Comunicano

Ifbyphone and Voxbone Receive INTERNET TELEPHONY® Magazine’s 13th Annual Product of the Year Award

 

 

 

TMC, a global, integrated media company, has named Ifbyphone’s SourceTrak and Voxbone’s SMS service as recipients of the 2010 INTERNET TELEPHONY Product of the Year Award. The editors of INTERNET TELEPHONY selected the companies that have demonstrated the vision, leadership, and thoroughness associated with the Product of the Year Award.

Released in September 2010, SourceTrak Call Tracking Software enables marketers to truly optimize their marketing spend and understand what advertising investments have the greatest return. SourceTrak provides a full-featured, VoIP-based suite of call tracking applications to manage and measure phone call conversions. Visit the website for more details. 

Voxbone in September announced introduction of  SMS support for its direct inward dial (DID) numbers for carrier and enterprise customers in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The new service leverages the growing popularity of texting by enabling end users to receive text messages on local numbers without having to go through third-party SMS providers, perform separate configurations or sign separate contracts. The new function takes advantage of Internet protocol (IP) networks’ capacity to converge voice and data and helps Voxbone customers maximize their number assets. Voice and text become two features of the same number, configured once, making it as easy as possible to add more features.

An announcement of the 2010 Product of the Year winners has been made on TMCnet and will be published in this month’s issue of INTERNET TELEPHONY.

NAR’s Second Century Ventures Invests in Ifbyphone

CHICAGO (December 28, 2010) – The National Association of Realtors^® has invested in Ifbyphone through its strategic investment fund, Second Century Ventures. As part of the arrangement, NAR is also collaborating with Ifbyphone to develop solutions that enhance voice interactions for its more than 1.1 million Realtor^® members.

“NAR established Second Century Ventures to bring Realtor^®-focused solutions to the real estate marketplace,” said NAR President Ron Phipps, broker-president of Phipps Realty in Warwick, R.I. “In Ifbyphone we’ve identified a partner who can help our members grow their businesses. We look forward to working with Ifbyphone to create customer interaction solutions for our industry. Ifbyphone will help NAR members lower their cost of doing business while also offering them new ways to leverage their marketing and advertising dollars and generate increased sales in the process.”

NAR’s investment was part of Ifbyphone’s “B” round of funding and brought the round to $8 million total. Initial “B” round funding included the previous investors Ifbyphone Founder/CEO Irv Shapiro, Apex Venture Partners, Origin Ventures, Spring Mill Ventures and the i2A Fund. Overall, Ifbyphone has raised $16 million in venture funding. 

“The investment by Second Century Ventures validates how Ifbyphone’s innovative solutions are helping small- to mid-sized businesses attract and retain more customers by managing, measuring and automating voice communications. These new funds enhance our continued efforts as the leading company automating the often forgotten voice component of customer interactions,” said Ifbyphone’s Founder and CEO Irv Shapiro. “Voice has been, is today and will continue to be a critical component of the customer engagement process.”

Ifbyphone’s industry-leading product suite enables any business to improve the interactions with their customers on any phone, at any time. The Ifbyphone suite includes solutions for call tracking, customer notifications, interactive voice response (IVR), and virtual call center. For more information about Ifbyphone, visit www.ifbyphone.com. 

About Second Century Ventures

Second Century Ventures is a strategic investment fund focused on promoting innovation in the real estate industry and helping the entrepreneurial spirit of real estate to thrive. Second Century Ventures has been fully capitalized by the National Association of Realtors^®. With over 1.1 million members, NAR is the largest trade association in the country. NAR can provide immediate strategic value to Second Century Ventures portfolio companies by allowing them access to the vast resources of a 300-person organization with the expertise, influence and power that comes only by being ingrained in an industry for over 100 years.

About Ifbyphone

Ifbyphone, a leading provider of voice applications for customer interactions, helps businesses of any size enhance customer communications, improve lead conversion, and reduce customer churn. The Ifbyphone suite of applications manages, measures and automates voice communications, is configured via a self service web based customer portal and works with any telephone. The cloud based services provides call tracking, dynamic inbound call routing with IVR screening, outbound call automation, virtual call center applications and a highly flexible family of API based integration tools.  For more information about how automated voice applications can help any business grow, visit www.ifbyphone.com.

