The standard process of a receptionist job
A receptionist’s main responsibility is handling calls – on a day-to-day basis. Calls come in, are either answered, queued, or transferred.

Simple right?

Not in a large organisation where sales reps and field service teams are out; when everyone’s working in different locations; or when it’s hard to track others’ movements, meetings, and availability.

But technology – specifically Unified Communications – is changing all that.

Widgets
The more context a receptionist – or any call handler for that matter – has, the easier and more efficient their job becomes.

If they know who’s calling, what they’ve called about before, who they’ve spoken to in the past, and why they’re calling again, they can connect the call to the right person – and more easily determine if they’re available, if they’re out, and when they’ll be free.

That’s where our widgets can help. PeterConnects understands the importance of context and offers several widgets that can provide more information to receptionists and call handlers.

Every company works differently and uses a variety of different software tools – that’s why each user can select which widgets are most useful for them.

After selecting their preferred widgets, the user can configure the screen layout to display their most used ones. They can also add their own custom widgets (built using our SDK – see below for more info) as needed.

Some widgets are product-specific, while others are available across all of our products – such as our Web Page Widget.

Widgets Library
PeterConnects has a whole host of different widgets, all designed to make things easier for call handlers.

  1. Contact Information
    Imagine having all available information about every caller. Not just their name and phone number – but their job role, company, email address, social media accounts – and much more. Totally possible with our widget.
  2. Conversation History
    Call handlers, and those they’re transferring to, can see all previous interactions with each caller using this widget. It offers a list of what’s been discussed before – which can help determine what they’re calling about now.
  3. Web Page
    Adding each caller’s company info is a breeze with this widget. As well as linking to useful information, both the receptionist and receiver can review the caller’s website with this widget: to better understand the caller’s business.
  4. Total Calls
    With this widget, a receptionist has a single view of the total number of calls in their queue – useful when planning capacity at certain times of the day.
  5. Microsoft Dynamics CRM
    The CRM Widget shows specific customer information relating to any orders, invoices, and tickets that are in the system.
  6. Calendar
    With Calendar Widget, call handlers can see if the person they’re transferring is available or not – as well as when they’ll be free in coming days.
  7. Chart
    With the Chart Widget each receptionist can see exactly how many other call handlers ll available – as well as the average call waiting time, average time per call, and the number of calls coming into the organisation.
  8. Contact Notes
    With this widget, receptionists can easily add any notes relating to the caller or conversation. This helps them and those they’re transferring calls to – as the contextual info needed is right there – plain for all to see.
  9. Agent Status
    Agents – whether they work in sales, field services, or similar – can be hard to track down. So when calls come in for them, it helps to know exactly where they are. Our widget can tell call handlers where they are at all times; working from home, in the office, or out on the road.
  10. Queue Statistics
    This data can be used to create a variety of useful reports regarding the performance and workload of the Attendant staff.
  11. Google Maps
    Use this widget to get a visual of each caller’s current location.
  12. TopDesk
    A ticketing system that displays information, like open customers tickets.

We also have several other widgets being launched very soon, giving call handlers access to:

  1. Salesforce
  2. Twitter

Installation
No installation is required! Your widgets are instantly added to your product by PeterConnects. Simply open the widget editor and click ‘Add’ on your chosen widgets.

However, depending on your product and software, some widgets might not be available.

Creating Your Own Widgets
Using our Widget SDK (Software Development Kit) you can create your own widgets to add data from any application.

You can do this in several ways:

  • If the widget you need has broader appeal – and both your business and others will find the widget useful, PeterConnects can create it.
  • If you work in a specific sector – such as healthcare or education – that uses a specific type of software, then it makes sense to contact a third party developer with specific systems knowledge.
  • If you’re part of a large organisation that uses a custom software system, it’s worth speaking to your in-house development team about ways to create a widget.

Availability
Widgets are available for all of our cloud solutions: Attendant X, as well as Broadsoft integrations.

However, you’ll need to access our web-based interface to use the widgets. If your organisation uses older versions of our products, you’ll need to upgrade to the cloud version first.