VoIP phone quick reference guide

 

Shortcodes to use with your VoIP Phone

With Cebod Telecom’s business phone system you can now access various system features by dialing Short Codes.

The table below lists the default Short codes for you to use.

Call Queue:	Call Forward
Incoming calls in a queue to be responded by the next available agent. *51 – Join Call Queue Dial * 51 Enter Queue #of the queue to join on the prompt *52 – Leave Call Queue Dial * 52 Enter Queue # on the prompt *53 – Pickup Call Waiting in a Queue	Call Forward allows you to forward your calls on any number. *72 – Call Forward from Extension *73 – Cancel Call Forward *74 – Call Forward on no answer *75 – Cancel Call Forward on No Answer *76 – Call Forward from Any Station *77 – Cancel Call Forward for other extensions
Blocked Number	Ring Group
Call Blocking allows an user to restrict calls from a particular number or extension. *60 – Delete Blocked Number *61 – Add Number to Block *62 – Check if the Number is Blocked	Ring Groups are the groups within your company created based on department, expertise or location. *80 – Remove from the a Group *81 – Add to Group
Intercom	Voicemail
Intercom allows to dial an extension within the company without leaving the company network. *84 – Intercom Between two phones	Voicemail box stores all the voice messages that were left while the user was unable to take the call. Dial your own extension *98 – Check Voicemail from Any phone Dial * 98 Enter extension # on the prompt
Call Parking	In Call Features:
*85XX – Pickup parked call Dial * 85 followed by XX where XX is number between 01 to 99 based on the number announced while parking	Features available to user while the call is active (user is on phone) *1 – Blind Transfer *2 – Start Recording *3 – Forward  *4 – Attended transfer to internal number *9 – Call Park

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Tips to Help you Choose between Static and Dynamic IP

The term IP address refers to a series of numbers responsible for the internal communication between different devices.

Though many businesses do not pay much attention to IP addresses while designing their internet strategy. But there is no denying the fact that they can play an extremely important role in ensuring effective communication in any modern-day organization.

Based on your needs and preferences, selection of a dynamic or static IP address may significantly affect your business objectives and the type of technology that should be implemented to achieve those objectives.

IP Address Explained:

IP address or Internet Protocol (IP) address is defined as a unique number assigned to all devices that are connected to a given internet network. It is used for the identification of all devices across an internet network and helps them communicate.

In most of the cases, IP addresses comprise of four different number series with periods to break them up.

As mentioned earlier, dynamic and static are the two different types of IP addresses. A static IP address remains the same over a period of time. On the other hand, a dynamic IP address undergoes periodical changes. Both types have their own share of pros and cons and the correct choice for your business will be determined by your specific business requirements.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Static IP addresses:

Advantages:

• An uncomplicated server hosting process: A static IP simplifies the process of hosting an organization’s email,  SMS, web, or FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
• Remote access without any difficulty: The IP address is easily remembered and trusted by the Virtual Private Network (VPN), making it possible for all employees to work remotely without any complication.
• Reliability of communication: Easy and high-quality communication using digital services such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Phone service
• Easy transfer of files: Quick transfer of data including large files, emails, faxes with high-speed upload and download facility

Disadvantages:

• Security Issues: Additional measures of security are required to keep the network safe from the hackers which requires to work with the right VOIP phone service provider.
• Additional Cost: Static IPs mean additional cost both in terms of the internet plan and hosting server
• Complicated setup: Businesses using static IPs often require an Internet Service Provider or Business Phone Service Provider that offers the necessary support for manual configuration of devices.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Dynamic IP addresses:

Advantages:

• Automatically configured: Maintenance requires less time and money because the devices are configured automatically.
• No extra charges: No additional expenses over and above the internet plan
• Unlimited connectivity to devices: Several devices can be used without the hassle of disconnection or manual configuration.

Disadvantages:

• Higher Outage: The chances of getting thrown off the connection are considerably higher
• Relatively Inaccurate Geolocation: Businesses that need accurate Geolocation should think twice because this feature, in general, is comparatively less accurate.
• Remote Access Limitation: The remote access with dynamic IPs tends to be quite challenging with security issues.

What is Right for You?

A Static IP can be beneficial for businesses that use of are planning to use VoIP phone service or any other type of digital services for voice based communication. It is also the more appropriate choice for those hosting websites or servers, or has employees working remotely.

The businesses that don’t fall under any of the categories mentioned above may use a dynamic IP address without any difficulty. Regardless of what is the correct choice for your business, please contact us  at  Cebod Telecom for the support and service that can take your business to the next level.

