Article in Teleworker Magazine April 2002
Living with Robson
First impressions are important. For a virtual organisation trying to create the impression of one cohesive band of experts ie trying to knit together employees or freelancers in different places, the Robson could be just the answer. Essentially the device (which we first wrote about in Teleworker Last May) is a small switchboard with up to two lines in and four out but with four additional virtual extensions. You can take calls in and distribute it to extensions in one location or back out onto the network of up to eight people working in different places. We have had one to play about with over the last month though in fact in under an hour it was almost completely set up and ready to go - (we suspect most techies would be disappointed by this !).
For us this product survives the user flexibility test for two reasons; one it does more or less everything we've tried to do with it and two we've lost the instruction manual and yet the voice guidance is so well thought out that it doesn't matter ! We've used it in manual driven mode from a menu of telephone keypad commands - whereas the product comes complete with Mac and PC software where it can be set up and changed much more rapidly from the keyboard.
On the basis that it's always better to try something for real than - 'how would it work if you tried to do XYZ?', it is now sitting on our 0800 616 008 number. Callers get an option to speak with a real human straight away, to hear more information about the Association (an extended message can be recorded) or deal with the various departments - as these are in different locations.
If you do want to re-direct calls to elsewhere, you need the two lines, which we have set up on the analogue channels of our ISDN line. It works well though the calls can have a slight echo.
Originally designed by Association member David Robson as a product primarily to shield out caller withheld numbers - "I got so sick and tired of having nuisance calls, I decided to go out and design a product to deal with it" he says. Some half million pounds and three years later he launched his product (and namesake) 'Robson'.
Other features available are music on hold and remote access - but we haven't got around to using these yet!
Alan Denbigh - Executive Director Telework Association
alan.denbigh@telework.org.uk
Tel: 0800 616008
