Assist Tel-Com Answers the Call for Corporate Telephone Systems

By George Walsh, Hacienda Network Staff Writer

In our high-tech world, it seems ironic that it is more difficult to find someone who understands your organization's telephone system than it is to find someone to manage your computer network. As voice technology becomes increasingly integrated with data technology and information management, commercial telephone systems have become increasingly complex. Fortunately, companies like Assist Tel-Com, at 5673 West Las Positas Boulevard, make it possible for your business to implement and understand everything from routine phone system changes to complex voice and data projects.

Assist Tel-Com was founded in 1995 by former AT&T employee and current Owner/CFO William P. Miller. "I was trained by AT&T back in the late 80s and early 90s," Miller says. "We actually started the business working inside the AT&T office in San Jose and then moved into our own office in Pleasanton." Assist Tel-Com has eight full time employees who specialize in servicing Avaya, Lucent and AT&T telephone systems.

The focus of Assist Tel-Com's business is providing service to Avaya and Avaya dealers who need specific product expertise, assistance with complex voice/data project implementation or additional resources to implement and install the telephone systems they sell. "We provide service to Avaya Business Partners that sell phone systems and related products, such as voice mail and call centers," Miller says. "We primarily do project management, telephone system programming, training and installation."

In addition to contracting work from other companies, Assist Tel-Com also provides direct support to many clients, including telephone system programming and consulting. Another popular service is a monthly maintenance program for clients who don't have the expertise or the desire to work on their own corporate phone systems. These clients prefer to deal with a company that can provide more personal service than the phone's manufacturer. "For less than $300 a month, our clients can sign up for our remote maintenance program. We can dial in to their telephone system and do adds, moves, and changes and modify their system programming. That's around the same price as an hour of service from some larger vendors," Miller says.

Training is another big part of Assist Tel-Com's business. "After doing an installation, we can show the IT staff how to manage their internal system without having to call Avaya, another vendor, or us," Miller says. "We can also do the end-user training, where we hold classes for the users to show them how to get their voicemail, change their password, and use all the features and buttons."

Other products offered by Assist Tel-Com include a software application called XLLabels. "XLLabels is a software program that helps you keep your phones looking neat by allowing you to make labels without typing or writing them out by hand," Miller says. It's available for free download from Assist Tel-Com's web site at www.assist-telcom.com.

All in all, Miller thinks that Assist Tel-Com serves an important niche. "We're able to figure out the high end tough stuff like networking, voice over IP and call centers," he says. "We have the expertise and we have all the equipment in our office. We have over ten PBXs in our demo room and all the latest products that Avaya sells. We're constantly training and testing, which gives us the edge over our competition." With new technology constantly coming to market, it's reassuring that someone is staying ahead of the game.

Photo: Assist Tel-Com's William Miller looks over some of the equipment in the company's demo room.

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