Telephone Answering Service Vendors

Telephone answering services have a long history, dating back to the 1920s.  In those early years, enterprising entrepreneurs began opening localized telephone answering services around the United States, primarily focused on the needs of the medical community. 

In those days and until the 1980s, calls were answered using various electromechanical devices and messages were handwritten.  With the advent of the microprocessor, a new breed of entrepreneurs began harnessing computer technology to automate, control, and organize portions of the call handling process.  As technology has advanced so to has the equipment and software that powers today modern telephone answering service.

The following list includes the leading vendors or telephone answering service equipment and software:

1Call, a division of Amtelco: Infinity

The Amtelco Infinity system employs a single-server architecture where all outbound and inbound call processing for check in, message taking, paging, patching, follow-me, voice mail messaging, dispatch, status changes, on-call scheduling, emailing of WAV files, and check in are all captured.  Amtelco's Infinity has a patented design that simplifies communications.  It is entirely PC-based and combines automated call distribution with skills-based routing, automated outbound dialing, and state-of-the-art voice processing all in one integrated system.

To learn more about Amtelco's Infinity system, contact them at 800-356-9148 or www.1Call.com.

Alston Tascom: Evolution

Contact: 866-282-7266, www.alstontascom.com, or info@alstontascom.com.

OnviSource, Inc.: OnviCall

Complete inbound and outbound call handling for medical telephone answering services, OnviCall handles larger call volumes and delivers customized solutions.  It includes integrated telephony, call handling, database management, Web access, and message dispatch features – all through their integrated OnviNet platform.  OnviCall brings individual call handling components together into a single, cost-effective application for contact centers and teleservices providers.

To learn more about OnviSource's OnviCall product line, call 800-311-3025 or visit www.onvisource.com.

Professional Teledata: PInnacle

Contact: 800-344-9944 or www.professionalteledata.com.

Startel Corporation: Call Management Center (CMC)

CMC offers intelligent form routing that provides advanced scripting capabilities and enables a call center to script a call flow, helping guide agents through the call process.  CMC provides flexibility to enable agents to accommodate callers whose communication doesn't follow the order of the script while applying the form's logic.  Available in both the message slip and IntelliForm, intelligent form routing can be combined with intelligent dispatching, enabling scripting to define the specific information that is to be delivered based upon call flow.

With the enhancements available in Startel's CMC platform, call centers will be able to reduce agent error while processing calls more efficiently.  This results in reduced overhead and increased customer retention.

Startel's Call Processing System (CPS) provides many of the CMC features for smaller call centers looking for advanced features that fit within their budget, offering them the ability to easily handle complex accounts while reducing the agent stress in meeting these clients' advanced requirements. 

Startel's CMC platform has both a CTI interface as well as an interface for Startel's 5700 Digital Switch for those that would like to utilize an ACD platform.

For more information, call Dan Feis at 800-782-7835 or visit www.startelcorp.com.

Szeto Technologies Inc.: Call Linx

Contact: 514-331-9152, charles@szeto.ca, or www.szeto.ca.

Telescan: Spectrum

Contact: 800-770-7662, patty@telescan.net, or www.telescan.net.