About NAR

The National Association of Realtors^®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1.1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

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Information about NAR is available at www.realtor.org.  This and other news releases are posted in the News Media section.

Ifbyphone Names Jason Ferrara Vice President of Marketing

CHICAGO — October 26, 2010 — Ifbyphone, an industry leading customer interaction company, today announced a key addition to its executive team with the hire of Jason Ferrara as Vice President of Marketing. Ferrara comes to his new role from another rapidly growing Chicago company, the nation’s largest online job site CareerBuilder.com. As Vice President Corporate Marketing at CareerBuilder.com Ferrara was responsible for business-to-business strategy, including communications, advertising, promotions, product marketing, e-commerce management, customer lifecycle and loyalty, and sales support.  

“As Ifbyphone’s growth continues to accelerate, it is excellent timing for us to be adding a proven leader like Jason Ferrara to take over this pivotal role,” said Irv Shapiro, Ifbyphone’s CEO. “With many of the industry leading product rollouts we have planned in the upcoming months Jason Ferrara’s experience working with high growth companies and his passion for superior customer communications and service will prove to be an enormous asset.”

In his new role at Ifbyphone, Ferrara will be charged with all facets of the company’s marketing efforts including overall strategy, new market segments, and managing communications with the company’s existing customer base. “Ifbyphone is well- positioned to become Chicago’s next large scale business success story, and I’m excited to have the opportunity to be part of the team that takes the company to the next level,” said Ferrara.

Prior to joining CareerBuilder.com in 2005, Ferrara worked as Director, Online Marketing for SPSS, Inc. Ferrara received his MBA from Kellogg School of Management.

To learn more about Ifbyphone’s software, including Call Tracking, Hosted IVR, Voice Broadcasting, and Virtual Call Center, visit www.ifbyphone.com.

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About Ifbyphone

Ifbyphone, a leading provider of Voice Applications for Customer Interactions, helps businesses reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction by automating call handling and management with solutions for outbound notifications, call tracking and analytics, voice self-service and virtual call centers. For more information about how Ifbyphone helps businesses manage, measure and automate phone calls, visit www.ifbyphone.com.

Ifbyphone Continues To March Upmarket With Version 3.2

Chicago, September 8, 2010 – Ifbyphone, a leading customer interaction management company, today announced a series of enhancements to support midmarket customers, including updates to its Call Distributor features, Call Tracking capabilities, and Call Reporting.

“Ifbyphone is democratizing the marketplace by providing SMB customers with access to Enterprise quality voice capabilities,” said Ifbyphone’s CEO Irv Shapiro. “With Version 3.2, we continue to help businesses manage, measure, and automate phone calls.”

The release of Version 3.2 hastens Ifbyphone’s march upmarket. While the company began selling to small businesses in 2007, it has since responded to market demand by expanding feature sets to support mid-size businesses. Version 3.2 enhancements include:

Call Distributor

·      “Agent Modes” provide more granularity for data-driven managers overseeing distributed workforces and for call centers billing clients by the minute. With the new modes (e.g. open, busy, calling, on call, break, closed, and lunch), managers can effortlessly track the time each agent spends on calls, breaks, and other work.

·      “Application Transfers” enable agents using any phone to transfer callers to a different number, department, or post-call survey, providing callers with a more seamless experience.

Call Tracking

·      “SourceTrak” helps businesses of any size measure phone call conversions and optimize advertising spend based on response rates to marketing campaigns. For example, to measure response rates, a marketer could place one unique phone number in an infomercial or dynamically display hundreds of unique phone numbers on a website depending on the traffic referral source.

·       “Call Tracking Analyzer” supports more granular measurement of media sources across multiple marketing campaigns by showing call counts for offline media sources and conversion rates for online campaigns.

Reporting

·      “Custom Dashboards” show reports about the application a customer most actively utilizes to save time and provide a unique customer experience.

