While telephone companies were busy conceptualizing caller ID as a service for their residential customers, companies like Vodavi Communications Systems (Scottsdale, AZ) were concentrating on using its powers for the betterment of business. Identifying small- to medium-size businesses as its target market, Vodavi integrated computers and telephony, introducing the first ICLID (Incoming Caller ID) key telephone system in 1991 (
see the figure
).
Its value to businesses with busy call centers seemed an obvious one to Ron Pavlak, manager of marketing and strategic planning for Vodavi. "Telephone companies have mismarketed caller ID from the begi
nning by directing it to residential customers," Pavlak says. "It is an ideal small-business management tool that enables [companies] to provide personalized customer service, screen calls, control interruptions, effectively manage volumes of calls, and reduce fraud."
By using ICLID information, key system users can save an average of 20 seconds per call, a significant accomplishment when you consider the irritation customers sometimes feel toward the business that has just kept them on hold for 30 seconds. A loss of patience often translates into a lost sale.
Vodavi's current DOS-based product, Call Tracker, links the incoming number to a pop-up file on a company's customer database. The firm expects to release a Windows-based PIM in 1995.
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Vodavi's Starplus Digital Telephone Systems offer caller ID and computer-
telephone integration capabilities. Using a caller ID, the system can route calls to specific extensions within the company. Vodavi's new PC Phone uses an RS-232 interface to connect to a computer and supports call processing and management functions from DOS or Windows.
Vodavi Keys Into Caller ID Business Applications
