Managing Voice Mail
Summary: Voice Mail: Call-Back, Fast Forward or Rewind, and Other Powerful Features
One of the most advanced features of the Virtual PBX® is its ability to manipulate voice mail to interleave call-backs and save time in getting to or re-hearing the most important parts of the message. These powerful features give a good example of the utility of laying a Virtual PBX® on top of an older or legacy PBX to add the latest features without the expense of purchasing a new top-end hardware phone system.
Because of the fundamental way in which the Virtual PBX® operates, this tutorial is more an "anti-tutorial" than a tutorial. It is an "anti-tutorial" in the sense that if an extension owner carries a cell phone, he will always be reachable with the Virtual PBX® system; and there should be very little voice mail (no telephone-tag). Only those calls will go to voice mail which come in while an extension is marked as "Unavailable" or which he cannot take right at that moment. By answering a new call with * rather than #, it can be sent directly to voice mail to be dealt with later. In spite of the fact that a pile-up of voice messages can usually be avoided, this tutorial will give an example of handling several voice mail messages at once and calling back in between messages.
On Thursday, July 23, 1998, the New York Times ran an article on business communications. One of the most interesting things in the article was a photo of a business man who normally spent many hours outside of his office. He was shown standing on the street at a bank of pay phones answering his voice mail. To accomplish this he was using two phones simultaneously. With one he was listening to the messages, and with the other he was returning the calls that he had received while away from his office. The picture gave the impression that he had become very skilled at holding one handset clamped between his right ear and his shoulder while holding the other handset with his left hand and dialing the second pay phone with his right. In addition one has the impression that the man had a very good memory since there were no hands left to note down the caller's telephone number (soon to become 11 digits).
While the person in the photograph is to be congratulated on his ingenuity and skill, new developments in business communications can save him a considerable amount of trouble and work. If his business had the Virtual PBX® and if he had one of the new long-battery-life digital cell phones, he could have been relaxing in a cafe with a cup of coffee (sitting, not standing) while he listened to his voice mail and returned his calls using only one telephone. This is possible because the Virtual PBX® can switch back and forth seamlessly between listening and returning calls.
Each time that a voice or fax message arrives, the Virtual PBX® sends a new-message page. If a pager or combination cell/phone pager has been set up, the extension owner will know that a new message is on the system. Otherwise he must call in regularly to check his mail.
In any case he must call in to get his messages. This is done by dialing his Virtual PBX® main business number and then dialing #[extension]#[password]#. At this point the system will announce if there are any new messages. If there are, he should dial 11 (1 to access mail and 1 to access new messages as distinct, for example, from saved messages, 2, or deleted messages, 3). If he is a system administrator, he must first dial a 1 to act as an extension owner, i.e. he dials 111. (Notice that even messages which have been deleted can still be recovered during the week after they were erased.)
At this point the menus depend on whether both new voice and fax messages are on the system or whether there is only one or the other. If both voice and fax are present, he must press 1 for voice or 2 for fax. If only one type is present the voice or fax messages begin. Assume that he has pressed 1 for voice messages or that only voice messages are present. The rest of this explanation will start with the assumption that he is at this point.
The system now announces that 4 will rewind the message and 6 will fast-forward it in 10 second increments, then it will play the most recently received message. Let us now assume that there are 4 voice messages on the system.
The extension owner begins to listen to the first message, recognizes it and presses any key but 4 or 6 to interrupt it and get back to the menus because he knows what it is about; and in any event he must call the person back. When the menus begin again, he presses # to call back. At this point he has three options: enter the call-back number directly, 1; dial the call-back using the phone directory, 2; or call back automatically, 3. This last feature is possible because a call to an 800/888/877 number always includes the calling number whether caller ID is blocked or not. (The only caveat with this feature is that some cell phone service providers send bogus calling numbers so that automatic call-back may not work if the call came from a cell phone.) Assume that the extension owner knows that the call came from a regular phone. He presses 3 and calls his party back without having to dial any more numbers. They speak and when the conversation is ended he presses *. This returns him to his voice mail.
At this point the system begins to play the first message again. The reason that the Virtual PBX® returns to the message just heard after a call-back is that the extension owner may not be finished with it. He may wish to save it, 2; delete it, 3; or forward it to someone else in the company, 5. Pressing any key will interrupt the message and 9 will skip to the next message. Because a message will remain on the system until expressly deleted, he decides to delete this message as the matter is settled. He presses 3 to interrupt the message and then 3 to delete it.
Next he presses 9 to go on to the next message. This time he listens carefully to the whole message, and then presses 4 three times to go back so that he can note down an important fact. It is not necessary to call this person back so as soon as he has finished his notes, he presses 3 to interrupt, 3 to delete, and 9 for the next message.
While listening to the next message he jots down the telephone number because he suspects that the call came from a cell phone and he wants to return the call. When the message is finished, he presses # to call back and then 1 to enter the number which he has just copied. He calls the person; and when the call is finished, he presses * to return to his voice messages. When the old message begins playing, he presses 3 to interrupt, 3 to delete, and 9 to go to the last message.
The last message is from a very good customer who is stored in his phone directory and who he knows usually uses a cell phone. He presses any number but 4 or 6 to interrupt the message and return to the menus because he knows what the message is about and that, in any case, he must discuss the matter during the call back. As soon as he has the menus, he presses # for the call-back and then 2 to use the directory. Once in the phone directory, he spells the customer's name; and as soon as the system uniquely recognizes the name, it dials the number and the call is completed. Once the call is ended, he presses * to return to the voice mail menus. When the message begins to play again, he presses 3 to interrupt it and then 3 again to delete it.
At this point he is finished. All messages have been taken care of and deleted from the system. He can now simply hang up, or he can press a series of "*'s" to return to the start of the management login menus for the purpose of dealing with other features such as Fax Mail.
Once finished, he notices that his coffee has grown cold. As soon as the waitress has given him a refill, he sits back and relaxes in the knowledge of a job well done.