·      “Reporting” improvements offer enhanced usability and customization options, as well as a series of new reports to help businesses better measure account activity.

“Ifbyphone is committed to creating industry leading solutions that give our customers a competitive advantage, and that means you will continue to see more innovative updates to Ifbyphone’s platform,” said Shapiro.

To learn more about Ifbyphone’s applications, including Call Tracking, Virtual Call Center, and IVR software, visit www.ifbyphone.com

 

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About Ifbyphone

Ifbyphone, a leading provider of Voice Applications for Customer Interactions, helps businesses reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction by automating call handling and management with solutions for outbound notifications, call tracking and analytics, voice self-service and virtual call centers. For more information about how Ifbyphone helps businesses manage, measure and automate phone calls, visit www.ifbyphone.com.

Ifbyphone SourceTrak Provides New Call Tracking Capabilities

 

 

CHICAGO —September 1, 2010 — Ifbyphone, an industry leading customer interaction company, today announced SourceTrak, a new suite of Call Tracking tools that enable marketers to measure phone conversions, optimize ad spend and demonstrate ROI for any size campaign. Using SourceTrak marketers can now track, qualify and route calls from traditional ads as well as PPC, SEO and Social Media.

“Marketers have always struggled to track offline conversations, and Ifbyphone’s latest Call Tracking software addresses the challenge of helping them determine where their advertising dollars are being best spent,” said Irv Shapiro CEO of Ifbyphone. “With SourceTrak, we’re offering multiple technologies, appropriate for campaigns of any size, for marketers to measure results and route calls.”

SourceTrak offers marketers 4 options for Call Tracking:

SourceTrak Basic

With SourceTrak Basic, marketers place a unique phone number on an advertisement (e.g. radio, direct mail, billboard) and can view real-time reports including data on call time, call duration, caller name, caller number, and more.

SourceTrak Dynamic

With SourceTrack Dynamic, online marketers can measure offline phone conversions.

Dynamically assigned phone numbers are displayed on a website based on the referral source of the traffic (i.e. keyword, search engine, or pay-per-click ad). A business can then customize the routing for each unique phone number and view real-time reports online.

SourceTrak Dynamic Groups

To accommodate larger online marketing campaigns, SourceTrak Dynamic Groups supports tracking more traffic sources with less phone numbers by grouping traffic sources and phone numbers into shared groups. This provides a more cost-effective and data-rich solution, while still offering marketers control over unique call routing for each group.

SourceTrak Session

SourceTrak Session enables marketers to track an unlimited number of keywords, domains, or pay-per-click ads without predefining traffic sources. This solution also offers the ability to track online conversions with minimal setup.

“For businesses that have multiple revenue channels where online marketing efforts can drive offline sales, Ifbyphone’s call tracking allows us to better associate revenue to the attributing source,” said Brad Henry, Manager of Web Marketing Services Beacon Technologies. “By having better ROI data by channel we make smarter decisions and make our advertising dollars work more effectively.”

More Than Call Tracking

Beyond Call Tracking, Ifbyphone also enables marketers to:

·      Customize call routing by schedule, geography or percentage

·      Direct calls to a virtual call center with agents using traditional phones anywhere in the world

·      Create custom voice dialogs to qualify callers based on the ad they saw

·      Record all phone calls to measure call quality

·      Integrate Call Tracking data with Google Analytics

·      Tie call data into Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software

·      Whisper, or announce, a custom message to the person answering the phone calls (e.g. “This is a call from your website page ABC”)

To learn more about Ifbyphone’s SourceTrack Call Tracking Software, including Call Tracking Numbers, PPC Call Tracking, and SEO Call Tracking, visit www.ifbyphone.com.

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About Ifbyphone

Ifbyphone, a leading provider of Voice Applications for Customer Interactions, helps businesses reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction by automating call handling and management with solutions for outbound notifications, call tracking and analytics, voice self-service and virtual call centers. For more information about how Ifbyphone helps businesses manage, measure and automate phone calls, visit www.ifbyphone.com.

