Phone System Services -Oak-Brook, IL 60523

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:

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.

Last month we took a look at a couple different types of phone scams . We discussed the “Can You Hear Me?” scam and took a close look at Vishing scams. There were also some helpful tips that you can use and share with coworkers/friends.

If you didn’t catch the article, give it a read . . . you won’t be disappointed.

SMShing Phone Scams

Now, this may sound ridiculous but the scam is pretty tricky and very dangerous.

Similar to other ‘phising’ style scams, this fraud is based upon sending an SMS (text) message to your mobile device that tries to get you to provide specific information.

The criminal might ask you for login info, security updates, payment information verification or any number of things.

Like many other scams, there are ways to avoid and protect yourself from these attacks.

• NEVER provide security details over the phone unless you have directly reached out to the proper contacts. A bank, or any institution for that matter, is not going to text you and ask you to update security info or payment info or ANY info!
• Phone Number – never trust anything or anyone when it comes to your bank info. If the bank calls you, tell them you will call them back, then dial the number on the back of your card or the direct line to the bank.
• Trust your gut, don’t allow anyone to rush or pressure you and respond accordingly. Everyone is aware of how hyper alert we are these days, it never hurts to double check things and protect yourself. Better safe than sorry they say!

IRS Phone Scams

While we mentioned the IRS in our last post, we didn’t dive into the specifics of how criminals try and scam you via the IRS.

For the most part, when someone is contacted by the IRS it is pretty serious. Few questions are asked and you just want to figure out what went wrong right?

This is how scammers take advantage of you.

They use Caller ID software to mask their number and make it look like a government call. Then, criminals will tell you any number of things to try and get sensitive information.

You owe the IRS . . . .
There is a discrepancy with your taxes
If you don’t pay the authorities will arrest you

All of this is an intimidation technique and you don’t have to fall for it.

The IRS will not:

• Demand any type of immediate payment
• Ask for credit or debit card information over the phone
• Threaten to arrest you
• Refuse to allow you to ask questions or appeal

As always make sure to do your research and take matters into your own hands. Cyber criminals, scammers and hackers are all clever people (for the most part) and they come up with sneaky, intimidating ways to make you give them what they want.

If you have any questions feel free to reach our team and otherwise, share this with your family, friends and colleagues. Education after all is the best defense against this type of crime.

For further information about IRS scams check out this site
https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-urges-public-to-stay-alert-for-scam-phone-calls.

The post Popular Phone Scams & How To Avoid Them Part 2 appeared first on Andromeda Technology Solutions.

In recent months, Google has taken steps to tighten up its processes so that fewer poisoned apps find their way into the Google Play Store.� In addition to that, the company has stepped up its efforts to ruthlessly track down and remove malicious apps whenever and wherever they are found.� By most accounts, that effort has been successful.

Sadly, it hasn't been completely successful, or as successful as they'd like it to be.� Recently, independent security researcher Lukas Stefanko pointed the company to more than a dozen malicious apps still lurking on the Play Store. Worse, taken together, those apps had been downloaded more than half a million times.

Google acted swiftly and removed the offending apps, but based on the number of downloads, the damage has certainly been done.

What's worrisome is that these apps survived for quite a long time and managed to go undetected, even after Google strengthened their processes.� Even worse, all the apps can be traced back to a single author, "Luiz Pinto," which is no doubt a pseudonym.

All of the apps were disguised as games and had interesting looking thumbnails to entice users to download them. None of them actually worked, and would crash when users would try to run them. Then the program would ask to install an additional APK (which would vary from instance to instance), but in no case was something benign installed.

All of the secondary APKs were malicious in their nature, designed to steal data in one form or another and send it back to the app's owner.

Clearly, Google has more work to do in this area, but the number of apps and downloads taken as a percentage of the Play Store as a whole are miniscule.� Even so, it's a disturbing report, especially not long after Google made headlines for improving their processes.

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