This article is the second in a three part series on Unified Communications using Zultys products.
In this article I’ll show you how to setup your Zultys iPBX and MXIE to maximize efficiency with Microsoft Outlook.
With Zultys MXIE client, you already have the integration of Voice, Fax, Web Conferencing and IM. Using MS Outlook as your email client, you are really only missing a couple of features.
You can gain access to your Outlook address book from MXIE and you may want to forward faxes and voice mail messages to your Outlook inbox.
Address Book
Within the MXIE client one quick change will add address book integration that gives you the following features:
- All contact folders visible in MS Outlook appear in the MXIE address book (Yes, even Business Contact Manager contacts)
- Updates to existing contact records in MS Outlook are immediately reflected in the MXIE address book
- MXIE Screen pops display contact information based on Caller ID match to Outlook contact
- Initiate and transfer calls to Outlook Contacts directly from MXIE
- Call Log history displays Outlook Contact names based on Caller ID
Again, this quick change is under File, Preferences, Address Book and is enabled by clicking the checkbox next to “Microsoft Outlook” in the Integration section.
Figure 1 – Outlook Address Book Integration
Voice Mail and Faxes in your Inbox
The other thing that you may want to consider is forwarding voicemail and faxes to your inbox as attachments. There are two steps to achieving this. The first is to configure your email server on the MX, this only needs to be done once. The second step is configuring the MXIE client to forward voice mail and fax attachments.
Configuring the MX-250’s Email Settings
From the MX Administrator interface, click on Configure, Email Notification. You will see a dialog similar to Figure 2.
Figure 2 – Email Notification Dialog
Click Enabled, and fill in the remaining fields according to your smtp server of choice. Once you click Apply, test the account settings to make sure that the MX can login to your smtp account.
Configure MXIE to Forward Voice and Fax Attachments
From the MXIE client, click File, Preferences, Notification. You will see a dialog like that in Figure 3.
Figure 3 – User Preferences – Notification
If there are no entries, click New.
Figure 4 – Notification Rule Editor
Give the rule a name, then select how you would like to be notified (for each new message or on an interval).
If you choose Attach Message, the voicemail or fax will be sent to you in an attachment.
Under Check Conditions, there are several options. Message media refers to the type of media, voice or fax. As you can see here, you can filter on importance (Class), who the message is from or messages older than x. You can also choose when you would like to be notified, in case you don’t want notifications over the weekend or at night for example.
You will see in the rule description that I’ve specified I want all new voicemails to be forwarded to me at the user@bigco.com address and that I want to leave the message marked as unread on the iPBX.
Summary
As configured, you would use MXIE and MS Outlook together. Incoming calls would show up in MXIE and any caller data would show up as a combination of Caller ID and your various address books. You could manage your voice mail and faxes exclusively from Outlook if you like, automatically deleting the original from the iPBX after a copy is forwarded to you. You might argue that this is not true Unified Communications because you are still using two applications. In the third and final article in this series, I’ll give you an overview a true Unified Messaging (notice I didn’t say Unified Communications) solution with Zultys iPBXs and Microsoft Exchange/Outlook.
Mark Norton Senior Technology Consultant ROI Telephony mnorton@ROItelephony.comTags: IP PBX, mxie, Outlook, Telephony Systems, VoIP Phone Systems, Zultys
