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Busy lamp consoles have long been a favorite tool of the trade for receptionists. Many consoles can have hundreds of buttons on them so calls can be transferred throughout a company to employees. Many times this has resulted in a cumbersome layout, often taking up large amounts of desk space. With the integration of desktop presence software BLF consoles are slowly being phased out.
Although people are always prone to resist change, desktop call presence software has given receptionists, and even ordinary phone users something to get excited about. Instead of having to hunt for BLF keys on consoles, now calls can be easily transferred with a click of the mouse! For example, IPitomy Communications has developed a powerful desktop call presence manager called Q-Manager. For about the same price of a BLF console, you can put Q-Manager up on a separate computer monitor and see the status of all users on the system. You can easily transfer calls and chat to other users on the system. Important statistics such as call time, caller ID, alert windows and park queues all make the job of call management easy.
Calls can be transferred with one click directly to an extension or directly to voice mail. You can also page to an extension to announce calls. Park zones are located conveniently down the left side of the screen where they can be easily monitored and picked up. Chat bubbles appear in each extension block who are also utilizing Q-Manager on the system, so that texts can sent back and forth between users.
For those looking for more, Q-Manager also offers features such as whisper, listen, and record features as well as conference room monitoring and management. For example, call centers can use the listen and whisper features to coach employees on calls, they can also record calls on demand for later review and coaching.
As the need for conference calls increase, the desktop software utilizes color imaging to let the viewer know who is talking on the bridge by lighting up the call in red along with the caller ID and name of the participant. Conference participants can be muted individually as well, and the conference room can be locked and unlocked with a click of the mouse.
With an ACD package even more information is present on Q-Manager pertaining to call queues. Q statistics can be an effective means of monitoring the performance of call centers. Valuable statistics such as average wait time, average call length, answered calls, abandoned calls as well as individual agent stats are available on the screen.
The age of large BLF consoles and large phones with multiple tiny buttons on them crammed onto the face of the phone are coming to a close. As technology continues to push telephony in new directions, desktop call presence management is sure to continue to evolve and offer more options and usability for receptionists and ordinary users on their business phone systems.
