This relatively new class of tools gives your entire staff the ability to know, in real time, what everyone else in the company is doing. With presence management, you’ll know if a workmate is at her desk – or even in the building. Is she in a meeting? Or on the phone? Presence management technology provides the answer.
And with it, you can determine if, when and how to connect with workmates. This new level of transparency makes staff members more responsible to each other, driving up esprit de corps. It provides more communication options for your staff, driving up productivity and improving service to customers, in organizations large and small.
Unified presence management leverages a company’s voice and data systems. Compared to existing methods (anyone out there still using a whiteboard by the reception desk to track whereabouts?)
** How does it work? **
In one method of presence management, as soon as someone logs onto their computer, a pop-up window appears. It shows the names of fellow employees and their current activity and location. With a single mouse click, you can see the presence status of others. You can send email and voicemail, receive faxes, control all your phone calls via desktop phones or a softphone, send secure Instant Messages and voice messages, or launch a collaborative web conference session.
You can add a note into the system for everyone to see. It might list the time when you will return to the office from lunch or an off-site meeting. Another user may announce that she is working from home that day. By knowing everyone’s availability in real time, your staff will have better options for quickly assisting customers, and collaborating with work groups and vendors.
** Improving customer satisfaction **
Presence management improves your staff’s ability to keep customers happy. For instance, when a customer calls your facility with a question, the individual who took the call may not have the needed information. But he can quickly see who is available to assist the customer. He can send a question via an instant message or put the caller on hold and contact his colleagues to gather the information. Or he can directly transfer the call while giving the colleague a heads up.
Presence management also includes features such as find-me follow-me, which gives you the ability to let callers reach you anytime, anywhere, on any phone, based on a few easy settings. Another relatively new feature is twinning – a setting that simultaneously rings both your desk and mobile phone. Assuring that important calls will reach you has never been this easy.
You can see how this results-oriented technology offers a real competitive advantage.
In today’s business environment, as competition increases and margins shrink, getting the most from your time at work has become more important than ever. Presence management saves large chunks of time and increases productivity. For business managers, this is golden.
Meanwhile, employees get the information they need to make better decisions, thereby increasing their job satisfaction.
It all makes presence management a win-win-win for three groups crucial to your success: management, employees and customers.
ABOUT THE WASHINGTON NETWORK, INC.
Founded in 1987, The Washington Network, Inc. in Alexandria, Virginia, provides managed IT services, VoIP phone systems, IT support and other technology solutions for associations and businesses in the Washington, DC Metro area.
Primarily serving clients without a large in-house IT staff, The Washington Network specializes in lowering operating costs while increasing worker productivity. Their flat-rate managed services, for computer networks and phone systems, include remote network monitoring, preventive maintenance, help desk, redundant back-ups and on-site support.
A member of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, The Washington Network has been honored as the Chamber’s Professional Service Business of the Year. Through its strategic membership in the Technology Assurance Group, The Washington Network serves and supports clients with multiple locations across the U.S. and Canada.
The Washington Network is located at 30 South Quaker Lane, Alexandria, Virginia 22314. For more information on The Washington Network, call 703.212.7100 or visit www.WashingtonNetwork.com.
