Easy Answers - answering systems and services - Buyers Guide

Home Office Computing, May, 2000 by Douglas Gantenbein

Today's answering systems and services ensure you'll never miss a call

Aimee Fitzgerald runs Fagan Business Communications, which specializes in the tourism and high-tech industries, out of her Englewood, Colo., home. For her, keeping in touch with clients is the most important way to build business. "They need to know they can get hold of me," she says--an important detail, considering that one of her specialties is crisis management.

Yet Fitzgerald has taken a decidedly low-tech approach to her phone answering system. For four years, she's relied on a plain-vanilla AT&T digital answering machine--a device only a few evolutionary steps up from the tape-based recorders widely used a decade ago. She's connected her two phone lines to the recorder, with one line also plugged in to her fax. "It's simple and it works," Fitzgerald says. "And if I have something that works, I don't think I want to change.

STRAIGHT ANSWERS

That's a good piece of advice for anyone shopping for a home office answering system: Whatever you choose must work for your business. "Complicated doesn't cut it," says Stan Gwin, Cellular One's director of product development based in Hattisburg, Miss. "If it's too complicated, then you're not going to use it.

But finding a system with the right balance of features and simplicity is no easy task. Choices abound, rom bare-bones desktop devices like Fitzgerald's to sophisticated systems using automated attendants. Still, what it comes down to is this: When a client calls, you need to know that it happened and how to return the call. To accomplish this seemingly straightforward task, the home-based or small business has four main choices.

* Traditional Answering Machines Devices like Fitzgerald's--or software programs that turn your PC into an answering machine--are easy to use and relatively inexpensive, but may lack key functions some businesses require, such as the ability to answer more than one call simultaneously.

* Telephone Company Voice Mail Tempted by your telco's "ditch your answering machine" ads? Such systems are reliable and flexible, but costs can add up if you have multiple lines. More sophisticated services are also available through third-party suppliers.

* Small "Key Punch" Systems For small offices poised to grow, these systems let you push a button or key for each phone/fax line. This is overkill for most one-person companies, but if you receive a high volume of calls, such a system will quickly pay for itself.

* Answering Services Not only do these remain alive and well, but many are supplementing their banks of human operators with faxing and paging to keep users in touch.

* Unified Messaging Services Adding a new dimension to the above options, unified messaging promises single-number access to any message left for you--whether voice, e-mail, or fax. However, since the technology is still in the early stages, it's arguably premature to trust all your message answering needs to such a service.

ANSWERING MACHINES

Toss those tape cassettes--today's answering machines are fully digital for reliability, flexibility, and greater power. For under $50, you can buy an answerer that has two or more mailboxes (message destinations that callers can choose by punching a keypad number), automatically stamps calls with the date and time, and allows remote retrieval of messages from any phone.

Though that's quite a bargain, all answering machines suffer the same flaw: If your line's busy, the caller can't leave a message. You'll need at least two business lines to ensure that your clients won't get a busy signal.

Sony's TAM-100 ($30; 212-833-6800, www.sony.com) is typical of how much you can get for little money nowadays. The digital recorder has a 15-minute message capacity (enough for 20 to 25 typical messages), an audible message-waiting alert, remote retrieval capability, and variable playback speed. You also get three mailboxes, which lets even a one-person shop set up multiple departments such as accounting and receiving, then direct callers to leave messages where appropriate. This feature makes your company look bigger, and allows you to retrieve messages in a logical sequence--all accounting-related messages, say, before all support inquiries.

Lucent Technologies' Digital Answering Machine 1725 ($80; 800-722-3111, www. lucent.com) raises the ante with four mailboxes and 24 minutes of recording time. It lets you record and switch between three outgoing announcements (such as one for after hours and another for weekends), and listen to only the first 5 seconds of all messages for fast editing. A battery backup protects against power failures.

If you'd rather not clutter your desk with another box, you can replace your existing telephone with one that includes a digital answering machine. One wired version is Panasonic's KX-TMC98B ($220; 800-211-7262, www.panasonic.com). This two-line phone includes caller ID, a speakerphone, and a 100-number speed-dial directory with a "jog dial" that helps find numbers. More to the point, its digital answering machine stores up to 33 minutes of messages.