Wednesday, December 21, 2011

NEW Back-Up Server

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



Answering Service Inc.  Announces
Phoenix Backup Server
The world is a very dangerous place, and it seems toe getting more dangerous every year. Hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and fires are in the news every day. Many local, but very destruc­tive disasters never even make the news. How well would your business survive a major disaster? Do you know the per-minute cost of downtime, planned or unplanned for your call center? A backup plan will get you back online, but how long will it take? Although you may never be able to prepare for all possibilities, smart business owners are taking steps to put in place a reliable disaster recovery plan
.
Telescan's Phoenix Back-Up Server keeps your busi­ness up and running when disaster strikes. Phoenix lets you continue operation with minimal interrup­tion. Phoenix goes beyond back-up. It protects you, not only against a hard drive crash, but also against mother board failure, power supply failure, memory failure, OS corruption and a host of other things that can bring a server down. Phoenix helps you sleep at night know­ing that you are not gambling with your critical business data.

The Phoenix software suite allows server replication and failover capabili­ties for the Telescan class of servers. In the event of a primary server outage, planned or unplanned, Phoenix allows a secondary server to stand in.

Phoenix Back-Up Server gives you:

  • Maximum availability with little to no impact to the end users
  • The ability to continue to operate with current data at all times
  • Backup of SQL providing maximum availability/uptime for all Telescan web applications
  • Peace of mind knowing that you have a functional backup of all of your mission-critical apps and data.




Thursday, November 17, 2011

Gems of the Month




You can't wring your hands and roll up your sleeves at the same time.
Pat Schroeder

Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see.
Arthur Schopenhauer

There are two different kinds of people in this world; those who finish what they start, and ………….".
Brad Ramsey

Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress.
Alfred A. Montapert

A vision is not just a picture of what could be; it is an appeal to our better selves, a call to become something more.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter

A man may be a fool and not know it, but not if he’s married
L. Meneken

A good leader is a person who takes a little more of their share of the blame and a little less than their share of the credit.
John C. Maxwell

A compromise is an agreement whereby both parties get what neither of them wanted.
Author Unknown

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.
Albert Einstein

The model of ownership, in a society organized around mass consumption, is addiction.
Christopher Lasch

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.
Mark Twain

Simple, clear purpose and principles give rise to complex and intelligent behavior. Complex rules and regulations give rise to simple and stupid behavior.
Dee Hock

Mindfulness is both a state of being and a daily spiritual practice, a form of meditation.
David Richo

Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.
Albert Einstein

In reality, humility means nothing other than complete honesty about yourself.
William Countryman

The earth is too small a star and we too brief a visitor upon it for anything to matter more than the struggle for peace.
Colman McCarthy

And a thought I'd like to leave you with this month is :

You cannot connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
Steve Jobs




Thanks Gary!

Thursday, October 27, 2011


October 25, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



CenturiSoft Announces E-Mail Encryption Delivery


CenturiSoft announces today satisfies HIPPA/High Tech Law requirements on Voice and FAX deliveries via e-mail.

Due to the nature of businesses that is transacted daily on Centuri Messenger systems across the country, CenturiSoft has been able to ‘encrypt’ the message before it leaves the system using 256 bit AES Encryption Technology. “We are pleased to offer our customers the first Unified Communications (UC) platform to offer such a secured technology to our users.” Remarked John Pope, President of CenturiSoft.

By having the actual file encrypted allows delivery to an un-secured device such as smart phones, when the user accesses the file they are prompted for the ‘password/key’ and are allowed access only if they have the proper credentials, this allows users to receive FAX and VOICE messages the same way and satisfies the security and confidentiality of the message/fax to the end-user. Password/key can be set/changed for individual subscribers as often as needed for compliance with compliance officer requirements.

Combined with our ‘Colia’ compliance earlier this year signals yet another reason to have CenturiSoft in your customer requirements, CenturiSoft is able to offer these capabilities to existing/current contracted customers at no charge and requires no off-line time to update.

For more information please feel free to contact us @ 800-752-1386, or email us at @ cstauch@callasi.com (Chris Stauch) or jpr@callasi.com (John Robinson)








































Friday, September 9, 2011

ASI Awarded ATSI Award of Excellence






Association of TeleServices International, Inc.
12 Academy Avenue, Atkinson, NH 03811
Phone (603)362-9489 fax (603)362-9486
cqlorieux@earthlink.net


IMMEDIATE RELEASE




Outstanding Service Earns National Award
Answering Service, Inc. wins ATSI Award of Excellence


Answering Service, Inc. of Southfield, MI has been honored with the exclusive ATSI 2011 Award of Excellence. This award is presented annually by the Association of TeleServices International (ATSI), the industry's trade association for providers of telecommunications and call centre services including telephone answering and message delivery across North America and the UK. Answering Service, Inc. was presented with the award at ATSI's 2011 Annual Convention held at the Grand Hyatt, San Antonio, TX.

