This week I thought I’d find some information about cellular and wireless phones, how they came about and such. Here are just a few tidbits of historical information from 1939 to 1947.

• Did you know that in 1939 the first VHF radio bands were allocated for police use? However, because of World War II this radio network was delayed seven years.
• By 1946 there were so many VHF radio sets built for use in the war, the Metropolitan Police, covering the Great London area, were quick to learn the system with the help of the Army, and the radio network began.
• In 1947, a taxi company in Cambridge applied for the first business mobile radio. Eventually this start would create a major industry serving well over 50,000 users, with more than a half million radio sets. At that time, however, the entire boot (trunk) of the car was used for the power generator.

Thankfully, this equipment is a wee bit smaller now!

Is it me, or do I seem to be the only one who remembers the old clunky phones?

UC Advanced harmonizes presence and availability, instant messaging, audio conferencing, and web and video collaboration with the call control options of your communications system. UC Advanced syncs with mediums like Microsoft Exchange/Outlook and Office as well as IBM Lotus Notes. Let me tell you more.

I get improved efficiency due to my ability to immediately respond. Real-time communication methods also mean I can be immediately contacted. Contact information can be cast from caller-ID screen pops, while secure chat, web, and video collaboration sessions can be initiated with a click of the mouse. Easy enough for me!

With UC Advanced I can choose my form of communication before contact. The option between UC Advanced voice communications, conferencing and collaboration capabilities is great to have. I’ll be honest, it’s nice to be able to choose the form of communication to suit my needs.

UC Advanced is great at accommodating our on-the-go lifestyles too. If I am busy on my cell, status updates the caller that I’m “on a call.”  Then the call can be retrieved when I’m available. Not only do I enjoy this, but clients appreciate this improved mobility as well.

Systems such as CRM, ERP, and service desk can integrate UC Advanced applications programming interface (API) as well as conferencing and collaboration to create critical business processes. Also, by integrating UC Advanced with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, contact information can be launched based on the incoming caller-ID.  Not bad for integration options, huh?

Over the weekend I was watching some older movies, classics from the early 1930’s to 1950’s. I do this occasionally because I enjoy movies and to learn, at least from Hollywood’s perspective, what life was like back then. One of the most noted absences to me in a 1938 movie entitled, Stella Dallas, in which Barbara Stanwyck was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role, was the telephone.

It wasn’t until Sunday, when I watched a 1949 movie entitled, Sorry, Wrong Number, that this was when phones were truly being introduced to the movie screen. And yes, Barbara Stanwyck was in this movie too, and yes, she was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role too. At the beginning or the movie there is a voice over and text on the screen explaining the introduction of the phone in our everyday lives. What I noticed even more in this movie was the use of telephone exchanges. My curiosity now got the best of me.

What are telephone exchanges? Telephones used to begin with two letters, and they were an abbreviation for a word. For some they brought a sense of community and long numbers were more difficult to remember. An example of a telephone exchange number would be KLondike 5-5689. This simply means, 555-5689 . Or something like, PENnsylvania 4208, which is 736-4208.

Good to know that the letters on your phone were developed well before texting!

Here are three of the predictions regarding communications:

1. People will live in houses so automatic that push-buttons will be replaced by fingertip and even voice controls. Some people today can push a button to close a window – another to start coffee in the kitchen. Tomorrow such chores will be done by the warmth of your fingertip, as elevators are summoned now in some of the newest office buildings – or by a mere whisper in the intercom phone.
2. Wireless transmission of electric power, long a dream of the engineer, will have come into being. There will be no more power lines to break in storms. A simple small antenna on the roof will pick up the current for lighting a house.
3. Third dimensional color television will be so commonplace and so simplified at the dawn of the 21st century that a small device will project pictures on the living room wall so realistic they will seem to be alive. The room will automatically be filled with the aroma of the flower garden being shown on the screen.

As you can read, these reading into these predictions is not as complicated as deciphering a Nostradamus prediction. Some of them do appear to be spot on. However, I am glad some predictions are off. I’m definitely happy that ‘aroma’ television isn’t filling my home.

What specific benefit are you hoping to gain by making a change in your telecommunications system? Is it reduced toll call expense? Is it to support remote workers? Is it to provide better integration between your telephone system and your data network? One cable infrastructure to manage?

Most businesses want to reduce their expenses so the number one reason to make a move to VoIP is to cut down the monthly phone bill. The best place to start is to get a detailed inventory of the current telephone system, the current monthly phone bills, any wide area network cost (if multiple offices are involved) or internet costs. Many businesses think that upgrading to a new VoIP telephone system will make all phone calls be free. This is not true, or even possible. A new VoIP phone system may help to substantially reduce toll costs but it cannot make them go away altogether. The following three blogs will break that down into some specifics.

What is the Main Focus of Unified Communications?
There are a few, but the main focus of unified communications is to minimize response time. Decisions can be made quickly by interfacing real-time and non real-time communications. Therefore what would at one time take three days to complete might now take one or two days. This type of technology aims to reduce the delay as much as possible.

Who Would Benefit from Unified Communications?
With the increase in the mobile workforce, it has become abundantly clear that businesses that may have one main location but use many roaming offices. There are also some business that do not maintain a core facility anywhere, and unified communications supports a constant availability of communication to a company’s personnel. It is strongly considered for people who need accessibility to knowledge, information, and service workers. Some if not all of these workers cross these lines daily or even hourly. This crossover depends on the task or client.

First Impressions mean the world, so if you are grumpy because you just lost a sale, a customer was irate for some reason, or even if an employee or you made a mistake on an excel spreadsheet you must put a smile on your face as you answer the phone. You’d be surprised at what will happen when you do.

Be attentive and don’t multi-task on other projects, like scanning emails or anything that requires a tiny bit of your attention away from what you’re doing. Listen and let the caller finish whatever they are saying. Sometimes a customer, if it’s a complaint, just needs to vent or be heard. Also, letting the customer talk and tell you what they want is a huge way of getting them to accept what you say.

Work to mimic their syntax and speed of speaking if you can. Don’t copy their accent, but listen to how they speak. This can work to put them at ease. Always speak with a positive and upbeat manner. Agree and proceed with them.

If you are an outbound caller for your company, be sure to have a script of some sort. Plan it out a bit, but be ready to move away from it if necessary. If you need to get certain information out there, ask yes or no questions, and then have your script head in that direction. Nothing can be more confusing for a potential customer when they respond and you just keep talking like you hadn’t heard them.

So, remember, a business telephone system is a primary form of communication in your business. If used correctly, you can create many wonderful successes.