What features are available?

Greetings

Every subscriber has the ability to record their own personal greetings.  There are two types of personal greetings within each mailbox, a before and after hours greetings. 

Extended Absence greetings allow subscribers to notify callers that they are unavailable for a certain period of time.  While you are on vacation you can play your extended absence greeting without erasing or recording over your standard greetings.

Messages

With every message there are certain functions that are always available. 

The Time and Date Stamp is always available for each message however subscribers are not forced to listen to this information.

While playing a message, subscribers have the option to skip forward, jump backward, replay and control the volume.

Future delivery of a message allows a subscriber to send messages at a later date, maybe as a reminder to an important meeting.

If another subscriber sends you a message then you can reply to a message by a single key stroke.  Our system knows who sent the message and stores there information.

Messages can always be saved for a period of time.  Each class of service allows for storing a different number of messages for a specified period of time.

Sending messages to one subscriber or every one in your company is easy with AVC's group lists and bulletin broadcasts.

Any message can be forwarded to another subscriber or to a group list.  Also additional comments can be added and played before the message is played.

If a message is stored for over the allowed period of time AVC's system will not delete the message without a warning.  The next time the mailbox is logged into the system will play the message and tell the subscriber it will be erased.

Passwords

All AVC passwords are user changeable.  However do not lose your password because AVC has no way of retrieving lost passwords.  Your security is of utmost importance to us so we never have access to any subscribers password and therefore their private information in their mailbox.

Fax Mail

Some mailboxes have the ability to send and receive fax messages just like a voice mail.  When fax messages are received the system can either automatically print them to a standard number,  this way you will always know when you have a new fax and not lose it.  Or to any fax machine that you may be close to at the time.

Date and Time Stamp

Every message that enters the system has the date and time stamped onto it.  Subscribers can elect to have the time played before every message or they can simply press the 5 key to hear the information while a message is being played.

Group Lists

Users are able to set up predefined group lists so that sending messages to a number of people is completed in a more efficient manner.  Subscribers are allowed to establish a total of 15 lists with 25 users per list.

Bulletin Broadcasts

Bulletin Broadcasts are similar to group lists however an AVC system manager has to set this up.  These messages are automatically played once a subscriber logs into their mailbox.

Dial By Name

Inside and outside callers both have the ability to dial a subscribers name in order to send them a message.  The system will direct a caller to the mailbox once it recognizes the name.  There is no need to spell the entire name which can be a very time consuming process.

Message Notification

When a subscriber receives a message the system has many ways of notifying the user that there is a new message waiting.  The system can be programmed to outcall to any phone number such as your pager or mobile telephone.  Also with integrated customers AVC can light message waiting lights or activate stutter dial tone on a subscribers phone.

Voice Memo

Subscribers can record themselves messages that will be played at a later date.  No more forgetting about the important meetings or errands that you need to run.

Message Delivery Options

Messages can be sent with any or all of the available options. 

     Private Messages are for the receiver's ears only and can not be forwarded to any other user.

     Urgent Messages are of high importance so they play before other new messages.

     Future Delivery Messages can be recorded and then automatically sent at a future Date.

     Delivery Confirmation can  be requested so you will be assured they received your message.

Message Playback Controls

While a subscriber is listening to messages they can perform the following tasks:

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Are Group Lists available?

There are multiple different types of Group Lists available with AVC's service.  With each mailbox all of these possible options are automatically included.

Mailbox Group Distribution Lists

Each user has the ability to create distribution lists that are private within their mailbox.  They can create up to 15 different lists with up to 25 mailboxes on each list.

System Group Distribution Lists

System lists are managed by AVC for our customers.  They can be used by any mailbox owner within your organization.  There are virtually unlimited numbers of system distribution lists and numbers of mailboxes on each list.  AVC does not charge any additional for managing these lists.

Bulletin Broadcast

Messages sent to a bulletin broadcast are usually of extreme importance and require immediate attention by users.  If a user receives a bulletin broadcast they must listen to that message before they can do anything else with their mailbox.

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What are the Benefits of Outsourcing?

Outsourcing, the practice of using outside firms to handle work normally performed within a company, has always been a familiar concept to many entrepreneurs. Functions such as payroll processing, accounting, distribution, web hosting, amongst many others are routinely outsourced by small companies.  Many large companies turn to outsourcing to cut costs.

Even though entire industries have been formed to provide outsourced services not many businesses thoroughly understand the benefits of outsourcing. Everybody knows that outsourcing can save money, and in many cases it will, but that's not the only reason to do it. Wise outsourcing, that is the practice of outsourcing ancillary functions and not functions related to your core competencies, can provide a number of long-term benefits:

Control Capital Costs

Controlling capital costs may not be the only reason to outsource, but it's certainly a major factor. Outsourcing converts fixed costs into variable costs, releases capital for investment elsewhere in your business, and allows you to avoid large expenditures. The money saved from outsourcing can be used in revenue producing activities.

