Once upon a time, we didn’t have the phone. Those were the times when communication took ages. You sent a mail to someone and waited for days to get a reply. Things changed soon after one genius graced the earth, known as Graham Bell.


The age of communication witnessed a wide leap when Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 invented the concept of telephone. Today, we live in a cellular era and there is hardly any need of those long wired telephones with the avalanche spread of the iPhones and iPads. Organizations do not need to wait for communication; they can talk to employees and clients easily. Interestingly, customers expect the same, to talk with the company they have bought a service or product from instantly. So, what do you as an organization do to ensure that your customers are satisfied?


Yes, telephone answering services are a necessity today especially in the organizations which provides the helpdesk facilities.


History of the telephone answering services


Long before, even prior to the invention of telephone by Bell, teenage boys were hired by the communication companies who used to send the transmitted telegraphs for the customers. These boys were real famous until the time when the Boston Telephone Dispatch made its mark by hiring women as telephone answering services operators. This was as early as 1878.


The involvement of the women as operators was a great change in the history as at that time women were just supposed to take care of their household and children. Emma Nutt was the first telephone operator who started leading the way. By 1900, most of the telephone answering services were handled by women. Although it was a great move, the pay was very low for them.


It was also even weirder when it was declared that women telephone operators should be between 17 and 26 and also they should be single.


The world today


Now, you have PBX and VIP technology powering your phone answering services. Virtual phone answering services have become more productive, cheap and help you do a whole lot more. Telephone answering services underwent change when the telephone companies started using the switchboards that allowed more operators to take call while sitting. By the mid 1960s, PABX (Private Automated Business Exchange) was introduced which made it possible to take large number of telephone calls at a time. After a decade, Automatic Call Distributor was introduced by the Rockwell Galaxy. With this, the company workers were able to book their flights over telephone and this service was mainly developed for Continental Airlines.


Next, there was the change when the companies began to design their offices in a way where they could sit and take calls, similar to modern day call centers. By the end of the 2000’s, we had the call centers took over the individual businesses of the organizations handling all related calls.


About Author


US Answer is cloud-based answering service and mobile app built on the Salesforce.com and 8x8’s cloud-based Contactual software. More information can be found at http://www.bestphoneansweringservice.com/