 

Internet Telephony Product of the Year Award Winners

GIPS, Ifbyphone and XConnect win 2009 Product of the Year!

FREETALK Connect Alliance Formed at IT EXPO 2010 with 14 Charter Members; Open Alliance Members Will Offer Products and Services that Leverage FREETALK Connect, Voice 2.0 Applications and Cloud-Based Services

  

 Members will offer innovative products and cloud-based services that interoperate with FREETALK Connect via Asterisk, Skype, SIP, Skype for SIP, or PSTN

MIAMI, January 21, 2010 — FREETALK® and 13 other companies today announced the formation of the FREETALK Connect Alliance, an open alliance of companies that will provide innovative applications, products and services to expand the capabilities of the FREETALK Connect communications system. The alliance is open to companies that offer products and services which build on the capabilities of the FREETALK Connect, “Voice 2.0” in concept, and can interoperate with Asterisk, Skype™, SIP, Skype for SIP or the PSTN.

The FREETALK Connect simplifies set up, enabling small business users that are not tech savvy to use it quickly and simply, without formal training. Supported telephones are plugged into the company’s network and the FREETALK Connect auto-detects and configures them. An on-screen wizard then guides the customer through a few business-related questions that help configure the company’s communication system and enables Skype calling from every supported desktop phone in the office. Adding users and administering the system after installation is just as easy.

The FREETALK Connect Alliance opens the door for many new developers, service providers, including cloud computing and Internet communications providers to offer new and innovative applications, products and services for businesses of any size. These will be available later this year in the U.S. through the FREETALK Connect Store (http://www.freetalkconnect.com) and the Skype Shop (http://skype.com/shop), both of which are operated by In Store Solutions.

The charter members of the FREETALK Connect Alliance include:

•    AbbeyNet/Sitofono (Italy)
•    Cloudvox (USA)
•    FlatPlanet Phone Company (Israel)
•    FREETALK (Spain)
•    IfByPhone (USA)
•    In Store Solutions (Hong Kong)
•    Iotum/Calliflower (Canada)
•    Jazinga (Canada)
•    Skype (Luxembourg)
•    Tatung (Taiwan)
•    Thomas Howe’s Light and Electric (USA)
•    Voxeo (US)
•    Voxygen (UK)
•    Voxbone (Belgium)

“The FREETALK Connect Alliance members are building an entire ecosystem of products, applications and services around the FREETALK Connect communications system,” said Andrew Hansen, B2B manager at FREETALK. “The Alliance’s products and services build on, and powerfully leverage, the strengths of each other, and the market reach of the extremely affordable, fully featured and self-configuring FREETALK Connect.”

Companies that want more information about this alliance, or want to join the FREETALK Connect Alliance should contact FREETALK at alliance@instoresolutions.com.  

About FREETALK
FREETALK is a product innovation catalyst – identifying market gaps and working with its global partners to design, manufacture and quickly bring to market products that disrupt traditional categories.  Leveraging untapped market opportunities, FREETALK products are designed to be environmentally friendly, sold online and delivered globally at aggressive price-points. Always at the forefront of innovation, FREETALK is known for creating synergistic products that add unique value to its partners’ branded points-of-sale.

About Skype
Skype is software that enables the world’s conversations. Millions of individuals and businesses use Skype to make free video and voice calls send instant messages and share files with other Skype users. Every day, people everywhere also use Skype to make low-cost calls to landlines and mobiles. Download Skype to your computer or mobile phone at skype.com.

Access to a broadband Internet connection is required. Skype is not a replacement for traditional telephone services and cannot be used for emergency calling. Skype for SIP is meant to complement existing traditional telephone services used with a corporate PBX, not as a stand-alone solution. Skype for SIP users need to ensure all calls to emergency services are terminated through traditional fixed line telephone services, connected to the local exchange, or through other emergency calling capable telephone services.

Skype, associated trademarks and logos and the “S” symbol are trademarks of Skype Limited.

