reasons, the main advantage being that internal calls, between numbers/internal numbers of the same organisation no longer used the public network and were no longer charged, thus significantly reducing the telephone costs of companies adopting such proprietary telephone systems. As they became more widespread, they became more and more powerful and started to offer additional features, such as: redirection, call by extension, hunt call (the call goes to one extension, if the extension does not answer it goes to another extension and so on until the call is answered by an available employee).

Classic office telephone exchanges, i.e. PBX (private branch exchange), bring together several public telephone lines or trunks on one side and several telephone extensions in the same building on the other.

classic telephone switchboard

Basically, a company does not have to have a telephone number assigned to each telephone extension because not all telephone extensions are called at the same time and because the telephone provider can provide a telephone number that allows several simultaneous calls.

The equipment required for a classic telephone system is the telephone exchange, which can even occupy an entire wall, and the classic telephones which are connected by wires to the exchange. The cost of buying a conventional power plant, the subsequent maintenance, repairs and the not very simple way of setting up the system have allowed only very large companies access to such systems.

With the advent of the internet in the 90s, telephony started migrating to VoIP (see the article of 29.04.2014 “What does voip mean”) and this led to the emergence of a new generation of PBXs: IP-PBXs (telephone exchanges that allow calls to be routed over the internet).

IP PBX

The equipment required in an IP phone system are the PBX and the terminals (can be: IP phone, classic phone with adapter, PC or mobile applications).

With the advent of this type of exchange, the telephone system, although seemingly more complicated in structure, came with major advantages. I’ll mention some of the things that differentiate an IP-PBX from a classic PBX:
– for companies that have several sites, it is no longer necessary to purchase a telephone exchange in each location, as the workstations are connected to the IP exchange via the Internet: this significantly reduces not only the cost of purchasing equipment, but also the cost of calls between sites or the cost of organising meetings (telephone conferences can be held)
– for companies with workplaces or partners outside the country, the costs of international calls can be eliminated by allocating an interior to the location abroad
– for companies that have employees who work from home or have field work, it can be vital to keep in touch with them: softphone apps allow you to connect to the switchboard from your mobile phone
– the configuration of this type of power plants is done through a web interface, accessible not only to specialists, as in the case of classic power plants
– IP PBXs bring a number of additional functionalities such as: traffic monitoring, call recording, video calls, fax2mail, voicemail on email
The switchboards have thus become available to medium-sized companies that have understood the advantages of using their own telephone system and either had staff specialised in maintaining and setting up the switchboards or used an external consultant.

The newest and most amazing concept in PBXs is the Hosted PBX system. The essential difference with other telephone systems is that the switchboard is no longer physically located at the customer’s premises but is hosted in a data centre.

virtual switchboard

With the advent of Hosted PBX, telephone systems have become accessible to any company, regardless of size, and have become a real tool for increasing efficiency and productivity and reducing costs. Some advantages over IP-PBX:
– no longer requires the purchase of the plant, often a significant cost, especially for a small company; also, there are no more maintenance, repair, reconfiguration costs
– being hosted in a data center it benefits from 24/7 monitoring which makes downtime almost non-existent
– when moving from one location to another the system is directly functional
– scaling the plant (increasing or reducing the number of indoor units) is unlimited and can be done instantly: if your number of employees increases, you don’t have to buy a bigger plant, if your number of employees decreases or you want to give up the telephone plant, you don’t end up with useless equipment; it is also very useful in case of seasonal activities or projects that require increasing the number of indoor units for a few months only.
– rapid technological evolution, the emergence of new applications, do not require a change of PBX, often Hosted PBX providers incorporate the latest technologies in the solution offered
– allows integration of modern business applications via API (application programming interface), such as: internal chat, integration with customer management system, automatic extraction of reports (missed calls, waiting times in queue, etc.); practically unlimited possibilities

learn about Optivoice Hosted PBX

VoIP market in 2014

The VoIP market is not a new market worldwide, it has already been around for 18 years. Rapid technological evolution in recent years, however, places VoIP in a new era and the expected growth is fuelled in particular by the boom in mobile technologies.

mobile voip

Claudio Nespeca, vice-president of the Canadian company Epik Networks, predicted that in 2014 the adoption of mobile VoIP solutions will create a new trend, as these solutions will help companies to reduce costs and create a more integrated communications system.

communication system

Globally, US companies are leading the way in the adoption of VoIP solutions, with millions of users today.

