The February 2016 Issue of TAS Trader

Amtelco Cloud-Based Platform

Change is Normal – So Embrace It

By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD

In reviewing my past five columns in TAS Trader I see a trend in what I’ve written. I can best summarize this theme as embracing change. Indeed I wrote about looking forward to the new year, re-envisioning ourselves as information processors, asking is our industry shrinking, looking at our changing industry, and pursuing a niche strategy. That’s a lot of words about change, all because we are confronted with a pressing need to change.

Author Peter Lyle DeHaan

While certainly a concern, change is nothing new to our industry. Change has always been a part of the telephone answering service landscape, especially since the introduction of computerized answering systems, circa 1980. We’ve always had things to worry about, transitions to navigate, and technology to master. Change permeates our thoughts, our informal discussions, our industry meetings, and the things we write about.

We can have two responses to these ever-present changes.

One approach is to resist them. We can seek to maintain the status quo. We can lament about the good old days. We can even try to convince ourselves that things will get better if we just stay the course.

The other approach is to embrace change. We can see change as opportunity. As technology evolves our prospects for growth and improvement follow closely along. The opening is there for us, if we will but take it.

The challenge is to see change as opportunity in disguise and then figure out a way to grab hold of it to seize the potential that it presents.

Change is normal; so embrace it.

Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD, is the publisher and editor-in-chief of TAS Trader. Check out his latest book, Sticky Customer Service.


Classified Ads:

Seeking to Acquire TAS: Looking to purchase an answering service or call center. Please contact me if you are selling! gm@answerally.com.

Help Wanted: Northwest Indiana telephone answering service seeks to add an operations manager to our team. We want someone with experience in the telephone answering service industry and are willing to relocate the right candidate. Salary range $50,000-$70,000. For consideration please email your resume and salary history to adam.berkson@teleservicesdirect.com.

Equipment For Sale: Full CMC Cabinet with SCMC/TP (version 9.0) plus Dispatch Server, Voice Processor, 4-U SDB (the KVM doesn’t work). The lower cabinet has 14 DID/Loop Start cards and the all the standard processor cards to function. Components/spares include: 1 Data Multiplexer / OP Interface card; 1 Switch / ACD Gen card; 2 BICs; 1 BIC CPU Master; 1 BIC CPU Slave; 1 SWC CPU; 2 Power Supplies; 3 spare DID/Op Con Cards; 13 OpCon Boxes. Contact Andy at 612-490-7150 or etzelandy@gmail.com.

Seeking Acquisitions: Reputable TAS, in business since 1967 and still owned by the founding family, seeks a small TAS acquisition in the USA. Ideally, you’re billing under $50k per month. Smaller is better. We’ll treat you right, and your employees and customers. Let’s talk. Contact Doug at 888-693-7935 or douganswerphone@gmail.com.

Seeking Acquisitions: Cash is king! Solid, 45-year old TAS looking to grow. We keep staff and business in place. All conversations confidential. Contact Susan at 908-770-3779 or SEMH0429@yahoo.com.

Mastar.com…for in/outbound stand-alone TAS systems since 1986. Startup as low as $1,500 per station and you own it. Contact 541-606-9272 or rodmastar@gmail.com


Giving Back to Our Community

By Jason Gazaway

VoiceNation made the recent holidays brighter for twenty-seven local families through their Operation Give Back outreach program. Now in its fourth year, Operation Give Back is VoiceNation’s outreach effort to help ensure local children living in shelters and those in need of assistance receive gifts during the holiday season.

VoiceNation worked with Jackson County Family Connection in Jefferson and Georgia Calls in Buford to provide holiday gifts for sixty-five children, ranging in age from three months to seventeen years old. The gifts included BMX bicycles, arts and crafts, clothes, shoes, and toys.

VoiceNation receives referrals from agencies that work with families in need. VoiceNation provided their employees with funds to purchase gifts along with Operation Give Back profile folders of the children in need, which include the child’s age, gender, holiday wish list, and preferences, such as their favorite color, clothing size, favorite activities, and hobbies.

“Many participants in Georgia Calls’ re-entry program are working hard to become CEOs of their own lives and to do better by their families but are still in need of assistance. They are amazed at the outpouring of support from anonymous donors,” explained Mark Mobley, executive director of Georgia Calls.

“Our Operation Give Back program has become a highly sought after volunteer initiative here at VoiceNation. As our staff learns about the children in need, they feel a connection to them and are incredibly enthusiastic about the gifts they purchase for them,” explained Jay Reeder, the company’s president. “Operation Give Back is a tremendous opportunity to support children and families in need within our community while spreading holiday cheer.”

Jason Gazaway is the marketing coordinator for VoiceNation, a leading professional telephone answering service serving 50,000 businesses worldwide.


Telephone Answering Service News

Amtelco Celebrates Fortieth Anniversary: Amtelco, founded in 1975 by Bill Curtin and headquartered in McFarland, Wisconsin, recently celebrated its fortieth anniversary. During the past four decades, Amtelco has built a tradition of excellence and works closely with customers to help develop systems to meet unique and demanding performance requirements. Today Amtelco software and hardware is used in all fifty US states and in more than forty other countries. Millions of telephone calls, text messages, and secure communications a day are processed by Amtelco products throughout the world.

Tom Ryan Award Goes to Gary Pudles: Gary Pudles of AnswerNet received the 2015 Tom Ryan Award for Ethics, Integrity and Quality Above All. He accepted this honor at the 51st Annual CAM-X Convention and Trade Show. The Tom Ryan Award is presented annually in memory of one of the contact management field’s most ardent advocates, Tom Ryan, a pioneer of the telephone message industry. This industry-specific award pays homage to companies that exhibit quality service while adhering to a mandate based on commitment to ethics and integrity.

2016 TUNe Conference Announced: The 2016 TUNe (Telecommunications Users Network, Inc.) conference will take place April 17-21 at the Marina Inn at Grand Dunes in Myrtle Beach, SC. TUNe, an association of Telescan product users, is an active users group, which benefits Telescan, a division of Amtelco. By furthering call center technology and efficiency, TUNe helps members by sharing new ideas. For more information about TUNe contact executive director Maryellen Pruitt at 877-817-7262 or admin@tunegroup.org.

CAM-X Hall of Famer Bill Tucker: Bill Tucker was inducted into the 2015 CAM-X Hall of Fame during the Gala Banquet at the 51st Annual CAM-X Convention and Trade Show. Sherry Oxner, who nominated Bill for this Hall of Fame Award, said, “Bill is always passionate about improving, partnering, and finding ways to evolve the business and is a true advocate for every individual he coaches in business or otherwise along the way.”

Amtelco’s MiSecureMessages v6: With the new miSecureMessages (MSM) version 6.4 users can include attachments when sending messages to each other, including audio, photos, videos, and PDF files. They can also have the ability to update and enhance their contact information within MSM, including contact image, contact phone number, and ability to call from the app. The new info button, associated with a message thread, provides details about the current thread – such as updated visuals for changes to a message’s status, sent timestamp, delivered, read, completed, and deleted. The archival, purge, and retrieval of message threads is also supported. Event notifications is enhanced and encryption, improved.


Quotes for the Month

“Men build too many walls and not enough bridges.” -Isaac Newton

“The highest result of education is tolerance.” -Helen Keller

“A backward poet writes inverse.” –unknown

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