Fonality blogs

VoIP Security Best Practices

Chris Sherwood — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:03:06 +0000

When discussing VoIP security, we are mainly talking about securing Fonality’s premise-based PBX solutions to facilitate remote users. For our fully hosted solutions, such as Connect, no security issues exist at the customer premise because no ports need to be opened through the firewall for the phones to function.

How VoIP Can Make SMBs More Efficient

Daryl Reva — Wed, 09 May 2012 16:20:31 +0000

New Capabilities 

VoIP and UC technology can deliver dynamic solutions to the micro contact center environment, combining virtually all communications methods into a single user interface. Users can utilize capabilities like “find me/follow me” which allows them to customize how they are contacted, and by whom. For instance, calls can be programmed to reach desktop phones and mobile phones simultaneously.

Fonality Teams with Literacy Group to Solve Local Murder

Paul Vance — Fri, 04 May 2012 13:24:48 +0000

On Saturday night, April 28th, with a library full of 250 visitors, a murder was committed by an unseen assassin using a poison blow dart. Fortunately, through insightful interrogations of the suspects, the audience of “witnesses “ was able to solve the crime on the same evening! Yes, Fonality was a key participant in solving the murder. But more importantly, the Richardson Adult Literacy Center wrapped up their signature fundraiser with great success.

Understanding Business Needs

Daryl Reva — Wed, 02 May 2012 18:28:12 +0000

To ensure an SMB is getting the most out of its communications system, it’s important to determine business needs. If a company relies on multiple employees to conduct customer service or sales calls by utilizing the phone for the majority of a day, they are actually working in a contact center environment – albeit a scaled-down, “micro” version.

SMBs: The Backbone of the U.S. Economy

Daryl Reva — Tue, 01 May 2012 14:32:52 +0000

It’s no secret that small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) are the backbone of the U.S. economy. These companies serve a vital role in employing millions of Americans across a spectrum of industries. Contrary to larger counterparts, SMBs are actually gaining momentum. In fact, the SMB space is the strongest growth sector for employment. According to the ADP National Employment Report released in Jan. 2012, small businesses (defined as 1-49 employees) added 95,000 new jobs and medium-sized business (50-499 employees) added 72,000 jobs.

Knowing Your Resources Part 2

Taylor Hoffman — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:11:33 +0000

My last blog concerned our Knowledge Base and what a beneficial tool it can be for speedy self-help, and while that remains true one of the biggest complaints I've received is that it's a fairly complex and intimidating database of information. It can be frustrating to search for the correct terms, or find what you're looking for if you're not someone who's particularly tech savvy. That's why Fonality has introduced a new interactive tool for your self troubleshooting needs.

Playing Moneyball

David Scult — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:32:47 +0000

With the start of the baseball season, I was pleased to see that some of the "mid-market" teams like Diamondbacks, Reds, and Tigers are among the preseason favorites right along with the big guys like the Yankees (I admit, I’m a Yankees fan). I can’t help but think of the book (and movie) Moneyball, which clearly demonstrated that big isn’t always better.

5 Things That Waste Your Time at Work

Katerina Roemer — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:19:13 +0000

Fonality was mentioned in an article on Mashable.com, the largest independent news source dedicated to covering digital culture, social media, and technology. Mashable created an awesome infographic based on Fonality’s Webtorials finding on productivity and cloud-based services. The infographic showcases our findings on the top five ways knowledge workers waste time. It goes on to discuss the benefits of business communications solutions like Unified Communications.

Why Businesses are Leery of Contact Centers

Dave Hancock — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:36:18 +0000

No matter what your business is, or who your customers are, they all expect customer service to be good. But why not make it great?

A SMB View of Enterprise Connect

Aron Aicard — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:28:07 +0000

I had a chance to attend the Enterprise Connect conference this week in Orlando. During the whirlwind trip, we had a chance to speak with analysts, media and of course spend some time on the expo floor to see what vendors in the enterprise space are up to.

Transitioning to the Cloud

Darren Conant — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 16:25:00 +0000

Many businesses are moving their phone systems to the cloud. So, many communications providers, like Fonality, have developed cloud-based solutions -- full featured PBX platforms where everything but the physical desk phone resides in a data center which transmits calls via the Internet. But what about a business that has a three year voice PRI contract or is located in an area where internet connectivity is unreliable? If your internet is unreliable, your voice is unreliable. If your voice is unreliable, your business is unreliable.

Knowing Your Resources

Taylor Hoffman — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:40:57 +0000

Throughout my various tech tip blogs after the tip I'd make a point to link a related article or content that can be found on our Knowledge Base. One of the constant reports I get from our support department is that people calling in either don't know about our Knowledge Base or haven't tried to use it! Our Knowledge Base (located at help.fonality.com) is a collection of information created and contributed to by not only our technical support team, but engineers, accountants, sales, professional services and most technical issues can be resolved by simply searching key words.

GrowCo Recap- Part 2

Paul Vance — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 19:06:06 +0000

My company, Fonality, was an exhibitor at the GrowCo, and we had the opportunity to speak with a great many of the attendees during the conference. I came away from these discussions being very impressed with both the technical prowess of the attendees, who generally wear many hats in their organization, and with their attention to both their long-term and short-term growth plans.

