This guide will help you quickly get your virtual phone system up and running.
IronVoice is incredibly powerful and we try to never put you in a box. Our goal is to give you as much flexibility as possible without making it too complex to manage.
We are here to guide you and answer questions but the fastest help is Docs, it knows what you're working on and will jump right to that topic.
Have questions? Visit the Helpdesk and send us a message, we generally respond in less than 30 minutes (or call us if you have a dedicated support team assigned).
Want personalized training? No problem, schedule a session through the Helpdesk.
Most importantly, feel free to experiment. Nothing is permanent and you can make changes anytime.
Whether you're a small business or a call center IronVoice is all about getting calls to where they need to be, but you get to choose how.
While there are a lot of features and options available to you, there are only six basic components to a working virtual phone system:
Numbers can be routed to Extensions, Flows, or Fax.
Need a number in a different city or state? No problem. We maintain an extensive inventory of local and toll free numbers that you can add instantly from anywhere.
We can even port your existing numbers, no need to give them up.
Flows let your virtual phone system handle calls based on your rules complete with schedules, greetings, and auto attendants.
It's easy, you just stack components (Prompts, Groups, Flows, etc) to create a chain of events the call goes through until its answered.
A basic Flow example might ring a Group (see below), then if the call isn't answered play a greeting or menu prompt so the caller can select an option or maybe just leave a voicemail.
Flows have Open and Closed chains so you can set a schedule and have calls automatically handled differently after hours.
Flows can also give callers options to choose from, for example "Press 1 for Sales or 2 for Support". Each option is a unique chain you create to process the call according to that selection.
Extensions are used to connect calls to humans using VoIP or Mobile phones (or both).
Extensions are full of features but in this guide we will focus on Voicemail and Find Me.
Find Me sends unanswered calls to mobile phones and gives you the option to accept or reject the call. If you don't answer or reject the call it is sent back to your IronVoice mailbox (and the voicemail emailed to you).
You can use any standard VoIP phone with IronVoice, even Apps on your PC, Mac, Tablet or Smartphone. We highly recommend and fully support Polycom and Cisco desktop phones as well as the popular Bria softphones and Apps:
Multiple locations? Work from home employees? No problem. You can add Extensions anywhere, you only need an internet connection, the physical location doesn't matter. IronVoice memorizes where your Extensions are and connects calls seamlessly.
Groups are just collections of extensions used in Flows.
Generally, a group represents a department such as Sales or Accounting, but they don't have to. For example, you could have a Receptionist 1 and Receptionist 2 Group, one to answer incoming calls, the other as overflow.
Groups are powerful, you can choose from different dialing strategies such as simultaneous or sequential and whether or not to ring or play music. You can even stack groups to seamlessly extend what extensions are ringing if nobody answers after a duration you set.
Prompts tell your callers what to do based on how you have your Flows set up.
You can record your own prompts or have them professionally recorded and then upload them.
For example, if you say "Thanks for calling My Company, press 1 for Sales or 2 for Support" in your prompt be sure your Flow's auto attendant options have something setup for 1 and 2. If you change your auto attendant options, don't forget to update your prompt.
Once you have prompts recorded or uploaded you can assign them to your Flow as greetings, menus, or just information (business hours, directions, today's specials, etc).
Users are your people, you assign them to extensions and enable the type of email notifications they get such as Voicemail and Faxes.
Users can sign in to the portal the same way you as an Administrator do, but they get a different experience limited to managing their voicemail, reviewing their calls, and sending faxes.
We recommend only granting Administrator privileges to those individuals you trust explicitly.
Take a few minutes to plan your phone system. You know you'll need at least one of each of the six basic components.
Create what you need in this order: Users, Extensions, Groups, Prompts, Flows
Finally, you just route a number to where you want it to go.
Don't forget to ask us questions as you need to, we're always happy to help.