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Contact:
Sue Huss, for In Store Solutions
sue.huss@comunicano.com
+1 619-379-4396

Ifbyphone Acquires Cloudvox, Changes Face Of Cloud Telephony

Enterprises Of All Sizes Can Build Portable, Asterisk-Based Applications

 

CHICAGO — January 20, 2010 — Ifbyphone, Inc., a leader in cloud telephony, today entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Cloudvox.

 

In addition to its suite of self-service Web configured and highly customizable phone applications, the acquisition positions Ifbyphone as an industry-leading application developer platform.

 

“By acquiring Cloudvox, we’re sending a message to businesses of every size: If you’re interested in using telephone applications to automate sales, marketing, business processes, and Web applications, we're the place to start,” said Irv Shapiro, CEO of Ifbyphone. “Businesses can rent an existing application from us and tightly integrate their business with that app. Or they can now use Cloudvox to build their own portable, open application from scratch and still take advantage of our cloud infrastructure and phone expertise.”

 

The addition of Cloudvox positions Ifbyphone as the only cloud telephony provider that enables customers to rent a phone-based application, integrate with an existing Ifbyphone app, or build a custom app. Cloudvox lets developers automate phone calls using their own software - code they write and control.

 

Cloudvox leverages the industry-leading Asterisk open-source phone server, and is similar to “Asterisk in the cloud.”

 

While Asterisk is quite powerful, creating a reliable, scalable, feature-rich phone platform is difficult and capital-intensive. Cloudvox is compatible with existing Asterisk applications and software libraries; further, it is scalable, deployed in a carrier-grade environment, and simple for developers to use.

 

Cloudvox is well known among developers for its unique, standards-based solution. A hosted service, Cloudvox bridges Web apps with phone services, enabling developers to place, receive, and control phone calls from their own software (including Python, Ruby, PHP, Java, C#, and simple HTTP/JSON).

 

“Cloudvox handles all of the telecom features, giving developers complete control of the phone call and their app,” said Troy Davis, Cloudvox Co-Founder. “Cloudvox is the most practical way to launch comprehensive phone services, and with Ifbyphone's infrastructure and experience, we've created the best cloud model in the industry.”

 

Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. For more information about Ifbyphone’s Cloud Telephony applications, including IVR, Voice Broadcasting, Call Tracking, and Virtual Call Center, visit www.ifbyphone.com. To learn about or use Cloudvox, visit www.cloudvox.com.

 

About Ifbyphone

 

Ifbyphone provides businesses a suite of phone automation services to enhance customer communications, increase sales, and lower costs. With Ifbyphone's easy-to-use hosted services and tools, marketers, developers and business users can quickly create telephony systems to drive customer retention and acquisition. For more information, visit www.ifbyphone.com.

Contact:

Cheryl Cink, for Ifbyphone

ccink@comunicano.com

+1 530-756-4630

Ifbyphone Lands Innovation “Triple Crown” from Top Publishers

Company Recognized for Cloud Telephony Services that Enable Businesses to Thrive

CHICAGO — September 21, 2009 — While Major League Baseball bestows its Triple Crown honor to a player that leads his league in three batting categories, Ifbyphone Inc. today announced it has been recognized with a trio of coveted telephony awards.

Recognizing and reinforcing its accomplishments in advanced telephony services innovation, the cloud telephony leader landed the Speech Technology Magazine Speech Luminary Award, TMCnet’s IP Contact Center Technology Pioneer Award and Internet Telephony’s Excellence Award for Outbound IVR.

"Our mission at Ifbyphone is to democratize telephony by providing enterprise- grade automated telephone applications to businesses of any size,” said Irv Shapiro, CEO of Ifbyphone. “We are delighted to receive this industry recognition from these outstanding organizations leading the way in the evolution of telephony."

In awarding the SpeechTech Speech Luminary Award, SpeechTechMag.com said: “Through lower-cost, hosted, cloud-based telephony solutions, Irv Shapiro and his company, Ifbyphone, have forged a way for IVR and speech into untapped spaces. Ifbyphone’s proposition makes it an early innovator within the growing trend toward hosted and networked speech solutions.”

