March 3, 2004 — Affant Communication, Inc. and Shoreline Communications, the specialist in enterprise IP voice systems, today announced they are partnering to bring the benefits of next-generation voice technologies to businesses in Southern California. Affant Communication is now using Shoreline’s award-winning Shoreline4 IP PBX platform to create cost-effective business phone systems that can bring voice and data together in powerful ways, including voice-and-data conferencing and virtual contact centers.
IP voice systems reduce voice signals to standard Internet Protocol data packets, so conversations can run over data networks. This eliminates the need to build and maintain two separate networks, and enables business applications that combine voice and data. It also gives voice the routing flexibility and location independence that makes a Web site on another continent seem closer than the shop next door.
โThanks to the simplicity and reliability of Shoreline’s IP voice technology, convergence is no longer restricted to the bleeding edge,โ said Gregory Keyes. โIt is now a practical alternative for businesses of all types, sizes and geographic configurations. Voice and data are moving inexorably together, and Shoreline’s unique IP voice systems are now giving our customers a head start on the future as well as a competitive advantage today.โ
โWe are delighted to welcome Affant Communication to the Shoreline team of channel partners,โ said Tom van Overbeek, Shoreline’s president and CEO. โUnlike traditional phone systems, IP voice is extremely flexible and provides endless opportunities for customization and adding value. However, this requires intimate knowledge of specific customer needs, which we rely on our channel partners to possess. Affant Communication engineers are not merely installing our products, but also elevating the business phone system from a taken-for-granted utility to a productivity-boosting environment.โ
The applications bundled into the enterprise-class phone system include voicemail, an automated attendant, automatic call distribution, call detail recording, unified voice mail, and desktop call control. Everything is accessed from the same intuitive Windows-based interface, making the system very easy to use and manage.
Multiple Locations, One Phone System
The Shoreline voice communication system and all its applications can operate across multiple sites, so businesses with more than one location have a single phone system. Calls are automatically routed among sites, and receptions or assistants at one office can field incoming calls for people at another. Interoffice calls that extend beyond the local dialing area bypass toll and long distance carriers and โride for freeโ on the data network.
Users interact with the Shoreline system through a Windows-based Personal Call Manager application and can check the presence of other employees anywhere on the enterprise network before placing or transferring calls to them. Integration with Microsoft Outlook enables automated point-and-click or dial-by-name dialing.
When calls come in for people who aren’t currently present on the network, Shoreline4 can check Outlook calendar information before deciding what to do with the call. This is one of the features that makes the Shoreline system particularly adept at supporting increasingly mobile workforces.
โShoreline’s IP voice communication system is user-centric, associating phone numbers with people, not offices,โ said Gregory Keyes. โYour calls find you whether you are at your desk, working at a branch office, or using a PC-based softphone at home or in a hotel room or some other remote location. You give out a single contact number and have a single voicemail box, eliminating a lot of redundant calls and duplicate messages. And you have a consistent voice environment to use, wherever you want to workโ
Better Conferencing and Contact Center Options
[Affant Communication and Shoreline also offer conferencing and contact center solutions that integrate with the Shoreline system, reducing costs and improving customer service.
Shoreline’s converged conferencing offering combines audioconferencing with data sharing, providing a much richer communications environment for collaboration or interactions with customers. It eliminates the need to reserve time on costly conferencing services, or to engage them at all. Ad-hoc conferences can be set up as needed.
Shoreline contact center operates across multiple locations as a virtual call center, and can do skills-based routing to match the best agent to a particular caller. When integrated with a customer database, the system can check order status or other variables before routing the call. Supervisor tools enable agent monitoring and historical reporting of agent performance, and provide real-time statistical views.
โIP telephony represents a new voice paradigm that is displacing a century-old architecture,โ said Gregory Keyes. โUsing Shoreline’s unique VoIP solutions, we can minimize the disruption of this paradigm shift while providing businesses with a powerful new communications environment.โ
About Shoreline Communications
Shoreline Communications Inc. is the specialist in enterprise IP voice systems. Thousands of enthusiastic users are taking advantage of the company’s award-winning distributed IP PBX technology, leveraging expertise and resources across multiple sites to improve customer service, increase employee productivity and lower operational costs. Shoreline has a select group of channel partners that provide top-notch service and support. For more information, visit http://www.shorelinecommunications.com or call 1-877-80SHORE.
About Affant Communication, Inc.
Established in 1995, Affant Communication, Inc. is a privately held company with the leading authority on security focused managed business communication solutions. Affant Communication engineering staff support client locations around the clock and worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.affant.com or call 1-714-338-7100.
Author: Anonymous
Source: free-articles