80% of Phone Bills are Wrong

A recent report by the Gartner Group, a leading research organization, found that 80% of business phone bills have errors that are never found or reported.

Part of the problem is that phone bills are usually confusing and full of acronyms which make it nearly impossible for company owners, managers and bookkeepers to determine if there are errors. It takes training and experience to decipher most business phone bills.

Another very common occurrence is when a line or a service is ordered for a particular project, person or special need. Let's say you've had a fax machine on a dedicated phone line in the file room for years. Then the company changes to desk-top faxing and that fax machine isn't used any longer. Will someone think to have the line discontinued or will you continue to pay for a line that no one uses?

Slamming can happen to anyone and it happens all too often. Slamming is when some unscrupulous person or company changes a consumer's telephone service without permission. At COMMWORLD, we used to think that it could never happen to us. But it did. We were charged $14 per month for over a year for a voice mail service that we did not order and never used. The small difference in our monthly phone bills went unnoticed, but I don't like to think that we paid those crooks $252 for nothing!

To introduce our partnership with SureWest, COMMWORLD is offering a complementary network evaluation.* Let our experts review your current local, long distance and Internet bills with our trained eyes. The statistics tell us that 80% of the bills are wrong and you could realize a significant savings. Call 816-763-1100 today for details.

* Your company's local, long distance and Internet bills must total $300+ per month to qualify for this offer.

For more information on slamming, visit http://www.fcc.gov/slamming/

Special Offer from SureWest

You get Dedicated T1 high-speed Internet, up to 16 phone lines and 1,000 long distance minutes for $299 / Month

COMMWORLD of Kansas City is proud to recommend SureWest (formerly Everest) for cost-effective high-speed Internet, full featured voice and data carrier services and calling plans. We have partnered with SureWest because they offer a broad range of services and they take pride in providing clients with the best customer care in Kansas City — just like COMMWORLD!

SureWest has responsive, local people who know and care about your business. Service is available right here in the Kansas City area 24/7. You don't have to call a long distance number and talk to someone who doesn't know the difference between State Line Road and State Avenue.

SureWest is allowing COMMWORLD to offer special pricing to our clients. For a limited time, for $299* per month, you get Dedicated T1 high-speed Internet and up to 16 phone lines with 1,000 long distance minutes at no additional charge. Other packages are available to meet your needs.

Call COMMWORLD at 816-763-1100 to learn more about this special offer and to receive a complementary network evaluation today!

* This offer is available to new and former SureWest/Everest business customers. Not all services are available in all areas. Does not include taxes and other fees.

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Putting an End to Phone Tag

Technology exists to allow integration of all of phones, so you never miss a call.

By Linda Bennett
As seen in KC Small Business Magazine

What happens when your best customer calls with an urgent request and you're not in the office to take the call? Or maybe the ideal prospect finally returns a call to the sales rep who has been chasing him for months? If you're not sitting at your desk waiting for that call, what is the best case scenario? As much as we love and need them, customers and prospects can be impatient. They want what they want, when they want it and if you can't deliver, they could take their business elsewhere.

Playing Phone Tag

Mobility has become a critical component of doing business in today's competitive environment. Many business owners and sales reps spend more than 50 percent of their time away from their desks.

Sure, you're using a cell phone or smart phone in an effort to stay connected, but it leaves gaps in connectivity. Communication bottlenecks occur when callers call your office, but you're not there so they leave a message. Then they call your cell phone, and it's busy or you're out of range. You end up with voice mail messages in the office and your cell phone. So, you call back and the same thing happens. Back and forth the messages go wasting time, creating frustration and increasing the chance of losing the sale and the customer.

Find Me, Follow Me

Integration of your cell or smart phone with the office phone system can make it easier to do business with you. Imagine having the power to choose how, when and from whom you wish to take calls whether you're in the office or out. Here are some ways to integrate your communication options:

• Your office desk phone rings, and if you don't answer, it follows you and rings another location such as your cell phone or home office.
• Your desk and cell phone ring simultaneously.
• Give the caller the choice to "find you" if it's urgent or just leave a message for later.
• Make your calls ring at different locations on a particularly day or at a specified time.
• Send all of your calls to voice mail.
• Choose which calls to accept (like those from your best clients) and which to send to voice mail (from your ex-brother-in-law).

Stay Connected Anywhere

VoIP (voice over internet protocol) can allow you to be part of the office phone and data systems from anywhere you have access to high-speed Internet. Have you seen the commercials that show the guy using his laptop with the ocean in the background? That could be you!

• Load IP phone software on that laptop, plug in a headset and you can be part of your office phone system back in Kansas City. You can take calls, make calls, see who is on the phone and access every capability you would have if you were sitting in your office.
• Add software and a camera to the laptop and you can see the people back in the office, they can see you and you can easily share documents. You'll need the right technology on both ends and a high-speed broadband connection.

We Have the Technology

The technology exists to give you the control you need and want to conduct business more efficiently and effectively. It can enable your company to generate more sales, provide better service to customers, reduce costs, and improve profits.

The promise of new technology sounds great in theory, but it's only meaningful if it provides real benefits resulting in reduced costs and/or increased profits. A trusted telecom technology provider will help you analyze your communication patterns with customers, prospects, vendors and within your organization. They'll identify areas where technology can create measurable improvement. That telecom company should become your partner in the design, implementation and on-going support of the technology and its use within your business. It's their job to make it easy-to-use so you'll want to use it and, therefore, reap the benefits it was intended to create.

Linda Bennett is vice president of COMMWORLD of Kansas City.

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Questionable Quotes...

"I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year."

–The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957

"But what ... is it good for?"

–Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip

"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible."

–A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. Fred Smith went on to found Federal Express.

Source: newsgroup alt.humor

Fun Phone Facts: The 1st Portable Cellular Phone

Almost everyone has a cell phone today and many of us don't know how we could get by without one. But back in 1973, a man talking on the first portable cellular phone created a quite a scene on a New York street.

On April 3, 1973, Martin Cooper, then general manager of Motorola's Communications Systems Division, placed the first public telephone call on a portable cellular phone. This demonstrated his vision for personal wireless communications, distinct from cellular car phones.

Mr. Cooper placed that first call to his company's biggest rival - AT&T. It marked a shift in communications technology toward the individual and away from just calling a location like a house, an office or a car. This has resulted in the huge number of cell phones, smart phones, lap-tops, direct dial numbers for individuals within a company and "find me, follow me" technology. (See our article from Kansas City Small Business Magazine included in this Newsletter.)

Those first demonstration calls were made using a 30-ounce phone that looked and felt like a brick with an antenna. Ten years later in 1983, Motorola introduced the 16-ounce "DynaTAC" phone into commercial service. Each "DynaTAC" phone cost the consumer $3,500.

It was 1981 when Bob Bennett opened the first COMMWORLD office here in K.C. In 28 years, we have been part of the fast-changing voice and data technology. Today's technology has made everything smaller, more cost-effective and it can do so much more to benefit your business. This fast-paced evolution has also led to changes in the way companies acquire technology. COMMWORLD clients can get the new technology they need to grow their businesses without the concern over technology obsolescence. In fact, "we make technology obsolescence obsolete!" Just ask us how.

Source: About.Com