A second wave of the coronavirus is here. And you need a clear, well-defined plan to prepare for a second business lockdown. The 5 steps in this article will ensure that your business has the communications it needs not only to survive, but to thrive in the coming months and beyond. Many experts believe a second wave of the coronavirus may be longer than the first. Stats support this idea. Certain countries, such as Britain, France and Spain, were hit early and hard. When the numbers went down to less than 100 per day in June and July, we all breathed a sigh of relief. But then the cases spiked again. As of early October, Spain, for example, is back up to over 10,000 new daily cases. If the rest of the world follows this pattern, many countries, including the US, Brazil and Russia, may not have seen the worst of it yet. In all likelihood, we’re soon going to see new restrictions again that go beyond hand sanitizer and cleaning supplies. If not in the short term, at least in the medium term. During the first lockdown, many companies barely got by. This was true of small businesses and large enterprises alike. Whether it was the disruption to the supply chain, or the sudden change to remote work, business leaders were caught off guard. It disrupted how businesses work, and limited cash flow. Many business models didn’t hold up. Economic downturn became inevitable. The question is, how to prepare your business for a second – and potentially longer – lockdown. An in depth look points to one key item:

LONDON, UK & NICOSIA, CYPRUS, 14TH OCTOBER 2020 3CX, developer of the innovative, open-standards PBX system and Cypriot Telecommunications provider Cyta, today announced an exciting new step in their existing partnership, which sees 3CX added to the Cyta Cloud MarketPlace. The move means that 3CX Instances can now be deployed directly into Cyta Cloud environments and aims to further simplify the deployment process for 3CX’s Cypriot partners. Cyta is a tier 1 provider of Cloud and SIP Trunking services in Cyprus. This new venture is great news for new 3CX resellers who can deploy their first solutions quickly and efficiently thanks to Cyta’s easy setup process. For longer standing partners, deploying directly to the Cyta Cloud offers a tried and tested, secure method of deployment that reduces set up time, thus freeing time to focus on sales. There’s no extra cost for using the service. Simply select your hosting package, and away you go. Natassia Allery, 3CX Sales Manager – EMEA & Asia said: “We’re thrilled to be expanding our partnership with Cyta. In 2019, Cyta became a 3CX supported SIP provider and they quickly became one of the most popular choices for our Cypriot partners. Being able to deploy 3CX directly from the Cyta marketplace will make deployments more efficient for partners and help us attract new clients from all over the island. Pantelis Kallasides, Marketing – Enterprise Product Development at CYTA said: “We started cooperating with 3CX in 2019 while verifying our Business Telephony for PBX service with PBX vendors. Impressed with 3CXs insistence on excellence and quality control, values that are totally aligned with Cyta’s strategy, we expanded our cooperation. We are now introducing new services that combine our cloud infrastructure with 3CX’s communication solution. As more businesses realize the value of cloud PBX solutions, Cyta can guarantee new and existing 3CX customers a reliable, secure and trusted migration of their 3CX system.” About 3CX (www.3cx.com) 3CX is the developer of an open standards communications solution which innovates business connectivity and collaboration, replacing proprietary PBXs. The award-winning software enables companies of all sizes to cut telco costs, boost employee productivity, and enhance the customer experience. With integrated video conferencing; apps for Android, iOS, the web and desktop; a full suite of collaboration features, and website live chat, 3CX offers companies a complete communications package out of the box. 250,000 customers worldwide use 3CX including McDonalds, Hugo Boss, Ramada Plaza Antwerp, Harley Davidson, Wilson Sporting Goods and Pepsi. Maintaining its global presence, 3CX has offices in the U.S., U.K., Germany, South Africa, Russia and Australia. Visit 3CX on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. About Cyta (www.cyta.com.cy) Cyta, is the leading brand in Cyprus’ telecommunications sector, providing integrated electronic communication solutions. By taking timely advantage of technological developments and the convergence of telecommunications and IT, Cyta is now the pioneer of quadruple play in Cyprus, offering a broad range of innovative services and ICT solutions to the consumer and the business market. Cyta is Vodafone’s exclusive partner in Cyprus and consequently, Cyta is a member of the largest mobile communications network in the world.

Are you maximizing your VoIP system? Are you aware of all the different VoIP calling features offered by your service provider? More importantly, are you using these features effectively? If your business communications is powered by VoIP, there are certain key VoIP calling features you absolutely don’t want to ignore. These include: Inbound Rules/Call Routing: Inbound rules allow you to route inbound/incoming calls to specific locations based on a number of factors. For example, calls from certain callers can be routed to an extension while that from other callers can be routed to an interactive voice response (IVR) or a queue. With 3CX for example, you can route calls based on the caller ID, the DID number, or the main trunk number. Using this feature, enterprise clients could be routed to a system where they always get priority support from a live agent while other users could be routed to a system where they have to deal with an IVR. This means only urgent issues can be routed to a real life agent meaning support can be provided to those that need it most. Call Reporting/Analytics: One of the major advantages of using VoIP is that you have direct access to analytics and reporting on calls made via your system. This helps you monitor both individual and collective agent performance and ensure customer satisfaction. You can review a wealth of data that includes information on unanswered or abandoned calls, the average talking time, queue callbacks, average queue wait times, and call distribution data. This gives you access to granular information about the performance of your agents and allows you to make necessary changes to enhance customer experience and satisfaction. Interactive Voice Response: Just as the name implies, an interactive voice response (IVR) lets callers interact with your company’s system using voice menus. Using pre-recorded customized greetings, an IVR gives callers an opportunity to have their issues resolved without necessarily speaking with a live agent. In the event that the IVR is unable to resolve their issues, you can give them the option to be transferred to an agent. Using an IVR significantly reduces the calls your agents have to deal with while giving callers alternative means to have their issues automatically resolved. Should a user need to speak directly with an agent, an IVR allows you to filter each call so that users are directed to the right department. Call Recording: Sometimes, you want to go beyond simply looking at the data and “joining in” on a few calls to see exactly how your agents interact with customers. The call recording feature allows you to record and analyze individual calls in order to rate and better direct your agents on how to interact with callers. Call Queues: The ability to queue calls is very essential for a big business, or a growing business that receives a lot of simultaneous calls. If your organization receives a lot of calls, you can use the call queue feature to put callers in a queue until their call is transferred to the next available agent instead of then bounce or go unanswered.