Content Source: https://www.cebodtelecom.com/tips-help-choose-static-dynamic-ip/

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How to Setup a Basic Business Phone Service

 When you are running a small business, you want to make sure you have a solid telecommunications system. Many companies opt for a VoIP business phone service plan because there are no extra wires or installation hassles. You can make your company appear larger and handle customers around the world with ease, and all that is necessary is any type of phone (be it landline or mobile device). In addition, this business phone service takes less than an hour to set up.

Step One: Selecting a Plan

The first step in setting up VoIP for your business is to select the plan and phone system you need. As a small business, it is important to keep your costs low to help maximize your profits. However, you need to also make sure that the system you select is reliable because you do not want to be dropping calls. There are many VoIP companies that offer you the ability to tailor your service plan to have features that you need, and going with a plan that offers a hosted service gives you the ability to forgo installation.

Step Two: Deciding on a Number

Once you have decided upon the number of phone lines needed, its time to choose numbers. There are three methods you can go with VoIP numbers, similar to traditional phone service plans. You can let the hosting company randomly select a number for you, or you can choose or create a unique number, or port your own phone number from previous vendor for free. This number will then be forwarded to any phone that you decide to use.

You may want both a local and a toll-free number, or you can simply use a toll-free or vanity number that everyone will easily remember. The options are vast, so look at the price plans available and decide what works for your company. If you are an existing company, it is advised that you maintain your current phone number so customers can reach you without having to remember a new number (or re-program their phone).

Step Three: Add Extensions if Desired

Even small business phone service plans should have a starting menu when customers call. With VoIP, the start menu includes reaching a person directly using a name directory. However, you can divide your company into departments and allow customers to direct their calls. This adds to the perception of your company, as the more departments you offer, the larger the company appears. Just remember that if you have your customers jumping through hoops to talk to a live person, they may disconnect the call and you will lose a sale

Step Four:  Make a Recording

When it comes to creating a recording for your answering service, you want to consider who does the voice. You have the option of paying for a professional recording, or you can have someone in your company make the message. The voice customers hear on the phone will give them an immediate perception of the company, and you want to make sure that it is easy to understand. Professional recordings often give customers the perception of a large corporation, while recordings done by an employee offer the perception of a small, friendly organization.

Once you have finished creating a menu and adding custom recordings, you are ready to start taking phone calls. In addition to standard calls, VoIP lines can be used traditional fax machines via ATA, allowing you to completely manage your telecommunications virtually. You will not have to wait for the phone company technician to come and make installations, allowing you to concentrate on getting your business up and running.

Content Source: https://www.cebodtelecom.com/how-to-setup-a-basic-business-phone-service/

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5 Benefits Your Dental Practice Management Software Must Come With

 Are you a dental expert?

Have you ever heard about dental practice management tools?

If not, chances are you still keep records in a cupboard, or your dental table is overflowing with a stockpile of files and folders.

In that case, now is the time to transform your dental clinic, making it more organized with good dental practice management software.

A dental practice management tool is a computer program that stores, organizes, and sustains a patient’s dental records. The software in your computer allows you to fetch patient’s information at a single click instead of wasting hours arranging the heaps of patients’ cards.

A dental practice management program gives you instant access to patients’ files and keeps them organized in an all-inclusive manner. It also performs various clerical or administrative tasks such as maintaining contacts and keeping track of income and expenses.

The significant advantage of a dental practice management tool is it enables your dental clinic to offer fast services and deliver 100% customer satisfaction. Additionally, it keeps your staff and patients smiling all day.

And that’s possible only when your dental practice management tool possesses some dental-essential benefits.

5 Benefits Your Dental Practice Management Tool Should Provide

So are you ready to invest time and money in purchasing, installing, and learning the dental practice management software?

Make sure it involves the below-given features for a better return on investment.

1. Scheduling at a Glance

A lot of your work processes rely on scheduling. You need complete information on who is taking care of your patients, what treatments are about to take place at which time, what’s the current status of the patient, and more.

A dental practice management system offers smooth scheduling where you get all the needed information at a glance. You don’t have to stress over your eyes to comprehend the information.

Some software programs even come with a color-coding system to draw out information at a glimpse. It also provides other scheduling elements that reveal a patient’s consultation status, label providers, or the type of treatment arranged.

Once you grasp the scheduling features, you will become able to put effective practices. As a result, you will enjoy high production and high-standard care for patients.

2. Treatment History & Future Plans

Do you know the dental practice tool also helps you communicate better?

