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 | Why should I use SOKRATES® Communicator? I already have enough software to master... |
That is one of your problems! You probably have too much software... There are several categories of (more or less) independent software:
- Office applications for text and image processing, spreadsheets etc. (like Word® ,
Excel® ...)
- Browsers for web services etc.
- Communication software like Outlook® and a VoIP softphone, e.g. Skype®
- Business software specific for your business, e.g. a project management tool, ERP packages etc.
SOKRATES® Communicator has one central interface from where you can use all these applications. Their documents, addresses, links etc. are stored in contacts and projects of SOKRATES®, where they can be found, viewed and modified easily. This makes it much easier to keep control...
| Is there any advantage in having one central interface for all this? |
Yes, of course: The software should be adapted to the way YOU work, and not vice versa. When you sit at your desk, what do you do first? You check missed phone calls and read your email, then you decide which tasks you will accomplish first. This is exactly the welcome window of SOKRATES®, the Desktop: An overview of missed phone calls, calls waiting for a call-back, emails unread or pending for reply, unfinished documents...
- To reply to a phone call, you only have to do one mouse-click: SOKRATES® calls the contact for me, whether my contact uses VoIP, a landline or a mobile.
- And with another mouse-click you can write an email to a contact of mine: SOKRATES® even offers you to select one of your email templates, which can save you a lot of time and guarantees CI-conform emails.
- A double-click onto an unfinished document immediately opens the correct application with this document, e.g. Word® , Excel® or Photoshop® , and you can work on it, without the unnecessary burden of using the "Open File" dialog...
| Skype®: What is my benefit from SOKRATES® Communicator for me as a frequent Skype® user? |
Skype® is a very powerful tool and you can continue to use it exactly the way you are used to, but you will get alternative ways for some processes by using SOKRATES® as a front-end to Skype®:
- Communicator lists all your missed phone calls and calls to do in its entry window (the Desktop). You can call-back somebody or make any scheduled phone call from here with two mouse-clicks! Those calls can be scheduled by yourself, but you can also delegate phone calls to others and control their new task: Perfect for team collaboration!
- SOKRATES® has its own Call Window: It is a complete replacement for the Skype® call window, but you can use both simultaniously, if you like. The call window opens when a call is coming in or when you want to make a phone call. Besides the basic functionality for calls, the window gives you direct access to complete contact data, to his call & email history, to the projects related to the contact, to all documents assigned to the contact or his projects, to any other contacts related to the actual one etc. You do not only see your own calls in the contact's call history, but also the calls of other team members (and their call notes). This information is available even before you answer the call!
- The Call Window offers a Follow-Up menu for scheduling and delegating follow-up phone calls ("I will call him on Monday..."), emails ("My secretary will email you the contract tomorrow"), or documents ("I'll write the offer right now!") immediately while still on the phone.
- Communicator has its own contact database which is shared with your team. You will therefore recognize incoming phone calls from contacts you do not know yet. New contacts can be easily added to the system. Contacts are recognized from phone numbers (Skype®-In) or Skype® names.
- Call Transfer: Skype® 3.5 introduced call transfer functionality, where you can connect incoming calls to other people. Unlike the functionality offerd by Skype® itself, as a Communicator user you can talk to the called person before you connect the caller. This is a must for any phone operator. Call transfer works from any device (Skype®, mobiles or landlines) to any other (Skype®, mobiles or landlines). SkypeIn, SkypeOut and SkypePro might be required.
- When you miss a call or the called person does not answer, you can use the Call Again function. If it is a Sype name you are calling, Communicator will supervise his Skype® status and alert you when the contact gets online.
- ...
| I can not write emails from another program, because we have Exchange in-house and Outlook® is required. |
SOKRATES® does not replace Outlook® in your case: Every email you write from SOKRATES® or you receive here is also stored in Outlook® . And you can use all your Outlook® contacts in SOKRATES® . This way you do not have to change anything in your normal software environment. But you have many advantages in using SOKRATES® for your emails:
- Email templates for all users
- Easy-to-create serial emails, managed by SOKRATES®
- Handy "Pack&Send" functionality: Click on one ore more documents, and they will be automatically read from the server, packed (zipped) and attached to the email you are writing...
- Lists of emails per contact including emails from other users (without having to change access rights in Exchange® )
- Lists of emails per project
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| We are a team working together on the same projects for the same contacts. Can we use SOKRATES as a team, and is there any advantage? |
SOKRATES® has been developed exactly for your needs: You can enter your contacts AND projects (something you can not do with Outlook alone) and define access rights. Assign contacts to projects with specific roles, e.g. "is project manager", "is contractor" etc. This way, you can easily write an email to all project team members and much more. It is interesting to define relationships between contacts (people and organizations): This way you can "web a knowledge net" between your contacts, where every team member can add his contributions.
A contact or a project in SOKRATES® is not only a set of address details, but is a central information source, were you see a history or an overview of the communication with this contact/project:
- All incoming and outgoing emails
- All incoming and outgoing phone calls including descriptions
- All documents (and their versions) related to the contact or project
- A journal of any events
- A list of relevant pictures
...
And you get all this information for ALL emails of ALL team members, not only of yours! You do not need access to the Outlook email account of your colleages to see the project-related emails, you see them directly in SOKRATES®... You do not have to search the server for the newest version of the contract for a customer, you see the contract directly in the contact data in SOKRATES®, and with a double-click, Word opens and you can work on that document.
| You mentioned VoIP: Our company is not ready for this yet, we consider to evaluate a solution in two or three years, we do not want to invest in a new PBX, in Gateways etc. |
It is so much simpler than you think: With SOKRATES® Communicator, you do not need new hardware at all! SOKRATES® is currently supporting Skype®, but other VoIP systems will follow. The team SOKRATES®-Skype® can do more for you than your PBX can: All you have to do is to register your company and your colleagues for Skype® (-In -Out and Pro). Any of your customers can call your ordinary landline phone number (which you redirect to Skype®) or your companies Skype® phone number from any telephone all over the world, or call your Skype® ID directly from Skype®. Your receptionist will take the phone call in SOKRATES®, but she will see the contact name and details even before she accepts the call, and she can see who is responsible for that customer. She can transfer the call to any SOKRATES® user in your company, on his Skype® softphone, his desktop phone or his mobile. Unlike with Skype® itself, she can talk to the person she wants to transfer the call to before transferring it. She will also get the customers file open immediately, see the last phone calls made with this customer, the projects he is involved, all email traffic between him and your company and so on.
If the receptionist can not reach you, she will make a task for you inside SOKRATES®: When you come back, you will see you have to call back (or send an email), but the task already contains all necessary information, and with just one click, you make the call. It will be registered automatically. You also can schedule follow-up calls and emails for you or your team colleagues.
By the way: Using Skype® from SOKRATES®, you can make conference and video calls as well.
And if you are afraid the quality of VoIP is not good enough: Just use a network traffic shapener!
SOKRATES® is flexible enough for both worlds: You can install database and application server on your LAN servers, so not one byte is leaving your building for security reasons. Or you can trust the strong encryption of the protocols used by SOKRATES® (by the way the same you are using for e-banking) and leave the application servers and database installed at a hosting service provider and have free access from any computer with internet access, using standardized SOA access protocols. And for those who can not agree on the "right" operating system: SOKRATES® is not using any proprietary technologies and is ready to be used on Windows® 2000, 2003, XP® and Vista®. Apple® OSX® and Linux® will follow...