Monthly Archives: December 2024

As 2024 gets close to its conclusion, one of the behind-the-scenes technology shifts that we embarked on for TLC Creative Services has been the trifecta of “business” communication; telephone, fax, and a auto attendant that answers all incoming telephone calls. 

TELEPHONE 

We maintained our business phone number, but removed the desktop telephones – and really all telephones. A review of our phone usage over the past 5 years revealed we went from 1,000s of minutes of phone calls each month, both incoming and outgoing, to a pittance of use – under 50 minutes per month, and that is for the entire staff combined! 

Did our business volume decrease? No. Did clients stop calling and asking TLC Creative to assist with their design needs? No. On a business level, TLC Creative is as busy as any previous time. But business communication has shifted. Being a corporate entity for over 20 years allowed us to evaluate business volume and client communication. The information was clear, phone usage is out. Email, text and Teams/Zoom meetings are in. 

And we removed the ubiquitous Cisco & Yealink desktop phones. See the December 10, 2024 blog post “TLC Welcomes Teams Phone!”.  Our team now receives and makes phones calls through the Microsoft Teams app. 

FAX 

We cancelled the TLC Creative Services fax number after 20 years of being available. The fax machine had left years earlier as incoming faxes became PDF email attachments. All of this is something we had fun talking about in our December 5, 2024 blog post “So Long Fax Machine!”. Now I guess we need to update our business cards as they list the now defunct fax number… 

AUTO ATTENDANT 

The last item in our trifecta of business communication is that person who is the single point of contact answering calls, directing calls, or taking a message. The Microsoft Teams Telephone system has a pre-recorded “auto attendant” that answers each call and helps direct the call to information or someone’s extension. For the pre-recorded auto attendant greetings, we leveraged the Microsoft Clipchamp app. This video edit software has an amazing text-to-speech feature. No actual recording session or voice actor, it is now something our IT manager creates from a script document, loads into Clipchamp, exports the audio files, and programs the Microsoft Teams Phone auto attendant with! It is pretty amazing.  

TLC Creative is ready for 2025 design projects, new clients – and whatever the next trifecta of operations changes happens! 

At this time of year we love to have some “TLC” fun creating engaging and enjoyable holiday cards from TLC Creative Services! Over the years our holiday cards have featured new technologies we’ve adapted, or showcased the skills of our design team. One thing our cards often have in common is an activity or game to engage our clients, partners, and work friends. 

And while many of you receive our annual TLC holiday card, I know we’ve missed some of you, the post office just hasn’t bothered to return your previously sent card to us, or you’re one of the many blog visitors. And for the big reveal…please enjoy and have fun with the interior spread of our 2024 holiday card from TLC Creative Services, Inc. 

Wishing our clients, friends, and blog visitors a fun & joyful Holiday Season and New Year! 

From all of us at TLC Creative Services
 

TLC Creative has had its company phone number for over 20 years and that phone number has been with half-a-dozen phone companies during that time. For the past 6 years everyone at TLC had a corporate phone on their desk with their own extension. 

Looking at our phone call usage over the past few years, we went from 1,000s of minutes of phone calls each month to under 50 minutes of monthly calls. Yet the amount of our communication hasn’t changed…it now happens over Teams meetings, chat, email and yes, some phone calls.

So, after much planning, testing, and discussion, TLC Creative Services has ditched our desk phones and has gone virtual! The same TLC company phone number is active and when someone calls, the auto-attendant answers and routes the call, or provides information (such as our website, or how to email the team). The big change is now everyone makes and receives phone calls either through their computer using the Microsoft Teams app, 

or on their mobile phone, through the Teams app there.

Receiving voicemails, transferring calls, and all the other “telephone” features are there, just accessed through an app, not a physical telephone. 

For everyone here at TLC, it has been an easy transition to “virtual” phones, especially because we are constantly on Teams “calls” with each other and clients. Transitioning to using Teams as a traditional telephone is just a different tab in the same app we have all become familiar with. We just don’t have that many phone calls which I am certain is a major business trend; companies have fewer traditional telephone conversations, and rather, are communicating more over email, text, and virtual calls (e.g. Teams/Zoom meetings). 

And yes, the accounting department is happy. The overall budget line item for the company phone system is lower, even with more staff and extensions. The one feature we are anxiously awaiting is SMS, or text messaging, integration into the Microsoft Teams phone system. 

Side note: see our December 5 post “So Long Fax Machine!”, which was another big communication change implemented here at TLC Creative Services this year. 

-Troy @ TLC

I have an unusual announcement to make. It’s quite novel, really. And yet I can’t imagine anyone scrambling for a sticky note so they can jot this down, but here it goes: 

TLC Creative Services will no longer support fax communications. 

If anyone (and I mean ANYONE) feels they will be impacted by our decision to discontinue our fax number, please reach out to me (Lori)!  

Actually, there is one person who has faxed us consistently over the years. There is a company selling refurbished supply vans. We get the same fax twice a year. It’s a black and white fax featuring clip art images of vans and lots and lots of text. Hmmm…I might have some insight as to why they’re having a hard time selling those vans! 

I do, however, remember a time when we utterly relied on a fax machine, mostly for design proof approvals. Back in the (cough, cough, two-thousands, cough…) we relied on couriers to send proofs back and forth to clients for approvals. Federal Express was the go-to, but we also used local couriers…a lot. Yes, we had fax machines then, but a black and white thermograph piece of paper didn’t give an accurate proof. Did you know there was a very short period in the technology timeline when there were color fax machines?! And yes, TLC Creative had one. However, the dawn of the color fax machine, though expensive to use at the time, cut down on those courier expenses dramatically. And now, almost all proofs are sent digitally via email, efax, or some sort of download link. Ah how far we’ve come! 

While we haven’t had a physical fax machine connected for many (many) years, we still bid adieu to the fax. Your technology was much appreciated and will (not) be missed.  

-Lori 🙂