“We’ve already got a tannoy. Why do we need VoCoVo?”
Stores have used traditional tannoy systems for decades. Why change now?
Tannoys provide a basic form of communication, but they are lacking in other areas. A tannoy can broadcast a message to the entire store, but what if you don’t want everyone to hear what you’re saying? You can use a tannoy to call for a certain colleague, but how do you know that they’ve heard you?
We believe that you and your colleagues deserve better. Here are ten ways that VoCoVo can help:
1. Two-way conversations
The biggest challenge with a tannoy system is that you can’t have a conversation. If you need to ask a colleague for advice, your only option is to summon them via the tannoy. This approach is far from reliable. Your colleague may not hear you or they may be busy with a customer. All you can do is wait and hope that they show up eventually.
VoCoVo removes this uncertainty by allowing two-way conversations:
- Contact colleagues immediately to ask for information or advice
- Repeat or clarify your question if necessary
- Colleagues can respond without crossing the store to find you, saving a lot of unnecessary walking
- Full-duplex technology means that you can speak and listen at the same time- just like a face to face conversation
2. Crystal-clear signal
Tannoys often deliver mixed sound quality. Messages can be crackly or muffled and your chances of understanding them depend on how close you are to a speaker.
With VoCoVo, you can count on crystal-clear sound wherever you are:
- Base units are synchronised to share the radio spectrum. This means that headsets are never competing for a signal.
- Headsets work across multiple floors with no loss of sound quality.
- Headsets transfer seamlessly between base units so you can talk on the move.
- Repeaters can be added to extend your signal even further.
3. Interaction with customers
A downside of tannoy systems is that they leave customers out of the loop. You can broadcast a message to everyone in the store, but shoppers have no way of responding.
This impersonal approach is a big turn-off. Customers have grown used to real-time interactions with brands through social media, and they will expect the same level of personal service in store. In fact, 83% of consumers are more concerned with the way that a brand treats them than they are with the products that it sells.
Our system is designed to make customers feel heard:
- Call points allow customers to request assistance without having to join a queue or search for a colleague
- Two-way call points allow colleagues to respond to customers via their headsets
- You can reassure the customer that you are on your way, or even answer their question directly.
4. Multi-tasking
Tannoys can be a big distraction. Colleagues who are summoned in the middle of a job have no choice but to stop working and answer the call. These interruptions can cause simple tasks to take much longer than they should.
VoCoVo lets you take back control of your schedule:
- Hands-free headsets allow you to respond to colleague queries without stopping your work
- If a colleague needs to see you in person, you can tell them that you’ll be there as soon as you’ve finished your current task
5. Discretion
Tannoys are an effective way to address everyone at once, but this is not always the best approach. Some matters are too important to ignore, but also too sensitive to be broadcast across the store.
VoCoVo allows you to respect your colleague’s privacy by controlling who hears what:
- One on one calling allows colleagues to have private conversations
- Different teams or departments can talk on their own conference without distracting other colleagues
- Mute button lets you turn off your microphone when you don’t want to be overheard
6. Security
A tannoy system is not an adequate defense against shoplifters, although it can be integrated with our ecosystem to deliver safety messages.
A tannoy on its own only allows you to alert security colleagues to an incident in a loud and public way. The thieves will hear this too, giving them ample time to make their escape.
VoCoVo allows you to take a smart approach to tackling crime:
- Contact security colleagues discreetly without alerting criminals
- Set up a separate security channel so that your security team isn’t distracted by other conversations
- Integrate your CCTV cameras to receive automated security alerts
- HQ can send security updates to all stores at once
- Headsets act as a visible deterrent to shoplifters
- Colleagues can use headsets to contact emergency services without searching for a phone
7. Telephony integration
Despite the rise of the internet, over half of customers still prefer to contact businesses by phone. Missing these calls is disastrous for your business. 85% of customers who don’t get through on the first try won’t bother calling again.
This means that you need to have somebody manning the phones at all times. A tannoy system isn’t much help here. You can use your tannoy to summon a colleague to the telephone, but it’s likely to be too late by the time they arrive.
VoCoVo can be integrated with your existing phone system, or can even replace it altogether. Incoming calls are automatically rerouted to colleagues on the shop floor who can answer them while they work. No more missed calls, no more lost customers!
8. A direct link to HQ
A tannoy system allows you to talk to everyone in the store at once, but what if you have multiple stores in your network? With a tannoy, the only way to share network-wide updates is to contact each store individually and then have them broadcast the update themselves. In a post-pandemic world where safety regulations are being changed at short notice, this is simply not good enough.
This is where VoCoVo’s message casting feature comes into its own:
- HQ can send the same update to all stores at once, or to specific stores or regions
- Messages can be typed or spoken and can be sent immediately or scheduled for a later time
- Triggered updates can be set to go out automatically in response to a certain event
9. Reliability
A tannoy is a single piece of equipment. If it breaks down, all communication is lost until you can fix it. This usually means calling out an engineer which can be slow and costly.
VoCoVo, on the other hand, is made up of many parts. The system is designed to keep working even if some of the equipment fails:
- Base units are connected using a star network configuration. This means that they don’t rely on each other to work. If one unit goes down, the rest continue to function.
- Our system doesn’t rely on your store’s wifi. It keeps working even if you lose your connection.
- Our system management platform allows you to monitor the health of all devices. The platform will flag up any errors so you can fix them before they become a problem.
10. Keep your tannoy system
Installing VoCoVo doesn’t mean that you have to give up your tannoy system. In fact, VoCoVo can work with your tannoy to make it more effective:
- Headsets can be integrated with the tannoy system, allowing any colleague to broadcast a public message
- Tannoy announcements can be sent from any headset so there’s no need to cross the store to find the tannoy button
- Colleagues can raise the alarm immediately in the event of an emergency
Once you’ve experienced VoCoVo, you’ll wonder how you ever managed with just a tannoy.