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A
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Access by Phone
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Almost every toll free provider permits you to access your account by phone in addition to web access. Phone access is usually to a subset of features. Most of the access calls to your account are charged against your available minutes.
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ACD Queuing
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Automatic Call Distribution or ACD Queuing allows you to route all calls to the appropriate departments and staff. Quality ACD systems will allow for significant customization of the queues including, prioritization of staff, staff elect when to be a part of the queue, system knows when staff are already on calls and only routes to available staff,on-the-fly management by a supervisor, custom information while on hold, overflow queues,adjustable call time limits, time based night modes, and recording and monitoring of calls. ACD Queues are more advanced than Hunt Groups. See TrueACD for one of the best examples
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Auto Attendant
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This is typically the first thing people hear when they call your Hosted PBX. It is usually recorded by you or many of the plans have professional voices you can hire to create them for you. This initial greeting tells people who they have called and provides an IVR for them to select where they want their call to be sent to.
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C
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Call Announce
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When a call is forwarded to an extension, a computerized voice will announce the call for you (VirtualPBX allow you to select any of the following to be announced, Name of phone line, Caller ID, name of ACD the call came through , even the name of the extension the call is being sent to) and ask what you would like to do with it... Answer it, Send it to voice mail, forwarded it to someone else, etc.
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Call Block
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Have a pesky customer or person you would like to keep from calling you? Plans with call block allow you to prevent someone from a particular number to reach you. The best plans provide options on how to handle the call such as play a busy signal, just hang up, send the caller to a unique voicemail box, or simply say "this number is not in use"
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Call Forward
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Allows you to forward the call to someone else on "the fly". Great for companies with more than one employee. Also know as just "forward". The best plans allow an extension owner to place a on hold, dial another extension,speak to that extension owner and the then transfer the call.
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Call Hold
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You guessed it - just a simple hold. Callers are placed in a "standby" mode while the receiver prepares to speak to the caller. Most systems play music for your customers while on hold. Also known as "hold"
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Call Reports
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A detailed list of incoming and outgoing calls accessible through your online account
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Call Screening
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This feature requires the caller to speak their name before they are transferred to the appropriate extension. This allows the person answering the call to know who is calling. This feature should be used sparingly as it can frustrate some customers.
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Call Transfer
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The ability to send your caller to a different telephone number. Most only allow transfers to a number within your organization. Also known as "transfer"
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Conference Calling
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The ability to have a telephone conversation between at least three parties, speaking on three different telephones, with three different telephone numbers.
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Cardless Calling Card
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Many companies allow you to use your 800 toll free number to call as you would with a pre-paid calling card. The minutes used count against your monthly minutes.
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Custom Hold
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Some companies allow you to provide custom hold recordings that play while customers are waiting to speak with someone. Great feature for companies that would like to inform customers of specials, store hours, etc. If you use an ACD, make sure you can have custom music on hold, so you can have a sales message play whillst they wait for a sales person or soothing music if they are waiting for tech support.
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D
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Dial By Extension
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Virtually all plans offer this - "if you know your party's extension, you may dial it at any time...."
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Dial by Name
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Gives your customers to type in part of the name of the person they are calling and be transferred to their extension.
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Dedicated Toll Free
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Your 800 or toll free number is yours alone. You will not share it with any other company.
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Dedicated Fax
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In addition to your toll free number, some companies will provide you (free or for a fee) a dedicated fax number that is different than the main toll free number.
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Direct Connect
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This call feature allows calls to be routed directly to the destination number you choose, circumventing the need to "press a key to accept the call". Choosing this option almost always means you lose the option for call announce, call hold, call transfer among other features. It is often used when routing calls to an outside call center.
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Direct Inward Dial (DID)
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Direct Inward Dial (DID) Allows callers to reach a staff member directly without going through the auto attendant. It provides the means for each extension owner to have their own custom local or toll free number. Real PBX systems provide for this automatically and can be seen as a drawback to hosted PBX plans.
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F
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Fax On Demand
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Callers are able to request a faxed document from you automatically. Callers will be routed through options, ultimately selecting a document and entering their fax number. Once complete the document is automatically faxed from your system to the caller. Have a parts list or assembly instructions that your customers frequently request? Set it up as Fax on Demand to save countless staff hours.
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Follow Me
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Calls can be routed to multiple numbers to make sure you never miss a call. Most often, users will also set a "call order" of the numbers you will most frequently be at, i.e. Office, Cell Phone, Home, etc. The telephone numbers and the order can be preset via the website or on the fly using your phone and calling into your voicemail center.
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Forward
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Allows you to forward the call to someone else on "the fly". Great for companies with more than one employee. Also know as "call forward"
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G
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Group Voice Messaging
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Have many people in your organization that you would like to leave the same message for? Group messaging allows you to send one voice mail message (either one you create or one you forward) to multiple people in step. No need to re-record the message multiple times.
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Dial by Name
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Gives your customers to type in part of the name of the person they are calling and be transferred to their extension.
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H
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Hold
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You guessed it - just a simple hold. Callers are placed in a "standby" mode while the receiver prepares to speak to the caller. Most systems play music for your customers while on hold. Also known as "call hold"
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Hold Music
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Simply means that your callers will hear music while they are on hold.
