Cloud telephone system

Source based call forwarding

Forward your calls to your desirable destination based on who is calling. This can be done for internal calls, specific extensions or phone book entries. In addition, you can have a personal black or whitelist to decide who should reach you and who shouldn't.

Virtual fax machine

With Cloudya, you can send and receive faxes.
• Reach each employee directly via a personal fax number
• Share virtual fax machines with a user group
• Receive faxes in PDF format by email
• T.38 fax protocol supported
• Connect analogue fax devices via auto-provisioned analogue adapter

National & international phone numbers

NFON provides local and international phone numbers or complete number blocks.

Call management

Call queueing

Call queueing allows calls to be placed on hold without handling the actual enquiries or transferring callers to the desired party. While in the call queue, the caller is played pre-recorded music or messages. Call queues are often used in call centres when there are not enough staff to handle a large number of calls. Call centre operators generally receive information about the number of callers in the call queue and the duration of the waiting time. This allows them to respond flexibly to peak demand by deploying extra call centre staff.

Different countries have different regulations on call queueing. In Germany, the costs chargeable to consumers as a result of call queueing have been set out in the German Telecommunications Act (Telekommunikationsgesetz) since 2012. Among other things, the law stipulates that the caller may only be charged from the point in time at which he is transferred to a member of staff or handling of the enquiry begins. This also applies to downstream call queues. The call queue ends as soon as information required for handling the enquiry is requested from the caller, either via automated dialogues or by staff.

Technical implementation of call queues

Previously, media such as cassettes or CDs were used for recording music or messages on telephone systems; however, modern telephone systems and cloud telephone systems almost exclusively use digital audio formats. In the case of cloud telephone systems, for example, digital audio formats can simply be loaded onto the system via the Internet and are then ready for immediate use. However, when making recordings of this kind, it is important to comply with copyright law and GEMA regulations (Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte – German Association for Musical Performing and Mechanical Reproduction Rights).

The purpose of call queueing

Call queueing is intended to prevent callers from being turned away in the case of insufficient staff capacity. The purpose of the pre-recorded music or messages is to shorten the subjective waiting time. At the same time, call queues can be used for advertising products or services. As soon as the call can be dealt with, the caller is automatically transferred from the call queue to the member of staff responsible. If customer or contract data has to be requested in several stages, multiple downstream call queues can be used.

Functions:

  •  Any number of queues and collective lines per system
  •  Custom, initial and periodic announcements
  •  Custom hold music per queue
  •  Automatic call routing to free or logged in agents
  •  Call routing by various criteria (all at once, round robin, random, longest break first, lowest load first)
  •  Freely defined wrap-up time for agents
  •  Exceptions for timeout and if no agents are logged in
  •  Optional caller hold time announcement to agent
  •  Optional custom announcement to agent per queue, e.g. queue name
  •  Optional announcement of queue position to caller
  •  Log in to queues from mobile devices
  •  Agent weighting (penalties). Allows agent skills to be illustrated for various queues
  •  Queue weighting (e.g. VIP customers)

Call routing

Use call routing to specify when to forward incoming calls to specific parties.

 

  •  Any number of time controls per system
  •  Determine call routing periods
  •  Determine call routing exceptions (holiday rule)

Voicemail

Voicemail is defined as a modern kind of answering machine that allows you to electronically store voice messages and retrieve them with a PC or system telephone or have them served as an e-mail. Voicemail is often a part of so-called unified messaging solutions that, provide users with individual answering machines serving up voice messages via their desktop PC, in addition to fax and e-mail services. Depending on the implementation, the voicemail service is provided by either the phone system itself, a Voice over IP (VoIP) server or an extension of the telephone system.

Where there is an incoming phone call and the called party cannot accept it, the individual addressed mailbox will respond with a recorded announcement and then give the caller the option to leave a message. This message is stored in digital form as an audio file that can then be accessed by the person who was called via the various different options of the system phone or from a PC. In addition, the message can be sent as an attachment to an email. In this event, the called party receives each new incoming voice message as an email in their inbox. This allows them to listen to the message at any time and at any location. Modern voicemail systems make it possible to arrange communication processes much more efficiently, both in business and in private life.

Functions

  • Self-administration of voicemail PIN
  • Every extension has its own voice mailbox
  • Forward your voicemail messages as .mp3 or .wav to your own email address
  • Store up to 100 voicemail messages per extension
  • Messages are automatically deleted after 30 days
  • Remote retrieval protected with individual PIN
  • Message Waiting Indication (MWI): indication when there are unheard messages in your voice mailbox individual announcements: administer voicemail announcements on voicemail service

IVR

Using Interactive Voice Response - in short IVR - it is possible for a caller to navigate through a menu and connect with the requisite extension by pressing the corresponding buttons on the telephone. ("If you have questions regarding your bill press 1", "Would you like to change to a new tariff?", etc.). Every response, each touch of a button takes the caller to the next menu item and therefore ultimately to the correct point of contact. No receptionist is required to answer the call manually and put the caller through. The company is able to determine which questions are required in order for the caller to navigate through the menu.

This function, realised in Cloudya, serves to enhance company efficiency.