A Forbes report showed that the VoIP phenomenon shows no signs of slowing down, with the number of paying users in the US alone already exceeding 30 million. This is according to figures published by IBISWorld, which also suggests that the market will generate $15.4 billion in revenue. By 2017, the VoIP sector’s contribution to the economy is expected to grow by an average of 15.3% annually. This highlights how quickly it is growing as a daily tool for companies and how it can generate revenue. Forbes also revealed that millions of dollars have already been saved by both large and small businesses through the use of IP-based communications. There are also many options in terms of services, applications and fees, so everyone should be confident that they can get exactly what they want from VoIP.

Romania is still a nascent market, with a recent and sketchy legislation in terms of VoIP market regulation and few companies offering services dedicated to the business environment. Users have been limited to large companies or subsidiaries of foreign companies in Romania, to whom VoIP has been made available by the parent company and is limited to ensuring internal contact with the parent company.

Few small and medium sized companies are still aware of the benefits of hosted solutions and the fact that the development of cloud solutions and mobile voip is helping them, making services accessible to them that until recently were the preserve of large companies.

Mobile VoIP

The year 2014 in Romania sounds promising, being the year in which all mobile operators announce nationwide 4G coverage, in which Orange launches Free Hotspot solutions throughout the network, all of which facilitate access to mobile VoIP solutions and considerably increase the quality and stability of audio transmissions for mobile VoIP calls.

What VoIP means

The name VoIP stands for “voice over IP” which in translation means voice over IP (internet protocol) and means that voice is transmitted over the internet.

phone evolution

Communications have come a long way since cave wall paintings and smoke signals. The earliest forms of voice communication are considered to be the two wired boxes that British physicist Robert Hooke experimented with in 1664. But two centuries passed before the invention of the telephone: in 1876 Graham Bell made the first telephone call to his assistant Dr. Watson, who was in another room. It was not until 1915 that the first long-distance call between New York and San Francisco was made. An important moment is marked in 1956 by the appearance of the first mobile phone invented by the Ericsson company, the truly portable form, however, is the 1973 Motorola.

In the early 1990s, the commercial use of the Internet began to grow exponentially and the first ideas of computer-telecommunications convergence appeared very quickly: in 1993 the first form of smartphone appeared. According to Wikipedia, “Since the mid-1990s, the Internet has had a revolutionary impact on culture and commerce, including the emergence of near-instant communications such as e-mail, instant-messaging, VoIP telephony, interactive video calling and the World Wide Web with its forums, blogs, social networks and online stores.[…]The Internet’s takeover of global communications happened almost instantaneously, historically: in 1993 it transmitted only 1% of all information transmitted between telecoms networks, already 51% in 2000 and over 97% of telecoms in 2007.”

The mass use of VoIP began in 2004 and has allowed users to make and receive calls as with traditional telephony.
VoIP calls are similar to traditional digital calls involving signalling, a transmission channel and coding (a packaging of the voice to be sent as data packets). The codecs used are responsible for the quality of the transmission and the bandwidth occupied by a call, the more powerful a codec is, the better quality it gives and the less bandwidth available; these codecs have become so powerful that they offer HD Voice quality and have even consumed as little as 6.4kbps. The most common codecs are G711, G729, G722.

