Response Point Phone System is a new product released by Microsoft in October of 2007.  Response Point runs over standard networking equipment instead of proprietary phone switches.  This reduces cost and also allows Capitol Computer to manage your network and your phone system.  Wouldn’t it be nice to only have to call one company when setting up accounts for new employees?  Response Point has a built-in Voicemail and Speech server.  No more, “Press 103 to speak to John” Just say John and the auto attendant will automatically forward your call.  If John is not at his desk, the call can either be sent to Voicemail or forwarded to his cell phone without the caller ever knowing.  Voice over IP is the future of Office Telephony and Response Point takes it one step further.  Response Point also has integrated support for Unified Communications.

Unified Communications is a way of linking all of your communication devices and software together.  It can be difficult to explain, so I’ll give you an example instead: You get a phone call on your Response Point phone system; on your PC monitor, Caller-ID information pops up.  The caller’s phone number happens to be in your Outlook contacts list, so on your screen you’ll see the number, full name, e-mail address and picture of the caller.  Let’s say you decide not to answer the call, and they leave a voicemail message.  That voice mail instantly shows up in Outlook, on your Windows Mobile phone, and on your desktop handset.  That message can be played from any of those devices.  Here’s another example.  Say you’re on a business trip and need to get someone’s contact info into Outlook.  Just pull out your Windows Mobile phone enter their contact information, even take their picture.  Within seconds of hitting save, all that data is transferred back to your Exchange Server wirelessly, including the picture.  You can get further unification by using Microsoft’s new IM (Instant Messaging) client.

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