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Grasshopper is everywhere

Original Article

Virtual Help Line

When Kelly McGovern started her mortgage service business six years ago, she set up shop in an office downtown. It seemed like the professional thing to do, but as Kelly discovered, it was a real waste of money. “I was out of the office most of the time anyway, visiting clients,” she says.

The business, Mortgage Madness, took over Kelly’s home office in 2002. While it was comfortable and economical, the office lacked the sophistication of a successful business. “It was obvious that we needed some type of phone system that could answer and transfer our calls,” says Kelly, who by then had hired three employees, each of whom would be working from their own homes. Most business-style phone systems, she learned, would cost thousands of dollars and would require special hardware and software to be set up at each employee’s office. Then she stumbled upon VirtualOne from GotVMail.

Based on instructions Kelly and her employees post on their secure individual GotVMail web page, the VirtualOne service answers incoming calls, directs callers to the appropriate extension, transfers calls between extensions and sends calls to Kelly’s cell phone when she’s on the road. The transfer happens so seamlessly that the caller never suspects he’s being redirected to a totally different office. “Many people have commented on how big the business has become,” says Kelly. “We’re really just more efficient.”

Caption:

Kelly McGovern may be all alone in her home office, but she can transfer incoming calls to her employees as if they were seated in the cubicle next to her. A unique virtual phone service portrays the image of a traditional corporate office but offers Kelly the economy of having her employees work from their own homes.