Phone System Services -Chicago, IL 

Whether you need a legacy phone system maintained, or an entirely new communications system for multiple offices, Andromeda Technology Solutions is the answer you have been looking for. As our expertise also includes complete data network solutions, you can rest assured that we can fully integrate a communications system that will best leverage your existing or future IT infrastructure.

In many cases, your telephone system is the first thing people will experience when dealing with your business.

• Does it show your company in a good light?
• Is it set up so your clients have a good experience?
• Does it help maximize employee productivity?

Let us show you how a phone system should be set up!

Experience the simplicity of having an experienced company to handle all aspects of your communication systems, letting you focus on running your business.

Contact us or fill out the Request form on this page now to ask us to contact you!

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Hybrid PBX and IP-based Phone Systems

We support a host of major phone systems—from Avaya, NEC, Panasonic to Toshiba— and are a certified Panasonic dealer for both a traditional PBX system, as well as a true IP-based VoIP system. The beauty of these systems lies in their very extensive feature set (over 800 features) and their mix-and-match capabilities. Each system can mix analog, digital and IP phone sets to match almost any application. Also, each system has extensive functionality built-in for incorporating branch offices, work-at-home employees and other remote workers.

We spend a great deal of time understanding all your requirements, so we can select the system and functions that are exactly what you need.

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The Phones Become the Network

If you are considering an IP-based telephone system, it is important to understand these systems are more data systems than phone systems. Unlike a traditional PBX system, a VoIP system puts a significant burden on your data network, and requires specific equipment and configuration to ensure everything is running properly.

Many traditional telephone service companies lack the skills to properly install and maintain a VoIP system. Andromeda Technology Solutions excels in all aspects of voice and data, and will ensure you get the system that is right for you.

Whether Cloud-based, Hosted/virtual PBX, or completely on-premises, we have the knowledge AND experience to guide you and implement your voice communication system to perfection.

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Replacement of Legacy Phone Systems

We have many years of experience upgrading/replacing legacy phones systems from: ComDial, Nortel, Toshiba/Mitel, and Samsung just to name a few. If you would like to experience service from a truly customer-focused organization, call us when you are ready to replace and upgrade your existing legacy telephone system.

			KX-TA KX-NCP KX-TDA KS-TDE
			IP Office Definity Magix Legend Partner
			Aspire Elite IPK I-Series DS/DSX

AndroPedia Tech Library

As part of our service, it is important to keep our client-partners well informed on Telephone system developments, news, and best practices. Here is just a sampling of typical items from our AndroPedia^SM library archive:

Last month we brought you the first portion of a three part blog series dedicated to enhanced phone features and what they can do to enhance your business. If you missed it, please check it out here. As we mentioned in our first article, your phone system can and should do a whole lot more than simply ring. There are many features that can make your day to day simpler as well as more productive. Today we area going to focus solely on hunt groups and their functionalities.

Phone Features: Hunt Groups

A Hunt Group is a collection of users, typically users handling similar types of calls, e.g. a sales department. An incoming caller wishing to speak to Sales can ring one number but any number of extensions assigned to that Hunt Group can answer the call.

There are several styles of Hunt Group and each phone system has different options. For the purpose of these examples we are going to use an Avaya IP Office phone system and the phone features available. If you would like to learn more about the different Hunt Groups available on your specific phone system, feel free to reach an Andromeda rep at (815) 836-0030.

• Sequential

  One extension at a time rings sequentially always starting at the top of the list.

• Collective

  All extensions in the Hunt Group ring simultaneously.

• Rotary

  Start with the extension in the list immediately following the extension that answered the last Hunt Group call.

• Longest Waiting

  Start with the extension that has been free for the longest time.

There are more extensive features available as well such as “Assign Call On Agent Alert” that allow for overflow or after hours call forwarding features such as night service/out of service modes. If you would like to learn more about these specific features or want to discuss how they can fit into your daily operations don’t hesitate to reach us. Feel free to fill out a contact us form or give us a quick call.

The post Enhanced Phone Features For Enhanced Business Part 2 (3 Part Series) appeared first on Andromeda Technology Solutions.