Reduce Labor Costs

Hiring and training staff is very expensive, especially with an above average turnover.   When an employee exists your company you are not just losing an employee, you are more importantly losing the intellectual capital they are bringing with them.  Your company then has to deal with the added expense of finding the best candidate, training them properly and allowing time for the learning curve.

Start New Projects Quickly

AVC has the resources in place to start new projects quickly.  Existing customers open new offices all of the time.  Without AVC they would need to spec the equipment, put it out to bid, evaluate the responses, purchase the equipment, have it installed, hire a staff to manage it and train the staff. This can take hundreds of man hours to complete and potentially months of down time.  With AVC our customers make one phone call to us and we can have them up and running in a 1/4 of the time it would have taken them.

Focus On Your Core Business

Every business has limited resources, if not there wouldn't be any unemployment. Outsourcing helps companies  focus their activities towards work that serves their customer.  

Reduce Risk

Every business investment carries a certain amount of risk. Technology, government regulations, etc all change very quickly. AVC assumes and manages this risk of owning and operating voice messaging equipment for you.  Considering this is our core competency, we have the experience and resources to manage and avoid the risk better than anyone.

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What about uptime?  How available are AVC's systems?

Since 1988 AVC has delivered an unprecedented uptime of 99.9984%.  This number includes scheduled down time for over 30 software upgrades and four complete system upgrades.  Reliability numbers like this are not an accident.  A full set of spare parts are housed on site and trained technicians are notified 24/7 of any problem.  All primary system components are redundant in nature and most are hot swappable.  This includes the hard drives, processors, file systems and battery backup systems.  Our -48 volt DC Power Plant is configured in a N+1 scenario and our battery banks will supply roughly 48 hours of runtime.  For extended outages the onsite generators will begin running to keep the systems running indefinitely while recharging the batteries.

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How does this solution increase productivity?

AVC's unique abilities drastically improves the productivity of our customers.  How many times a day do your employees make multiple long distance calls to remote offices delivering similar information?  With AVC all of your sites are linked via our central voice messaging system.  A subscriber can now record a single message and send it to any number of people regardless of location.  Predefined group lists and Bulletin Broadcasts will regain precious time in your employees work week.

Another productivity enhancing tool is the All Inclusive Voice Messaging Mailbox.  Do your employees have multiple offices, all with different types of voicemail?  If so AVC can answer all of their existing telephone lines.  Their corporate extension, cellular telephone line, home office telephone and even fax can now have a single mailbox with standard greetings.  Employees are now able to share and forward messages with other departments regardless of their origin.

How much time each day is spent checking your existing multiple voice mailboxes?  On average AVC takes half the key strokes as other alternatives.  What if you could reclaim just a couple minutes each day?  How many man hours would be saved over the course of a year.  If you employ 1000 people and each of them are able to save just 10 minutes a week, you effectively just hired 4 more full time employees.

However AVC is not just quicker to use, we are also easier.  Most employees never us the full functionality of voice messaging because their existing system is difficult to use.  On AVC's easier to use system employees are more likely to utilize all of its functionality, there by increasing productivity.  This means there is no more phone tag trying to get answers to simple questions.  AVC voice messaging will do the trick.  No more need to call groups of people informing them that a meeting has changed.  AVC's various group distribution lists will handle that task.  No more checking multiple voice mailboxes for office or mobile phones.  AVC can answer all of your communications devices with a single mailbox.  

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What is a Voice Messaging Network?

The AVC Voice Messaging Network  is a powerful network of subscriber mailboxes that allows instant communication between various parties.  A single call to an AVC mailbox and detailed information can be exchanged with many other people, saving time and decreasing long distance expense.

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What is an all inclusive mailbox?

AVC's patented technology allows subscribers to have all of their voice communications devices answered by a single voice messaging mailbox.  Our patented systems are able to decipher where the call came from, look up who is associated with that phone number and put the caller in the appropriate mailbox.   All the caller hears is the subscriber's personal greeting where they are asked to leave a message.

Imagine how much time you will save with only one voicemail.  No more wasted time checking 2,3 or even 4 different mailboxes.

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What does this service cost?

Not only can AVC's solutions be custom tailored to fit your exact needs and requirements but our pricing can be as well.  After working with your organization to create the perfect voice messaging solution we will then also work with you to create the perfect pricing structure.  Depending on the application we usually offer either usage only pricing or rental plus usage pricing.  However if you have grown accustomed to a different form of pricing with your current vendor please let us know and we will see what we can do.

To get more information on AVC's service please either give AVC a call at 866-CALL AVC (225-5282) or fill out the form on our Contacts page and a representative will contact you by the next business day.

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