un the news Software-based Phone Systems Provide Investment Protection (NAPSA)—With technology changing so quickly these days, it’s important to plan ahead when making capital purchases. Otherwise, in a few years your company might end up limping along with limited capabilities and obsolete systems, incurring expensive maintenance fees and upgrade headaches. Here are somebasic rules of thumb to help ensure that the technology you purchase today will continue to meet your com- pany’s requirements in the future and protect your investment: Choose products that can be upgraded through software rather than hardware. Software is almost always less expensive to replace than hardware. Limit your dependence on proprietary hardware. Vendors are notorious for locking customers into expensive hardware, which drives up the cost of maintenance and mayaddlimitations. Keep your options open and price of expansion low. Products built on industry standards will allow you to purchase replacements from multiple sources. These guidelines are particularly important when purchasinga telephone system. With new technologies emerging, such as Internet Telephony and wireless communications, it’s easy to fall into the trap of purchasing a phone system that won't meet your organization’s evolving needs. To address these issues, a new breed of software-based phone systems is quickly gaining popularity with small- to mid-size businesses. These systems run on standard computer components and work with a variety of telephones available from any office supply store. They also enable companies to easily maintain the systems themselves rather than relying on expensive service contracts. One example of a softwarebased phone system is Artisoft’s Small businesses often find they need more than voicemail, but can’t afford the bells and whistles that come with a call center. TeleVantage, which has won over 30 industry awardssince its introduction in 1998. Built on technologies from Intel and Microsoft, TeleVantage is a full-featured, turnkey system designed specifically for companies with 1 to 300 employees. “Theflexibility of TeleVantage is dramatically improving our customers’ businesses,” said Steve Manson, Artisoft’s president and CEO. “Their employees are more productive, their customer service is greatly improved, and the system is more affordable.” TeleVantage protects a cus- tomer’s investment and provides them with more advanced features than a traditional PBX, such as “find me”call forwarding, message screening, and e-mail integration. In addition, it can easily be incorporated with a company’s network to enable point-and-click call handling, graphical voicemail, CRM integration and call center optimization. Artisoft, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASFT) of Cambridge, MA, is a leading developer of software-based phone systems. To learn more visit www. artisoft.com or call 800-914-9985.