What is Auto Attendant?

Auto Attendant is one of the most common applications we install with business phone systems.

It is a standard application that can satisfy many different tasks/needs.

In a nutshell, an auto attendant is a programmed add on for your phone system that will help answer calls and can route callers to proper destinations. Think of it as a receptionist program.

You can program the auto attendant to route calls during specific hours and you can also program different messages/directories to operate at different times of the day.

Most prospective customers will turn to the internet to do preliminary research for products and services.

But . . . once they’ve found the company or companies they are interested in, a phone call is still the most popular first step to contact your business and engage your services.

So, that means you’ve got a decision to make. You need to decide whether you want a live person to answer the phone and route your calls, or whether you would rather skip that step and have a program do the heavy lifting for you.

For many small to midsized businesses, the auto attendant is a great way to reduce overhead and make sure calls never goes unanswered.

Auto Attendant Best Practices

Proper auto attendant design and implementation is essential to the overall experience an inbound caller will have every time they pick up the phone and dial your number.

Some key factors to think about when designing your system:

• Make sure your introductory message is clear and concise – you don’t want people to get bored or annoyed with a long message every time they call in.
• Avoid too many options – nobody enjoys sifting through 14 options to find the place they are looking for.
• Keep it simple and keep it logical – prioritize your most popular departments/options towards the beginning of your message to speed up the inbound call process.
• Your directory needs to be up to date – who will be in charge of managing this?

Three Unique Ways You Can Use Auto Attendant

1. Use your auto attendant function to answer FAQs

Do people call your office often with the same questions? You can dedicate a space in your auto attendant directory to frequently requested info like your address, your hours of operation and more. This will save your receptionist and staff valuable time and provide prospects with the info they are calling to acquire.

2. Add a Directory

There are multiple different types of directory options available to you.

• Full list of staff extensions
• Search by first or last name for staff
• Department Directory

The option you choose is based on what you believe will be easiest and most helpful for inbound callers. By implementing a directory you avoid an endless list of options on your primary outgoing message and also add a layer of organization that prospects/customers appreciate.

3. Share Upcoming Event & Company Announcements

Your auto attendant program can actually be used as a great marketing tool for upcoming events and promotions. Have a seasonal promotion coming up? What about an office closing due to a holiday? Maybe there is some big news specific to your industry you want to share? All of these are things pieces of information you can distribute to inbound callers.

**Added Tip** Your Music on Hold (MOH) message can also promote events and promotions for you.

The post Auto Attendant: One Of Your Most Important Phone System Applications and 3 Unique Ways You Can Use It appeared first on Andromeda Technology Solutions.

It's been the better part of two years since the outbreak of the Wannacry ransomware epidemic. �Unfortunately, all this time later, some companies are still dealing with the fallout.� According to the latest research, Wannacry is still infecting hundreds of thousands of computers around the globe.

As grim as that sounds, it's not all bad news. After all, the malware has been rendered harmless by the now famous "kill switch" discovered by Kryptos Logic security researcher Marcus Hutchins, who found a glaring flaw in the design of the software. The flaw allowed him to register a domain and encode it with instructions that would keep the ransomware component of Wannacry from activating and actually encrypting files.

That, however, did nothing to get rid of the malicious code infecting legions of PCs around the world. Sadly, much of the code remains in place on infected machines, silently lurking in the background. Kryptos Logic is uniquely positioned to know, since they control the kill switch domain and have continued to monitor traffic to it since building the kill switch on it.� To this day, their site continues to be pinged by new IP addresses as the now toothless infection continues to spread.

It's not hard to see why the removal of a piece of malware that has been rendered suddenly toothless takes a lower priority for busy, and often harried IT security professionals.� Leaving the code in place on infected machines is not without risk, however.

It is possible, however unlikely, that the hackers who built the program to begin with could find a way to get around the kill switch.� If that should happen, then we'll be facing the full fury of the epidemic all over again, something no one in the field of digital security wants to contemplate.

The bottom line is simply this:� If you were impacted by Wannacry when the outbreak initially occurred, it's worth double checking to make sure that all traces of the malicious code are gone from your network.� Better safe than sorry.

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