SRKTel.com

What is a GSM Gateway?

A GSM Gateway is in simple terms a mobile phone appliance that when attached to a PABX phone system will enable you to make calls from your Phone System using a mobile network. By putting an Unlimited or Capped Call Plan SIM card into the GSM gateway and programming the PABX to direct outbound calls via the Gateway, $000s can be saved. Anyone who gets their landline phone bill will see that any calls made to a mobile number are the most expensive. Mobile numbers have high call rates and it is easy to run up a big telephone bill if you make them regularly. If you want to make calls to a mobile phone number it is often the mobile carriers that offer the better deals, not the fixed wire carriers.

Here’s an example how GSM Gateway can cut your phone bill.

Metro Hotel A has a total of 50 rooms to let, at present they have a company plan on their landlines with one of the country’s leading Telco’s. They had 6 dedicated voice lines and they did at that time spend around $1000 a month on phone calls to landlines and mobiles within Australia. Then they add a 4 port GSM gateway and 4 Telaustralia Unlimited Call Plan SIM Cards for $119 per month each. On these call plans, all calls to Landlines and Mobiles within Australia are unlimited and untimed so their bill for calls to mobiles & landlines will come to $476 per month…a total saving of around 50% or $6000 per annum. As they now have 4 GSM Gateway lines committed to outbound calls, the total quantity of landlines has been reduced to 3 which also save them a further $100 each month on line rental charges.

What do I need to use a GSM Gateway?

What you need to have is a programmable PABX phone system, and that system needs to facilitate at least one free analogue port. Also needed is an active SIM card on the mobile phone plan you want. Your PABX Maintainer will install the Gateway for you and program your PABX system so that you can nominate which lines will route via the GSM Gateway.

Small business owners have a unique challenge when it comes to time management. On the one hand, every new customer presents a new challenge, creating additional work without adding additional resources to fill the need. On the other hand, if    you hire more employees you’ll have to shell out the bucks on payroll, benefits, taxes, and other expenses, and you may not            have  quite enough work to justify that expense. What can the small business owner do?

The answer lies in the latest technology. I’m talking about a specific kind of technology, not just arbitrary and vague, undefined   techno-gadgetry. Specifically, a voice logger allows small business owners to handle customer service issues without creating reams of paperwork. You can record up to 10,000 hours of phone conversations, keep a backup record of every call, and reference them as necessary. The alternative is to pay someone to file written notes of your telephone conversations. That may be the way business owners in the past solved the problem, but that solution in today’s global marketplace is too expensive and creates an uncompetitive environment for your business. Recorded conversations of phone calls between you and your customers can save you hours of research time when you have a customer service issue that needs special attention. Plus, your customer will be much more satisfied when you can pull up a specific record of past communications that will help you resolve any issues.

Another piece of relatively new technology that is gaining ground is the virtual assistant. Your virtual assistant will greet callers just like a receptionist, but you don’t have to pay her. Instead, you can have your customers route themselves to the correct department within your small business through a series of assistant-led button pushing commands. This increases customer satisfaction and saves you time and money.

Some of the things your virtual assistant can do include notifying you by e-mail when you have an incoming fax, forwarding your calls to you at any number with a simple push of a button, taking a message then sending you an e- mail to let you know who was calling, and forwarding calls to the appropriate person within your small business even if you just have two employees. But that is the short list. A virtual assistant can do so many more things as well. Communications technology has come a long way in the last 10 years.