In order to be a VoIP user you must first go to a VoIP service provider and then use one of the following technical solutions:
IP Phone

IP phone, looks like a normal phone but connects only to the internet jack, not to the phone jack; it is important to understand that this is not a phone but a mini-computer built to look like a phone, it has its own IP that connects to the IP of the PBX, in case of company communication systems.

ht701 VoIP adapter

IP adapter for the classic phone, which connects the phone to the internet jack and allows making and receiving VoIP calls

Casca call-center

Softphone, a software application installed on a computer or mobile phone with internet access, which allows calls to be made and received without using the voice resources available in the mobile phone package

Enter the online shop for a wide range of IP equipment

The benefits of using VoIP solutions have been so evident for businesses that there has been a migration from traditional telephone systems to VoIP telephone systems, with 80% of all new PBX telephone lines worldwide being VoIP by 2008.

In the next issue we will explain terms like PBX (PBX), IP-PBX (IP PBX) and Hosted-PBX (Hosted PBX).

 

What are unified communications

The fast pace at which telecommunications and IT services are developing can easily leave you behind and, even if you are not a specialist in the field, it is vital to stay informed about what they bring to the table, because their efficient use is directly reflected in increased productivity, improved and simplified internal processes and a better image in the market.

Real-time information exchange is no longer just a wish, as new technologies allow us to stay in touch wherever we are. Unified Communications is defined as the process of integrating all communication media, devices and channels into a single system to allow users to be in touch with anyone, anywhere, in real time. In the case of companies with several workplaces or employees in different locations (even if they work from home or are not in the country) this mode of communication is extremely important and effective. Unified Communications integrates voice, data and video communications into business applications, as shown in the sketch below:

unified communications

learn about the Optivoice unified communications solution

Unified communications solutions are currently the international standard in communications; they have become affordable for small and medium-sized companies so their spread in business environments is in full swing and the pace of growth is not expected to slow down worldwide, at least until 2017.

In the next edition we will develop the idea of voice communications as part of a unified communications system and try to understand together what VoIP telephony means and what it can bring new and good in a company’s activity.

New Optivoice image

We wanted a brand that would represent us as a company, as people and that would offer the customer a warm, friendly entry into a seemingly complicated technological field, but that offers simple solutions, easy to understand and manage, while being very efficient.

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_imageframe lightbox=”no” style=”glow” bordercolor=”#fff” bordersize=”1px” stylecolor=”” align=”center” animation_type=”fade” animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″]Optivoice-your voice in the cloud[/fusion_imageframe]
The Optivoice brand symbolism integrates key visual elements for the company’s activity – the cloud, as an image of the cloud services offered by the company and a bubble-talk, a universal symbol of communication. The cloud was made by a multiplication of conversation bubbles, suggesting the complexity of cloud-developed communication systems.
The use of green detailing more clearly highlights the idea of resource-efficient, environmentally friendly technology, which is an important asset in today’s business compared to traditional technical solutions.

Our vision takes into account all these aspects and we are determined to run our business not only with the aim of selling a service but with the desire to build together with our customer a communication system that will help him, that is perfectly adapted to his needs and that he can modify according to the evolution of the business, thus transforming it from a headache into a real tool to increase efficiency and productivity.

We invite you to browse our new website and are eager to hear your opinions and suggestions.

Continuing in the friendly spirit of the brand, we welcome you anytime to our new premises to get to know us better over a hot tea or a latte. The new office is on str. Emil Cioran nr.2 3rd floor.

[fusion_imageframe lightbox=”no” style=”none” bordercolor=”” bordersize=”0px” stylecolor=”” align=”center” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″]Sibiu, Emil Cioran street nr.2[/fusion_imageframe]

[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

Tiptel Authorized Reseller – made in Germany

Optivoice has become an Authorized Reseller for Tiptel products manufactured in Germany.

Our choice was aimed at introducing in Romania some very efficient products, recognized at European level and certified as such.

Tiptel products are distinguished by outstanding performance, modern design and “made in Germany” quality.

More details about the company can be found on the official website: www.tiptel.com

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_imageframe lightbox=”yes” style=”glow” bordercolor=”” bordersize=”0px” stylecolor=”” align=”left” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″]Tiptel Authorized Reseller[/fusion_imageframe][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]