5 Things My Office Phone Does For Me

We just made a monumental leap in the millennium with our new office phone system. I think we went from 1970 to 2015 in terms of what it looks like and what it does. First of all kudos to our IT guy  for spending the time to find this new system and get it for me allowing me to be more productive. You rock!

There are a lot of new features, but these are the 5 that I love the most!

1. Tells you when I am out of the office and lets you know what to do and who to call for immediate assistance. I now have four (4) out of office options to choose from. I'm putting in the office and can't catch the phone right now; I'm not even in my office today; I'm not going to be in the office this week; I'm gonna be out of the office for an extended period of time so leave me a voice mail.

2. Tells me on my computer screen who is calling and from where and what number. So if you're a sales person trying to pedal your wares to me or something, can we say voice mail! If your a constant complainer church member (not that we have any like that), can we say voice mail! If you have already called me once that day, can we say voice mail!

3. The new phone is completely hands free operating through my computer like Outlook. All I have to use is my mouse or keypad. Its just another icon on the menu bar at the bottom of the screen so I can answer your call, and then click back over the tab I was on when you called. No problem!

4. If you leave a voice mail, I get a notice via email and can listen to the message wherever I may be, in or out of the office. I find this feature greatly useful, not having to be in the office to conduct my business.

5. Last but not least I have a contacts list on the screen that all I have to do is click with my mouse and it rings that person instantly. No strenuous dialing or pressing those heavy phone buttons. My fatigue level has gone way down with this new phone.

There you have it! This new phone system is going to revolutionize the way I work. I want to say thanks again to our IT guy for installing this new system thus giving me so many new features.

Leave me a voice mail, Luijarick

What does your phone system do for you? Comments? Discussion?

Paper is Not Dead

This may sound funny coming from a church administrator because we seem to live in paper but...I would love to go paperless someday! At least that's what I have been saying for years. After a recent post on my Facebook page asking where all this paper comes from, it seems to be that it comes from, well, ME! I print everything and every email that I read that needs my attention. I have forms for everything but forms is what keeps us organized and flowing right? RIGHT?

A few years ago, while I was in a staff meeting, I looked around the room and all the ministers were on their phones. I still had a flip phone then. Don't judge me please! Soon after that I arrived to the 21st century and purchased an android phone. I still got scrutinized for now being the only one without an I Phone. So, I decided to do a paperless staff meeting. The day before the meeting, I emailed all the files that we were going to look at, even the calendar for the next two weeks. I printed no paper and came to the meeting with just my phone and instructed the others to do the same. The meeting started and we all got out our phones and went to town. I discovered something to my advantage very quickly. My android could retrieve Word and Excel files but the I Phone could not. I loved it! The meeting went well except we had a hard time seeing all the details on our phones in the files I sent.

Long story short we did the meeting paperless but it did not last long. Soon we got back to paper agendas and calendars and notes. I have come to learn that I will always live with paper to some degree and will have to get over the futuristic fact that paper will never go away. In fact a good friend of mine reminded me that PAPER IS NOT DEAD by sending me this funny video. While you are here take a few minutes and watch the video below. If you like this blog post and want to share it, just print it out and hand it to someone.

Luijarick

Are you paperless? Comments? Discussion?