Pidgin Talk's first year with real offices, and what they taught us.
Pidgin Talk has spent a year answering real phones.
What the offices asked for
The offices using it asked for very little, and what they asked for was telling:
- "Can it take a message?" Voicemail, in April.
- "Can it say we are closed and offer a choice?" Menus, in June.
- "Can it ring the whole front desk?" Ring groups, in July.
Nobody asked for a wallboard or a call-center report. They asked for the phone to do the three things a small office needs when the person they are calling for is not at their desk.
What we learned the hard way
- A call can connect perfectly and carry no sound. Test with real phones.
- An office router will drop calls you never see. Keep every path open.
- A status badge that is only right after a refresh is worse than none.
- Anything exposed to the internet is being tried, right now, by something.
How the pages changed
Every feature this year added a link to the row across the top, and by the fall the row no longer fit on one line. So the links moved down the side, where there is room for more. It was the first real stylesheet Pidgin Talk had.
The year in features
| Month | What arrived |
|---|---|
| January | First offices in service |
| March | Phone setup by link |
| April | Voicemail |
| June | Menus |
| July | Ring groups |
| August | Audio library |
| September | Security settings |
| October | One-click dialing rules |
| November | A phone in the browser |
Next year
The things a bigger office expects: better sound, encrypted calls, call park, business hours, recording. And more of the small things that only show up when real people use real phones all day.
Hauʻoli Makahiki Hou from all of us.