TMCnet called Ifbyphone’s contact center efforts “the best of the best in this emergent technology. We’ve chosen as winners the products with the most admirable feature sets and the best track records of dramatically improving the operations of today’s call centers.”

Ifbyphone also landed the Internet Telephony Excellence Award for Outbound IVR for its specific “outstanding achievements in IP communications solutions.”

About Ifbyphone
Ifbyphone provides businesses a suite of phone automation services to enhance customer conversations, increase sales and lower costs. Leveraging Ifbyphone's easy-to-use services, business users, marketers and developers can quickly create solutions ranging from simple call routing to advanced, interactive voice response systems. For more information, visit www.ifbyphone.com

Ifbyphone’s Voice Broadcasting Service Helps Two Franchise Businesses Save Almost $1,000 Per Month and Improve Customer Care

Weed Man Franchisees in Winnipeg and Wisconsin Use Ifbyphone’s Voice Broadcasting Solution to Maintain Accounts Receivable and Automate Service Reminders

CHICAGO — August 18, 2009 —Ifbyphone today announced that two franchisees of Weed Man, a network of locally owned and operated lawn care professionals throughout North America, are saving almost $1,000 per month by using Ifbyphone’s Voice Broadcasting solution. Weed Man Madison and Weed Man Winnipeg are two examples of how small businesses are using Ifbyphone’s suite of automated telephone applications to save money, increase efficiency and improve customer service.

Weed Man Madison chose Ifbyphone’s Voice Broadcasting service to automate accounts receivable collection calls. Voice Broadcasting lets companies automatically deliver interactive phone calls, significantly reducing the overhead costs of making those calls.

Before using Ifbyphone’s Voice Broadcast service, Weed Man Madison had one employee who spent 20 hours each week making accounts receivable calls. With Ifbyphone, the company now can automatically call its entire accounts receivable list each week in under two hours.

“Our savings is almost $1,000 per month,” said Brian Klenke, Director of Sales at Weed Man Madison. “I would recommend Ifbyphone to anyone who is looking to increase the efficiency of the accounts receivable calling process. In fact, we are pushing it to other Weed Man franchisees.”

This efficiency also benefits Weed Man Madison in another way: The technology helps keep the receivables of its nearly 5,000 customers as current as possible, thus maintaining cash flow.

Weed Man Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada, has been using Ifbyphone’s Voice Broadcasting solution for several years to remind clients about upcoming lawn treatment appointments. 

“Voice Broadcasting has really helped us communicate with our customers,” said David Hinton, owner of Weed Man Winnipeg. “Many customers require notification to unlock their gate or keep their pets inside. Ifbyphone quickly makes the calls and gives us a record of the contact, saving many valuable administration hours every day.”

“Weed Man Madison and Weed Man Winnipeg are two prime examples of how Ifbyphone’s technology helps small businesses improve efficiency and customer service,” said Ifbyphone CEO Irv Shapiro. “Those benefits are always valuable, but they’re absolutely critical now during the toughest economy in 70 years.”

Telecom innovator Ifbyphone offers a suite of hosted phone applications, including Outbound IVR, Phone Call Tracking, Virtual Call Center Software and more.  To see the complete suite of Ifbyphone’s services, please visit www.ifbyphone.com.

About Ifbyphone

Ifbyphone provides businesses a suite of phone automation services to enhance customer conversations, drive sales and lower costs. Leveraging Ifbyphone's easy-to-use services, business users, marketers and developers can quickly create solutions ranging from simple call routing solutions to advanced interactive voice response systems. For more information, visit www.ifbyphone.com.

About Weed Man

Weed Man is a network of locally owned and operated franchises. Our customers have entrusted us to care for their lawns for over 30 years.

There are now more than 300 Weed Man franchise dealers providing Professional horticultural services across Canada, the USA and in the United Kingdom. They provide a livelihood for more than 2500 people directly, plus many others employed in capacities related to the industry. They provide responsible, Professional services to those who need help maintaining healthy surroundings for families. These include the elderly, the time-pressed, and those living in regions that present the kind of horticultural challenges that require specialized expertise.