The digital age is becoming apparent in more and more areas of everyday life and of course also influences communication, i.e. telephony and call handling. Let's look at the telephone switchboard. Incoming calls in a queue can still be calculated using analog means. At the same time, the technology for call acceptance answers calls fully digitally and provides workflows for handling incoming calls as quickly as possible in order to ensure shortest possible waiting times.

How have the requirements to be met by an attendant solution changed as a result of this digital transformation? Let's look at four aspects in this regard:

1. Queues

Our fast-paced and action-packed lives are less forgiving of long waiting times than in the past. Callers are then even more grateful if their calls are received and forwarded quickly by friendly telephonists. Thank goodness that thanks to modern technology additional attendant consoles can be simply added – whether in small or large companies, and central or remote locations. For many scenarios are currently unthinkable without the home office, which is integrated in digitization. This ensures that peak times can be easily handled.

2. Several main numbers

An increasing number of companies have different main numbers, whether for the emergency service for elevators, a hotline number for technical service or a dedicated number for customer complaints. A modern attendant console can handle all these main numbers without any difficulties. And the attendant knows whether the person to be found is at his workplace and whether he is available or not. Messages can also be easily sent, for example to inform the person in question that someone has been trying to call him. What's more, detailed statistics-based call analyses can be carried out at the end of the day or the end of the month.

3. Professional call answering and call transfer

Digitization has significantly changed our communication behavior. Information speed is extremely high. But one thing often fell by the wayside in regard to technical progress of communication: people. People want to be taken note of and taken seriously. It is therefore all the more important that the telephonists answer and forward each call in a professional manner. The use of state-of-the-art technology for modern attendant consoles is intended to support telephonists in their tasks and reduce stress during periods of high call volumes. As a result, your callers will appreciate a friendly voice at the end of the phone.

4. Technology at the workplace

Communication via web browser is significantly different from communication in the past. WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication) makes this possible. Modern attendant solutions make use of WebRTC to communicate more easily and more cost-effectively in real time. One example is the use of home office.

Hand in hand with digitization, other technologies will also become common place in our lives, for example VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol). Thanks to VoIP, we cannot only make calls at lower cost, but our staff can also be reached at the same number while in the field.

Another example is the integration of smartphones and tablets into the telephone system – thanks to an app this is also possible nowadays, and individual connections can be easily enabled and disabled.

Essentially, the requirements for an attendant solution are the same as before. For even in the digital age callers want their calls to be accepted quickly, want to be greeted by a friendly voice and want their calls to be transferred in a professional manner.

The new technologies support us in our tasks and also offer many advantages in the field of UC (Unified Communication). Who can imagine today's life without communication services such as telephony, e-mail and messenger? And who wouldn't want to take advantage of the benefits offered by direct communication via web browsers and cheaper calls thanks to VoIP?