GrowCo Recap- Part 1

Paul Vance — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 19:54:30 +0000

Notable Keynoters

A Trip with a Purpose

David Scult — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 22:23:25 +0000

Hi Everyone,

It’s been almost two months since I joined Fonality. Since then, the thing I’ve enjoyed most about my job and this company is getting to know our customers.

Although our goal at Fonality is to bridge distances, strengthen relationships and enhance productivity through technology, I must admit sometimes there is no substitute for a good old fashioned face-to-face meeting.

Knowing the difference: Ring Groups

Taylor Hoffman — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:10:47 +0000

There are two types of ring groups that businesses commonly use, here at Fonality we call them "hunt groups" and “blast groups". Hunt groups allow you to set phones to ring consecutively, controlling the order and the ring time of each phone individually. Blast groups allow you to ring phones concurrently controlling the ring time of the group as a whole, as well as determining whether or not the customer will hear music or ringing while waiting.

Contact Centers continuing to evolve through 2012

Gavin Donovan — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:56:36 +0000

As the entire telecommunications industry is experiencing change, contact centers feel the need to adapt in order to remain relevant in today's constantly-evolving business world.

Hi, I'm David Scult, Fonality's new CEO

David Scult — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:24:34 +0000

Hi, I'm David Scult.

I will be responsible for leading and driving Fonality to the next level, building on the foundation they have all worked to create this past year.

Contact Center Agents still No. 1 resource for customers

Gavin Donovan — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:29:16 +0000

Innovative technologies have enabled contact centers to deploy new ways to communicate with customers, through instant messaging, social media, self-service portals, and more. However, new research from customer relationship management services provider Convergys Corporation revealed that contact center agents are still the "go-to" resource when customers need assistance.

The time for VoIP is now

Gavin Donovan — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:43:55 +0000

Although many businesses have already taken advantage of VoIP services, many more are unsure as to when or how they should deploy the technology. The Worcester Business Journal suggests that if executives are unsure of what the technology even is, it may be beneficial to investigate if it will improve an organization's internal operations.

Tech Tip: Setting up DID (Direct Inward Dial) Numbers

Taylor Hoffman — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:42:25 +0000

One of the questions support gets asked the most is “Why is my phone number not going to my auto attendant?”, and it's almost always a DID issue. What is a DID? A DID or Direct Inward Dial is a number assigned to a specific extension on your Fonality system. Calling this number will reach only the phone it is assigned to, completely bypassing any auto attendant you may have in place.

Tech Tip: Proper Router Configuration for Fonality Connect

admin — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:48:14 +0000

Many of the issues customers can have with our Fonality Connect product don't actually come from the phones or servers, but something as simple as improper router settings. Today we'll be discussing how to properly configure your router for Fonality Connect. The first thing to make sure of is that you are not “Double NAT-ing”. Double NAT-ing is connecting your phones to a router that is connected to another device using Network Address Translation, or to be more precise, another router.

The Endless Possibilities of Your Phone System

Chris Sherwood — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 19:24:16 +0000

Most Fonality customers are aware of the value brought to their organization after implementing a Fonality PBX. The availability of large enterprise call center features brought to businesses of any size, the productivity gained from our unified communications platform, HUD, and the power given to users on the go with HUD M

Tuesday Tech Tip: Factory Flashing Your Phone

Taylor Hoffman — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:47:13 +0000

One of the easiest steps you can take while troubleshooting a phone that isn't working is to factory flash it, in other words, to restore the default settings and allowing it to re-download configuration files from Fonality. Factory flashing your phone can fix a variety of issues with registration and incorrect configuration files, but you may be unaware of how to go about this process.

Getting spammed?

Fonality — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:12:19 +0000

Tired of your email box being filled with spam email? Learn how to block spam email and stop wasting time deleting junk messages!

Have you started Budgeting for 2012?

Dave Hancock — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:15:44 +0000

Budgeting has never been easy because you can’t see into the future to know exactly what you’ll need. Now, with newer technology speeding up and shortening sales cycles and timeframes for both our customers, and us, some businesses are choosing to skip the budgeting step altogether.

Meet Daryl Reva

Fonality — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:37:25 +0000

Name: Daryl Reva
Title: Sr. Manager Fonality Communications
Years with Fonality: 1

Optimizing Your Network for VoIP

Dave Hancock — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 20:49:05 +0000

Your ability to communicate effectively with your customers is critical to the success of your business. You have to be able to send and manage messages from multiple sources. You need to be able to get answers from other resources within minutes in order to keep your customers satisfied. Managing all of these communications on disconnected systems is terribly inefficient, but there are communications solutions designed to make life easier. However even the most advanced solution needs to be optimized to your needs.

Where Are You Leaking Money?

Dave Hancock — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 19:37:12 +0000

It's simply about numbers, and all businesses care about the same two numbers: Net Profit and Customer Satisfaction. The desire to maximize these numbers has companies constantly looking for that next advantage that will help them outpace the competition and grow their business.

Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

Gavin Donovan — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:34:51 +0000

For many, the name Steve Jobs is synonymous with inspiration. His vision of making individuals and businesses “think different” revolutionized the way we do business, listen to music and communicate with others.