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OnSIP Illuminates Busy Lamp Field (and Tim's BFFs)

by Kevin Bartley

We're happy to add Busy Lamp Field (BLF) support to OnSIP's feature set. BLF offers employees a bird's-eye view of which of their coworkers are taking a call.

Published: May 7, 2013

We’re happy to add Busy Lamp Field (BLF) support to OnSIP’s feature set. BLF offers employees a bird’s-eye view of which of their coworkers are taking a call. BLF works regardless of where a coworker is located (the office, the road, at home), and can be used with any VoIP phone. This new feature will prove instrumental for receptionists and managers with remote and multi-site workers.

“I thought it would not be possible," stated Christopher Bardos, OnSIP agent and CEO of BCSI, an IT Services Company. “There are some pretty daunting technical hurdles to overcome in developing a solution like this in a cloud architecture and when I heard that OnSIP came out with BLF, I was thrilled. My customers constantly ask why they cannot see their colleagues’ phone status and now I can finally tell them they can. That’s the beauty of VoIP and OnSIP. This is one of the cleanest and most cost-effective solutions in the market.”

BLF is a breakthrough technology for the 20,000 small and medium sized business that OnSIP serves. But as our very own Director of Sales Tim Cleves has discovered, BLF's new functionality comes with new interpersonal challenges.

Who will be Tim's BLF BFFs?

Who to choose? Should it be Chuck or Andy? Nicole or Stephanie? Eden or Eric? If it's going to be Eric, then which Eric? So many choices, so many decisions! Oh, sorry for the confusion. I'm not trying to decide who to invite to my daughter's 9th birthday party. I'm wondering who I should add to my Busy Lamp Field (BLF) list on my Polycom 650.

BLF lets you look at your phone and see if other people within your organization are making calls at any given moment. It's great for a receptionist, but also useful for anyone who frequently chats with his or her colleagues. OnSIP has just launched BLF as a cross-platform, multi-location service. We're super excited about it, and you should be too.

Want to be one of my BLF BFFs? Get in line!

The 650 is a great multi-line phone, and I'm using two of the six lines for myself, so I only have 4 spaces left to assign to my coworkers. So who to choose? Should I be deferential and add my boss? Maybe I should keep tabs on my sales team companions? Perhaps there should be some quid-pro-quo. I'll add you to my phone if you add me to yours.

The great thing about BLF is that its easy to change the line appearances. I can log into the admin portal and update my buddy list everyday. Heck, I can even do it every hour. Maybe that's overkill. With BLF, will I ever get my job done?

I know what I can do. I've just ordered an expansion module that's allowed me to add another 14 BLF users. Now I can have 18 BLF Friends Forever. But I'm a popular guy. There's going to be a long line for my BLF BFFs in waiting.