travel reservations company maintained customer communications during hurricane wilma
SAN JOSE, CALIF. and FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (October 30, 2006) – VirtualPBX, inventor of the hosted PBX, today announced that its customer, Reservations Services International, Inc. (RSI), is using PBX Parachute™ as part of its hurricane preparedness plan. RSI, a reservations company for dive trips throughout the Caribbean, makes thousands of travel arrangements for its clients by phone each year, and required a backup phone system to allow continuous business operations even during emergency situations.
PBX Parachute is a remote backup phone system that mirrors a customer’s primary phone system, automatically and instantly taking over if the on-site PBX phone equipment fails, or if the customer’s office is inaccessible. The system requires no on-site software or hardware. PBX Parachute was put to the test by RSI in October 2005 when Hurricane Wilma hit south Florida and knocked out the travel agency’s power for 10 days.
“We had just completed our implementation of PBX Parachute the day before Wilma hit,” said Cheryl Arscott, president of Fort Lauderdale-based RSI. Our existing PBX phone system went down but incoming calls were immediately transferred over to the PBX Parachute backup, which transferred the calls to our employees who answered from their homes or left voicemails for us to call them back. We didn’t miss a single customer call and our business continued, virtually uninterrupted.”
Prior to implementing PBX Parachute, the company had already taken steps to protect other aspects of its business. “We already had emergency plans in place to cover our computer systems and facility, but we wanted to complete our plan by covering one of the most important components of our business – our phone system,” added Arscott. “We chose PBX Parachute based on the strong recommendation of one of our long-time clients. With PBX Parachute, our customers are assured that we’re open for business even in the event of a hurricane.”
lessons learned for 2006
Since Hurricane Wilma, Arscott has expanded RSI’s hurricane-readiness plans. RSI now has remote agents in Illinois, Massachusetts and South Carolina, as well as an Orlando-based call center available during emergencies. The company also has provided many of its employees with traditional analog phones for use during power outages. The company is currently preparing its outgoing messages on PBX Parachute to apply to varying scenarios that could happen during a hurricane, storm or power outage.
about reservations systems international
Reservation Services International (RSI) provides client branded “private label” reservation services. Offering complete toll free (800) reservation capabilities, airline reservations, customer service and an on-line booking engine. RSI services resorts as well as adventure and dive companies that want a U.S. based presence. In support of the reservation process the newly formed RSI Marketing Group provides an a la carte menu of marketing and P.R. options. For more information, call (954) 351-9688 Ext. 105 or go to http://www.diveres.com.
about virtual pbx
Virtual PBX® pioneered the hosted PBX market, introducing the first service of its class in 1997. Virtual PBX utilizes the public switched telephone network and the internet to provide PBX functionality as a hosted service. The three primary customers for Virtual PBX services include small businesses that want full PBX functionality without the capital and support expense of installed equipment; companies of any size that need to route calls to telecommuters or other employees outside of a main office; and enterprises looking for phone system disaster recovery solutions. Additional information about Virtual PBX can be found at virtualpbx.com or by calling 888-825-0800.
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Media Contacts:
Tim Shisler/Corey Oiesen
Dovetail Public Relations
(408) 395-3600
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Greg Brashier
VP of Marketing
VirtualPBX.com, Inc.
(888) 825-0800 x333
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