Occasionally, we speak with customers who find themselves faced with a dilemma: They need to record (or re-record) a ReminderPro message, but the room where the computer is located is noisy and not suitable for recording professional messages. Certainly, we want the messages we deliver to our clientele to be of a high quality, and background noise doesn't meet the standard.

In this situation, we often suggest using alternative software and a microphone for the recording of the ReminderPro messages. You see, ReminderPro stores each message in two WAV files located in the ReminderPro program directory. For example, the greeting for the Daily message says "Hello, this is...", and is stored in a file named daily.wav. The closing is the portion of the message that says "Press 1 to confirm your appointment...", and is stored in a file named ^daily.wav. You can use other software to record the greeting or the closing for your message, and then drop the file into the ReminderPro directory, replacing the existing file. ReminderPro will then use the recording you made elsewhere for the message.

There are a couple of gotchas here. First, the recording needs to meet certain specifications. The specs necessary for ReminderPro to use the file(s) are as follows:

• Channels: Mono
• Bit Rate: 128 kbps
• Sample Rate: 8 khz
• File Format: Wave Sound (.WAV)

Secondly, the files must be named correctly. So, if you have a message named Daily, there must be a daily.wav and a ^daily.wav file located in the ReminderPro directory. If they're not there, the program won't find them and, thus, can't play them when calls are made. The name of the message determines the names of the files.

Now, you may already have voice recording software you can use. If not, there is a plethora of them. Personally, I have used Audacity, which is free. It allows you to make recordings that meet the requirements. If recording directly through ReminderPro won't work for you, Audacity could be an option you'll want to consider.

If there are other freeware packages you like, please share your suggestions here.

Tichy’s is located next to the Reumannplatz metro station on Vienna’s U1 line. It is also very close to Favoritenstrasse, a popular pedestrian shopping zone. These connections provide Tichy’s its customers.

An on-premise IVR solution should provide multiple connectivity options including analog, digital and VoIP.  Of course a SaaS IVR solution simply requires a browser and Internet access.

Tichy’s ice cream parlor has both indoor and outdoor eating areas, as well as a takeout counter. This is where they serve their ice cream specialties, including the Eismarillenknoedel (apricot ice cream dumpling). Usually, I fight my way (it’s more of a crowd than a queue) to the takeout counter to order their fantastic ice cream.  Tichy’s appeals to customers with different wants and budgets.

An IVR system should meet the varied needs of customers, whether the customer is a single doctor practice that appreciates the minimal upfront investment of a SaaS, or a hospital using an on-premise IVR solution to cost-effectively send 100’s or even 1000’s of appointment reminders and other notifications each day.

Tichy’s is open about six months of the year, from April to early October.  On the day Tichy’s closes for the season, people wait in long lines to receive free ice cream.  Everyone is served until supplies run out.  Talk about customer appreciation!

Don’t just give people a little taste of your IVR solution, provide them with a generous free sample. (Better yet, don’t make them wait in line to get it!)

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ReminderPro and InphoniteVoice are compatible with Skype for SIP, now in open beta.

In addition to Skype, other SIP providers supported by Inphonite include Verizon, VoiceEclipse, Broadsoft, Sylantro, Level 3, Quest, and GlobalIP.  A knowledgebase article on VoIP support for Inphonite products can be found here. 

Groups support the use of hierarchy, allowing you to create sub-groups of groups (and sub-sub-groups of sub-groups and so on.) Consider, for example, an organization that has multiple locations, multiple job roles and multiple departments. You might want to create three different hierarchies based on these factors.

Creating the Sample Group

To create the sample Groups in the diagram above, create the root level groups first (Location, Department, and Role) and then create the second level Groups assigning the appropriate parent for each of these groups.

Assigning the Group Membership

Once the Groups are created you can assign membership by modifying the Contact and setting the Group Membership section. Remember you can assign a Contact to more than one group at a time.

Sample Uses for Hierarchical Groups

• Emergency Notifications
  • Suppose you had a need to notify everyone in the Support department at the East location. You could open up the Contacts list, select the  button next to the Groups filter, and:
    • Select the Support and East location groups.
    • Set Member of to All Groups.
  • This would filter the Contact list to only Support personnel at the East location. You could then use the  Enqueue Now button to send messages to all of those personnel. 
• Sending Inclement Weather Notifications
  • If all of the Contacts imported have a Group that indicated which office they were visiting, you could quickly notify all members of that group that the office is closed.

•    Need an outstanding primary care doctor.

•    Don't want to waste time in a waiting room.

•    Need acute care, but want to avoid the ER or urgent care "clinic."

•    Can't get a timely appointment with their doctor.

•    Can't get out of the house, or feel too sick to drive.

•    Want more privacy and personalized attention.

•    Want to avoid exposure to other sick people.

Inphonite Technical Support is dedicated to providing the best customer service possible. One of the tools we use to make our support team more effective is Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007, which allows us to remotely connect to our clients' computers and troubleshoot issues that might occur, or perform trainings and installations.

If you are a new client or have installed our software to a new computer, we would like to invite you to get Live Meeting installed and working before you actually need support. Having a working installation of Live Meeting now simply expedites our assistance when you really need it.

To help you get Live Meeting installed and working, we have published an article on our Knowledgebase. This article walks you through the installation of Live Meeting and then helps you test your installation to make sure it works.

If you have trouble installing Live Meeting, you might want to review the system requirements for the program, and make sure that the computer used for ReminderPro meets the specs.

We hope this helps you get ready for support — before you need it!

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