Your Telecommunications Provider Update Re: COVID-19
Your Telecommunications Provider Update Re: COVID-19
Your Telecommunications Provider Update Re: COVID-19
With the World Health Organisation advisory now officially deeming the COVID-19 viral outbreak a pandemic, Australia seems poised to implement similar shut-down and quarantine measures to those which have proven effective at stymieing the spread of this infection overseas.
URL Networks has experienced a high volume of calls from our existing customer base – inquiring in advance of such measures being officially announced – re the logistics of staff working from home during either a self-imposed or officially required isolation period.
As a modern telecommunications provider we are in the unique position of being able to assist greatly with this via a number of means available within your existing telephony solution with us. This news bulletin communication is intended to provide a general overview of these options, as ever though, to discuss your specific requirements, or to action a particular request please contact us directly.
If you are using an existing onsite PABX (via our SIP Trunk service) we are able to divert your telephone calls to mobile phone numbers, however, for our current Hosted PBX Customers we can also provide the following remote working solutions:
Softphone client:
URL Networks offers a softphone solution that can flexibly integrate with your current physical handset office solution. Our application will work on Windows & Mac as well as Android and iOS devices. Once installed, this will allow your phone operatives to answer any customer enquiries seamlessly from wherever they are currently located whilst utilising an internet data connection.
If the softphone client is to be used via a laptop or desktop device, it may prove desirable to incorporate the addition of a telephone headset. If possible, these should be sourced locally now – as our regular supplies of these are currently limited due to the lockdown in China interrupting the supply chain. It is anticipated that a similar issue may occur within Australia if postal service operations are reduced or temporarily suspended in order to comply with government directives, so relying upon internet ordering for delivery of these items at this stage is not recommended.
Physical equipment:
Provided that your staff have access to a suitable home data internet connection, it may prove useful to move them away from a centralised office environment early, and thus request them to take home a phone, laptop or suitable desktop device with them in readiness to start working remotely. We can assist with this temporary solution being suitably configured over the phone via our on-call support staff.
Several of our clients have already commenced this process, or are taking active steps towards this option in terms of directing their staff to take home their computers at the end of each work day – because if quarantine measures are enforced without a significant period of notice, returning to the office in order to collect the relevant technology devices and other necessary work materials may not be logistically viable.
Call forwarding/IVR:
Depending on the nature of your particular workplace, it may be preferable to enact a temporary call forwarding option to push calls out to staff mobile or landline devices. This option will allow for your existing phone system to continue to actively drive calls to the required remotely-working staff members via either an IVR or relevant support staff members manually transferring out pre-answered calls direct to your agents as required. Once again, the experience for your customers will be seamless, as the phone system will continue to operate via all of your existing contact numbers and internal staff extensions. We can very easily assist you with implementing this option immediately/as required via our support line or email ticketing system requests.
If you have not currently been utilising an IVR menu to direct your calls, but would now like to set one up temporarily in order to better manage your call flow during this period, we can also assist with activating and configuring this quickly per your particular requirements. This may include the desire to change your operational hours, voicemail, customer greeting messages and the like.
Once again, please contact us directly for further information and to discuss your specific needs.
We hope that the above provided information and advice is of use and that the flexibility of our telephony service solution is able to provide some comfort during what is obviously a very challenging and uncertain time for all business operators.
support@url.net.au +61 3 9008 5900 1300 33 11 78