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Hunt Groups
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Hunt groups are primarily used for call centers, either real or virtual. Calls are routed to an appropriate group of employees in either, random or a predetermined order. The system will "hunt" out the next available agent so that the call is answered in a timely fashion. If one agent is busy, the call will go to the next in line until the call is answered.
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I
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Integrated Fax
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Plans with this feature allow your caller to fax directly to your standard toll free number - no need for a second, dedicated fax number. The systems are intelligent enough to know if the call is coming from a real person or a fax and handle the call appropriately.
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IM Console
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Toll free providers with IM Consoles (Instant Messenger) integration allow the user (you) to be notified of new incoming calls and faxes. You can choose how you would like the call to be routed via the IM Console.
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L
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Local Numbers
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In addition to receiving a toll free number, some plans allow you to add a local number too. Great for companies looking to service customers in specific regions. You do not need to live or work in the area you choose to have a local number, calls will be forwarded to whatever number you choose same as your toll free number.
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Legs
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All calls to your toll free number require two legs (or connections). The first leg is from the caller to your toll free number and the second leg is from the toll free company to your designated number. Companies will bill your minutes for just one leg or both - check to make sure what the company you're considering does before you sign up.
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N
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Non-Blockable Caller ID
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Provides you the phone number of callers who have paid to have their numbers "unlisted" with caller id.
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P
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Pager Alert
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An alert will be sent to your pager when a new voice mail message has been received by your toll free voicemail system. It is important to note that almost all pagers have an associated email address. For those companies that don't offer pager alert, but do offer email alert, you can simply send a message to your pager instead.
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Personal Hold Message
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This is similar to "Custom Hold". You can provide a hold message that provides your own information or music.
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Q
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Queue
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"You are now third in line." If you never want to miss a call, make sure that your package includes message queuing. When receiving multiple calls at the same time, your callers will be placed in a queue until the next available agent can answer the call.
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Questionnaires
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If your looking to collect information from your callers, then consider a plan with questionnaires included. Callers are asked a series of questions that you design. Their answers are entered by pressing numbers on their keypad and the responses are stored digitally so that you can review the information in Microsoft Excel or similar program.
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R
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Random Hold Music
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The system rotates through different genres of music for the callers on hold.
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Return Calls
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This useful feature allows you to connect a call from your voice mail. While listening to the message, simply enter the appropriate keys and you will be connected to the number responsible for the message. This is a lot like *69 but for your voicemail.
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Ring To
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This is a "true" call forwarding feature. Calls to your toll free number will be routed directly to the number you choose without all the bells and whistles attached. Customers of companies that charge for both legs of the call can use this feature to reduce the billing legs to 1.
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S
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Schedule Enabled
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For some, this will be a very important feature. Schedule enabled allows you to set the times of day that you wish to receive your phone calls, all other times calls are directed to voicemail. This is great for offices or people that have "operating" hours and want to be left alone all other times of the day/week.
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Setup Fee
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You guessed it! Some companies will charge you a 1 time setup fee for 1 or all of the features. There are even some that will charge you to setup your initial account.
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SMS Notification
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If you have a cell phone with SMS enabled, you will be able to route calls on "the fly" from your cell phone without actually answering the call.
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SOHO
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Small Office - Home Office
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Storage
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Each plan offers different storage options or limits for your voicemail messages and faxes. Storage capacity can be measured by: Number of messages, total time of messages, or size of the digitized file. Some plans offer unlimited storage. Also, be sure to check your plans requirements as some messages are automatically deleted after a certain time period.
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Supervisor Control
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Managing a call center? This feature will allow supervisors to monitor where the calls are routed, to which agents and even allow the supervisor to "listen in" on conversations. Most companies use this feature for "quality assurance" and training purposes.
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T
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Transfer
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The ability to send your caller to a different telephone number. Most only allow transfers to a number within your organization. Also known as "call transfer".
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Transfer Fee
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Have a toll free number already, but want to move it to your new toll free provider? Most companies will charge you a one time fee to transfer your number from one service provider to another.
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True 800
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Not all toll free companies offer the original 800 toll free numbers. Most will be issuing you 888, 877, 866, etc. numbers. However, for a fee, many of the toll free providers will give you a true 800 number.
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TrueACD®
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Trademark term used by VirtualPBX.com for their advanced ACD capabilities. Probably the most sophisticated Hosted PBX ACD featrure of all the services.
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V
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Vanity Numbers
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Vanity numbers incorporate a name, word or phrase into the toll free number design. Used to help customers remember your toll free number. Requests for vanity numbers usually come with a fee associated with it.
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Voice Mail
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A virtual answering machine for your phone line. Messages are taken "virtually" and stored in digital format. They can then be emailed directly to you or stored for later retrieval
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Voice Mail Email
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Voice mail that can be delivered to your email.
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Voice On Demand
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Informational voicemail messages can be played for callers and correspond to the choices each caller makes. Often used to provide more detailed information about products or services without having to speak with a customer representative.
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W
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Web Interface
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Access all of your account features via the web. Check messages, view call history, balance, change your billing information, set and change your calling features. Make sure your plan allows you to check voice mail online as you will incur charges to check messages through your phone.
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Glossary of Terms