Independent judges are contracted by ATSI to evaluate message services over a six month period. The criteria for scoring include: courtesy, response time, accuracy and overall service to their clients. If the company scores 80% or better in ALL categories, they are presented with the coveted ATSI Award of Excellence. The program is now in its 15th year.

"ATSI prides itself in agent training through many mediums. The AWARD OF EXCELENCE is one of the most rewarding. This "secret caller" program is an intense program extending throughout the year with test calls being made to registered participants and handled by random agents, says ATSI President Michael Fultz. 'I think there has always been a misconception of a company winning THE AWARD OF EXCELLENCE; however, member companies QUALIFY for this prestigious award. If a company qualifies for the AWARD OF EXCELLENCE they have set the bar for quality in the Telephone Answering Service Industry."

ATSI extends its congratulations to the staff of Answering Service, Inc. on their proven quality service to their customers.

About ATSI
The Association of TeleServices International was founded in 1942 as a national trade association representing live answering services. ATSI now encompasses companies across North America and the UK offering specialized and enhanced operator based services including: call centers, contact centers, inbound telemarketing (order entry), paging, voice messaging, emergency dispatch, fax, and internet services among others.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Customer service


How can you help us serve you more efficiently?
(Tips for better service from your Telephone Answering Service.)


On-call information can be given to us daily, weekly or monthly. Weekly and monthly schedules should be faxed or e-mailed at least 1 week prior to the scheduling period. Daily schedules should be faxed, e-mailed in by 12:00 noon Eastern Standard Time. This can help us process calls more efficiently during the evening when the majority of our customers are forwarding their phones to us.

Faxed information is preferred, (We like documented information as much as you do). However, you may call changes into the numbers listed below, BEFORE 12:00 noon EST.

In addition to on-call information, please include contact name, account number, office location, and call back number for verification/questions on the information faxed to us. We receive hundreds of faxes every week. Please don’t fax a schedule or any information to us without proper identification!

If faxing change/changes to previously faxed information, bring it to our attention before 12:00 noon Eastern Standard time.

Any information that you would like to be entered as permanent should be faxed to us or called in by to us by 12:00 noon Eastern Standard Time. Any new pager or home numbers should also be faxed in by 12:00 noon Eastern Standard time. PLEASE NOTE: If information is given to us when your call forwarding your phones, it is entered as temporary information in your account as all operators do not have access to account maintenance.

Please designate someone in your office to review and update your account at least once a month. This person may call and request that a supervisor fax a copy of the “mastercard” to be certain that all information and telephone numbers we have in our system are as up-to-date as possible. Keep a copy of the most recent mastercard so that you will always have the same information that we have in our system



Thursday, September 10, 2009

Why We Are Never “Just” the Answering Service

Why We Are Never “Just” the Answering Service
By Mari M. Osmond


We have all been blessed to be part of a business that truly touches many people’s lives on a daily basis. No, we never get our photos in the paper or a simple “Thank You” for a job well done. But yes, we are the real silent heroes to many. Quietly we go about our work and make sure that others are taken care of. Here is a sample of what can happen in an Answering Service on an ordinary day…

A Grandmother places an order for her first grandbaby for that very special toy that will become a family treasure for years to come.

A home owner did not lose all of his possessions because we paged the plumber to fix the leak in his pipes.

A woman, who is terrified on a dark and lonely road, talks to us and knows that help is on the way.

We answer a silent intruder alarm and a precious life is saved.

A transplant team is assembled at 3am for the long awaited kidney transplant for a six year old girl.

A woman who has lost all desire to live is cross-connected to a trained professional who gives her hope for tomorrow

A minister is called to the bed of a man, so he will not die alone.

Yes, we do make a difference every hour of every day. That is why it is so important never to accept the phrase “just the answering service”. Instead, with pride, tell that person about the very special place called an Answering Service.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

ASI Presents

When looking for an answering Service, your search should end here. Video evidence below.

Letter To Potential Customer

April 22, 2009

Mr. John Smith, CEO
ABC Company
220 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, MI 48226

Dear John,
Re: Improving Your Profits
Are you looking for ways to improve your bottom line?
If telephone calls matter to your company’s success you may have an opportunity to make more money.
We’ve got the telephone answering know how that will improve your profitability by making your company more:
● Efficient – less time playing phone tag
● Productive – fewer calls to take and manage
● Effective – more time devoted to priority calls
Answering Service Inc. is different. With eight decades experience, ASI is Michigan’s largest family owned and operated company devoted exclusively to answering telephones.
Fast, resilient and precise service is what’s enabled us to help our customers flourish through some of the most challenging times. We help our customers do what they do best…thrive.
I’d like to have a brief meeting with you to demonstrate how ASI can improve your company’s profits NOW. We’ve got the energy to make it happen for you.
I’ll call you in a few days.
Sincerely yours,




John P R., President
P.S. Super telephone answering can make you money. Meet me to see how.