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Department Email Re: Dept Phone Numbers - 2021.04.08

Owned by Wesley Wilson
Apr 09, 2021
3 min read

Here is a sample of the email that went out to departments.

Dear _________________,

Dept Phone or Ext Number: _________________

 

With the old system many of you had department phone numbers. The same will be true for the Vonage system. For those of you without a number we have either assigned an internal 4 digit extension beginning with 1 or repurposed an old 10 digit number from your department. If your Dept Phone / Ext Number above…

  • Begins with a 9 and has only 4 digits, then it has yet to be ported and will be done by 5/4. Until then you will still need to use the CISCO phone for incoming Dept calls from external callers.

  • Begins with a 1 and has only 4 digits, then it is an internal only, but after May 4th I can assign you an external number if desired. 

  • Begins with 570 and has 10 digits, then your dept ext was ported and can be used by callers from outside of CSU.

 

VOICE GREETING SETUP

We will need someone in your department to setup the voice greetings for your department(s) number. Please reply to this email and let me know who will be responsible for this task. 

We have setup your Dept Num to use Vonage Call Groups. Call Groups are extensions that have no phone. Think of them as virtual phones. Instead of ringing on a dedicated line they are redirected to the extensions of the members of the Call Group. If no member is available, then the caller is directed to the Call Groups voicemail. 

 

Since Call Groups have no voicemail indicators, we will be sending the messages to your departments email address.

 

We will need two greetings recorded as soon as possible. A department name greeting (e.g Financial Aid Office) and a voice mail message. Please review the department greeting script at this link, https://clarkssummitu.atlassian.net/wiki/x/B4CIe .

 

To ease your transition to the new phone system I am willing to upload your recording to your depts Call Group. You can record the greeting by following the steps below

  1. Call your dept Call Group to hear the current greetings.

  2. Write out your script for the name & voicemail greetings.

  3. Call 1509 record the name greeting

    1. Listen to the message, rerecord as needed

    2. Send it when you approve of the recording

    3. Hang up

  4. Call 1509 record the voicemail message

    1. Listen to the message, rerecord as needed

    2. Send it when you approve of the recording

    3. Hang up

  5. Email me when you are done recording. In the subject line please leave the following “Messages for extension [insert the number here]”.

 

Incoming Call Group calls will give you two indicators of the purpose of the call. The first will be a text displayed on your desktop. It will usually tell you the number dial and sometimes a brief text hint as to the intended destination (e.g. AdmOnline*9605). The second indicator will be after you pick up the call. It will be a recording from me. Once the recording is done. Take a breath and greet your caller. This brief pause is needed so that the caller hears your first word. Give it a try call. Have a co-worker call the number to see what happens.

 

Additional Call Group information can be found from the Vonage Learning Center or our growing list of Answers at the CSU documentation site. The CSU site contains information on how to access your Call Group via any phone. This would be helpful in recording your own greetings or to switch to a holiday/out of office greeting. Here are links to these sites directly.

https://clarkssummitu.atlassian.net/wiki/x/AYB6fQ

https://businesssupport.vonage.com/articles/answer/Call-Groups-1117

 

In the near future I will be running a workshop to discuss Call Groups in more detail and to provide information on other similar features of the new Vonage system. Call Queues and Virtual Receptionists are two of these features. Go ahead and research them here, https://businesssupport.vonage.com/center?topic=Features_Settings.

 

Your department call group info is as follows:

Call Group Name: _________________

Number (10 digit) or Internal Ext (4 digit): _________________

Dept Phone or Ext Number: _________________

Voice greetings pin: _________________

Dept Email: _________________

Members: _________________

 

Thank you for your time in reading this and setting up your new dept Call Groups.

 

Godspeed,

Wesley