Functions:

  • Multi Number: possibility to have several different inbound numbers per IVR
  • Any number of voice dialogues per system Individual announcements
  • Single-digit IVR: up to 13 options per dialogue level (0...9, *, # and time-out)
  • Any system target available per selection (groups, queues, IVR, extensions, etc.)
  • Multi-digit IVR’s allow to select a target by entering multi-digit numbers (e. g. “123“)
  • Company directory: possibility that at entering a number in the multi-digit voice response, this number is interpreted as direct extension dialling and the caller is forwarded according to the selected extension

CLIP

Using the feature Calling Line Identification Presentation (CLIP) it is possible for the call recipient to display the telephone number of the caller. Whilst CLIP was originally only available for use with digital ISDN telephony, this feature is now also supported and utilised in analogue telephony.

CLIP is also available with all other variants of digital telephony, for example Voice over IP (VoIP). With digital telephony, the transfer of the caller's telephone number or caller ID takes place via a separate signalling channel, which is independent of the voice transfer. In contrast, with analogue telephony special modulated audio signals are transferred to the recipient telephone as caller ID information whilst the telephone rings to signal the call. In order to display the caller ID the process must be supported by the recipient telephone.

A prerequisite for using CLIP is that the caller ID is not suppressed by the caller. If all the prerequisites for Calling Line Identification Presentation are met then the caller's ID will be shown on the telephone display of the call recipient whilst the telephone rings to signal the call. It is also possible to display the name of the caller, if the recipient telephone is equipped with its own configurable address book.

Legal regulations state that sales and advertising callers must activate the CLIP feature, so that the telephone number of the caller is always shown with these calls.

CLIR

What is a withheld number?
When a number is withheld, there is no caller ID, which means the recipient cannot see who is calling. A number can be withheld during digital, analogue or voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephone calls. The process of withholding a number is also called Calling Line Identification Restriction (CLIR). The recipient of a withheld number call usually sees a message such as “unknown” or “withheld number” in their phone display instead of a phone number.

Device Integration

Zero touch provisioning

With zero touch provisioning you are able to perform a mass rollout of your hardware with minimal logistic expenses and easy plug-and-play installation.

Auto provisioning of all settings needed on your phone
Firmware management: Auto update of device firmware
Redirection service: No manual configuration required on the phone.

Phone menus

With its tight integration through XML based menus, you have quick and easy access to core features of the PBX.

  • Toggle call waiting indication
  • CLIP: transmission of assigned phone number
  • CLIR: suppress transmission of phone number
  • Parallel ringing
  • Switch between call forwarding profiles
  • Set forward destinations (always, busy or timeout)
  • Hotdesking: log on and log off extensions on devices
  • Agent management: log in and out from call queues

Modern App Suite

One-number concept

With the one number concept your business partners can always reach you on the same phone number no matter what device you are currently using. The callee only sees the phone number that is assigned to your extension.

Native smartphone integration

Your smartphone is seamlessly integrated with the Cloud Telephone System. Thereby, you can use your smartphone as a full system phone with all the benefits of the mobile platform.

Moderated audio conferences

With moderated audio conferences you can manage conference calls with up to 50 participants.

  • Manage and subscribe to any number of conference rooms
  • Invite or remove participants
  • Exclude a participant from the conference
  • Make the conference public or private
  • Mute or unmute all participants

Telecommunication applications

CTI

CTI is the abbreviation for the technical term Computer Telephony Integration. It refers to a communications solution that, with the assistance of computer software, allows functions of the phone system to be used in conjunction with information stored in the computer system, such as phone numbers.

CTI enables control of the phone through the PC. This allows computer software such as email programs to connect you to the telephone system with just the click of a mouse. With incoming calls, a corresponding CTI function can display information about the caller from a CRM system, such as their contact details or call history. These additional functions make communication in business more efficient and allow for the better exchange of information.

To operate Computer Telephony Integration, the computer needs the appropriate software to control the system phone or communicate with the telephone system. Many PBX manufacturers offer such software solutions for their devices. To facilitate the connection of CRM or back-end systems with as little effort as possible, the CTI programs usually have software modules that can communicate with popular CRM and back-end systems via standardised interfaces.

For communication between the telephone system and the computer software, there are standardised protocols such as CSTA (Computer Supported Telecommunications Applications). This protocol defines the type and format of the data to be transmitted without specifying the actual transport layer, thereby allowing CTI solutions to be implemented by many more manufacturers.

Additional Software

Operator panel

The Operator Panel is a professional voice reception panel, where an employee can accept incoming calls, make calls out of the integrated softphone and forward certain calls to their recipients. Therefore, he is able to get certain information, put calls on hold and forward the caller to a specific person within the company. Also, he can deny the caller’s wish to get forwarded.

Features

TPS

TPS allows our customer to ensure their dialled numbers are checked against the TPS national databases in line with the Privacy and Electronic (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. TPS compliance will ensure call centre operations are protecting themselves against heavy fines which may be imposed.

TPS is easy to activate, per extension, via the Account Admin Portal. Once an extension is enabled, TPS checks the dialled call (number) in “real time” against the Telephone Preference Service (both consumer (TPS) and corporate (CTPS) databases).

  • Easy to set up
  • Company compliancy
  • Protect against heavy fines
  • Only call numbers you know will accept your call
  • No databases to maintain yourselves
  • TPS is the only UK national “Do Not Call” register
  • Aligned with OFCOM and regulatory compliant
  • All companies making outbound sales or marketing calls must use TPS checking
  • Unlawful to make unsolicited calls
  • TPS checks every dialled number for you – in “real time”
  • Only a small monthly cost to pay for protection