As opposed to searching through hoards of files packed with papers, dental software easily and quickly displays a patient’s entire treatment history and future treatment plans.

Now let’s say, if you and your team get access to the patient’s history and future treatments within moments, you will communicate better with patients, knowing their current condition. In other words, the tool eliminates miscommunication.

Furthermore, continued innovation in dental software tools has led to quick treatment calculations accompanied by accurate estimation of the amount of insurance to be paid. It helps you pursue patients to accept treatments gladly and leave them satisfied once you solve financial queries and organize a treatment plan.

3. Organize Information on Dental Charting

A dental chart is a visual representation of all the information about a patient’s teeth and gums. It can be in any form like graphics or pictorial drawing of a patient’s mouth. It reveals almost all teeth and consists of free space to make shorthand notes.

Dentists generally draw charts after inspecting a patient’s mouth. They take notes on the chart concerning the essential information that they need for future references.

A dental practice management tool must come with a charting feature offering more precise and specific information on a computer or smart device instead of a piece of paper or an x-ray. Digital charts provide better clarity with colors and numbers. They help you answer patient’s questions during ongoing treatment, quickly and easily.

Once you install the software, you will never be worried about the fading charts or tearing X-rays.

4. All-in-One Note Taking

A dental practice management tool with a note-taking function makes it fast and straightforward to create, monitor, and find your dental notes. Additionally, the program keeps all your notes organized and secure in one place.

These days, with voice assistance, features blooming, you can look for software with an in-built speech dictation feature to add notes with your voice. The all-in-one note-taking feature keeps your hands free to work with a patient while producing notes.

5. Automated Billing and Appointment Reminders

A dental software with automation capacities can streamline a couple of processes, setting more free time for you and your staff to look after patients.

One of the most common automation features is billing and appointment reminders.

Automated billing generates invoices after patients receive treatment.
Automated appointment reminders send texts or emails reminding patients of upcoming dental visits.

Both features need little to zero human support once you set them up. They save you hours that you could have wasted behind creating bills or sending reminders to each patient per visit manually.

In Summary,

Getting the most out of your dental practice management tool lets you simplify procedures, conduct effective conversations, access information at one glance, maintain and secure patients’ records, get rid of writing and filing errors, save a plethora of time and money, set and achieve goals, acquire more customers and deliver excellent patient experience.

If this doesn’t improve your efficiency, productivity, and profitability, I don’t know what does.

Switch to dental practice software now to leverage each feature now. And don’t forget to come back and share your experiences through the comments below.

Content Source: https://www.cebodtelecom.com/5-benefits-your-dental-practice-management-software-must-come-with/

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Beat the Competition by Choosing the Best Dental Phone System for Dental Office

 In today’s highly competitive market, every professional encounters several challenges specific to their nature of work. The scenario is no different for a dental office. However, by opting for the best phone system for dental office, it is possible to overcome many of these problem areas.

Everyone understands the importance of communication in today’s business landscape. In case of a medical or dental practitioner, the phone system can be considered to be the nucleus of its operational process. The phone system of the office ensures the proper exchange of all critical business information. It is also the most effective way for the patients to remain connected with your dental clinic. Moreover, for many dental offices, the phone system is one of the largest components of their office expense. This is why it is of paramount importance to choose the right phone service for medical office or dental clinic.

Regardless of how old your dental clinic is or how many locations your clinic has, here are some common problems you may have faced at some point of time.

Attracting new patients and retaining them: This has always been a major concern area for all medical and dental offices. It is only possible to win new patients and retain the existing ones by delivering a high level of customer experience. Many dental offices accomplish this goal by providing greater facilities, and building a long-term relationship with their patients. Today’s advanced business phone systems provide an excellent opportunity to achieve all these and much more without spending a fortune.

There are many modern VoIP for office phone systems with excellent capabilities, including seamless integration with your CRM software. As soon as your office receives a call from a patient, the call recipient has instant access to his or her billing information, appointments, notes, and case history. At Cebod Telecom, we have created VoIP based phone systems that are tailor made for all leading providers of CRM solutions including the favorite of many dental offices, Curve Dental.

Ever increasing competition: Many of you must have noticed the mushrooming of new dental clinics around you. Have you thought of any plan that helps you stand out from this extreme competition?

A high percentage of prospective patients of a clinic contact them via phone. Therefore, every dental office needs to implement adequate measures to impress these callers. A good phone system will make your office look extremely professional, capable, and seasoned. On the contrary, issues like long hold times, dropped calls, or busy signals can shatter the image of your office in no time.

