MOH, AA, OGM – Three completely different functions, but often most business phone users think they are the same.
So who are these three musketeers? Let’s find out and understand better. If you are already using a simple, basic phone system, at some point you have wished your phone system to sound more professional when handling calls.
“We don’t have a professional recording that answers our calls, no music plays when we hold the line and ask callers to wait in line.”
“Our phone system just rings all phones until we answer and that’s it! Nothing more.”
Well, your system is MOH, AA, and GMO free. You may need at least one or all.
You need to know what each of these musketeers does in order to separate your desires from your needs!
Like any other white box sold to you, there are options and add-ons that cost more.
A simple phone system will work simply to switch all of your multiple lines to each phone in your office so that you can answer calls that come in on any line and make calls from any line toll free.
Here comes our first musketeer
medical officer
MOH or Music On Hold, as the term implies, is any music source that is connected to the PBX to play music when the caller is kept on hold.
Most PBX systems have a headphone / Bix port that allows you to connect a radio, stereo, or MP3 or CD player and stream music or audio continuously.
Depending on the location of your PBX system, a radio may not be a good choice if reception is poor. There will be noise and static and you will need to fine tune and reposition the antenna.
A stereo / mp3 / cd player provides clearer audio and is generally a better option. Make sure the CD / MP3 is in repeat mode for continuous play.
But beware … it is illegal to play prerecorded music and radio due to copyright laws. And you may be liable depending on how much it is worth to a potential plaintiff!
There are commercial MOH devices made for professional PBX use. An example would be the On-Hold Plus, and my all-time favorite is the OHP7000. They have licensed pre-recorded audio that sounds really professional and they offer to add your company name for free.
There are professional teams that will record music on hold customized for you. And update it every week or month with all your special offers!
So the MOH is just that, it is audio that will play continuously when callers are on hold. They are not in a queue, keep in mind that they are simply on hold and you will have to answer them by answering that line that is flashing on your phone.
Our second musketeer
AA – Automatic Assistant
Most telephone systems have an additional module that can be installed in the PBX control unit or connected separately. This plug-in is commonly known as a Voice Processing System or Voicemail System.
The voice processing system provides AA greetings, custom menus to route calls to different extensions or departments, and individual mailboxes for each user.
All your company greetings, personalized menus, mailbox greetings, voice messages are stored in this system.
For example: “Thank you for calling Metro Communications, if you know the extension number of the person you would like to reach, enter it at any time. For Sales, press 2. For Service, press 3. For our company information, press 8. For our Staff Directory press 9. Press 0 or stay on the line for immediate assistance. “
When callers press 8 or 9, they will be directed to another greeting that plays the relevant information.
AA simply means automatic reception, that is, without a live operator. All calls are answered by AA Greetings and depending on the menu, calls can be effectively routed without the need for a live operator.
Now note that your Music On Hold device is not working AA. Sometimes MOH is a custom professional recording and may have the same voiceover, but that does not mean that the AA device works like the MOH device.
You will need these two musketeers to have a good professional phone system that handles calls and puts callers on hold in a professional manner.
The Third Musketeer: GMO
GMO or outgoing message
OGMs are registered on another option card, which is needed to set up a call queue for a group of phones. So if you are not completely satisfied with the MOH and AA updates, and you still need to avoid putting callers on hold manually, then you should consider releasing another hardware update that has call queue functionality.
This is how it will work …
AA answers the calls and transfers them to its customer service department. Now if all your agents in the group are busy, the caller hears the message OGM 1 “please wait, all of our agents are busy serving other customers, you may want to stay on the line or press 1 to leave a message”,
followed by MOH or music on hold, for a specified time interval
after which you will hear another message from OGM 2 “Thank you for your patience, your call is really very important to us. Please stay on the line.”
follow MOH, then again OGM1. This sequence can be made to continue until an agent is available and you will contact that agent.
A Ministry of Health with a personalized marketing message and AA are all you need.
In fact, customers often find that what they want is maybe just the MOH, they don’t need the AA card or the Call Queueing OGM card. And if they see the light, that’s money saved!
Unfortunately, some deluded customers end up buying the entire package without being explained what is what. And learn this the hard way.
Fortunately, most IP PBX phone systems already have these three hardware components included at no additional charge. That is courage!
That is the story of the three musketeers of telecommunications!