Following today’s business trend, you must figure out a way to ensure easy availability of your telephone lines by automation. Cebod Telecom offers several automated features that can be extremely useful for your office. No wonder many dental offices consider us to be the best practice management software and phone system for dental office.

Content Source: https://www.cebodtelecom.com/best-dental-office-phone-system/

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Useful Tips for Call Transfer

 Aside from being able to transfer calls with or without answering, you can also choose between warm and blind transferring. If you are transferring the call to other agents or other departments, this information can help you determine which will be best for each level of service and each department.

If a call needs to be transferred to another department. This can be due to the customer needing a different level or service or the call needing to be routed to a different service. You can answer the call prior to picking up the call if you are unavailable. You can also answer, then transfer if you wish to be the intermediary for callers and customer service.

There are also further options, including blind and warm transfers to use for call forwarding and transfer.

What is blind call transfer?

A blind call transfer is when you send a call to another phone number or person in the company without talking to that person first. You will simply answer the call, determine if the customer needs to be sent to another department, then shift the customer over by transfer.

Blind transfers work well when:-

• The customer is looking for basic help or information that any person would know in that department.
•  Saves you and customer time by being able to connect with someone else who can quickly answer the question, keeping the customer happy.

What is warm or attended call transfer?

Attended call transferring refers to warming the person up or providing information prior to transferring a call to a particular person. To perform a warm transfer, you will put the customer on hold, then dial up the agent. You can give them a briefing on the issue that the customer is having.

Attended transfer works best when:

• The customer requires some specific information related to a department or a product.
• There is an issue or a problem with specific features or services, making sure that the needs are addressed as quickly as possible.
•  It helps avoid customers from having to transfer multiple times.

Deciding which type of transfer to use

For basic information or if there is another department necessary in the beginning, a blind transfer is a good option. This will allow you to get a customer the information that needs immediately. Blind transfers also work when you are shorthanded and need help handling customers who need information or services that all agents are able to help with.

If a client is having an issue, escalating to a warm transfer offers a higher level of service. Utilizing this transfer also means that the agent can quickly find information on hand, clearing up the use of the phone lines and shortening customer wait times.

Also Read:-

• 5 Benefits of Auto Attendant
• Call Mointoring

Content Source: https://www.cebodtelecom.com/useful-tips-for-call-transfer/

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5 Reasons to use Conference or Conference Bridge phone feature?

 Conferences should be quick and easy. With the right technology they are. Conference bridge feature is one of the best ways to connect with employees, vendors, customers, and anyone else you must make contact with to make sure your business runs smoothly. Being able to conduct conference calls with people anywhere in the world shouldn’t be hard.

1. Conferencing without the wait:- 

You can elect to set up a conference any time that works for you. When you set up the conference, an automatic email will be sent out to those who are invited to participate in the conference. Once the time for the conference starts, they can log in with a pin to gain access to the conference. This way each person receives a message about the conference prior to it beginning and gains proper access information that can be accessed via email.

2. Instant email:- 

Instant email makes sure that the conference can begin on time. Having a reminder about the beginning of a conference at the very beginning will provide better attendance rates. Most workers check their emails all of the time, which is the perfect way to keep in touch. The email will provide all necessary information for accessing the call and provide the reason for the conference.

3. Mobile conference bridge:- 

Conferences do not have to be accessed from a work phone. A work conference can be accessed through mobile phones or even digitally. This means that workers who are on the road or at home can access a conference just as easily as those who are in office. Virtual phone line are easy for some employees, as these can be pulled up from a tablet or a computer with ease. When using a virtual phone line, their mobile phone line can be left open for possible business call forwarding if customers call during the conference.

4. Entrance and exit sounds:- 

Knowing when people are entering the conference can give you an update on who has showed up. You can have those who enter the conference announce themselves, plus set up the conference to play a sound when people enter or exit. This will allow you to wait for everyone to arrive, so that everyone receives pertinent information, rather than needing to recap at the end.

5.No restrictions, Manage large groups:- 

If you need to have a large number of conference participants the conference bridge is the best way to make this happen. As the administrator you can mute all participant lines, so that there is no distraction and information can be distributed all at once. A large, controlled conference through conference bridging can keep all workers up to date instantaneously.

Choose Cebod Telecom Business Phone Service and take all powerful PBX calling features like conference bridge with you.  Several plans and pricing options are available.

Content Source: https://www.cebodtelecom.com/conference-bridge/

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