Please Listen Carefully Our Menu Has Changed

Have you heard this sentence lately? “Please listen carefully,
our menu has changed.”


I bet you have. It seems like every place you call, from a
giant multinational company to a local small business, has a
phone system that for some mysterious reason has to constantly be
updated.


Why exactly does the menu have to change? What was wrong with the
last time I called when I had to press 1 for sales and 2 for tech
support?


If it seems like even making a simple phone call has gotten
complicated these days, well, actually, the commercial phone
business has never been simple. Back in 1980, here in Baton
Rouge, Mark Toney started up a phone business, for other
businesses. He called it Preferred Telephone Systems. He was
supplying phones that, in those days, you couldn’t even buy.
Believe it or not, you had to lease a telephone – even for your
home – from the – count them - one phone company, Southwestern
Bell.


We’ve moved on from those monopoly days to a very different world
of business phones. Today we require a phone to do a lot more
than just connect us to a receptionist. Echoing that demand
for greater sophistication, Mark Toney’s Preferred Telephone
Systems is now called Preferred Data Voice Network. The
President of the company is Mark Toney’s daughter, Melissa
Asevedo.


Your phone these days is more than just something you talk on. In
fact, talking is  probably what you do least on your
phone. Most of the time we’re using our phone to access
something online. Whether it’s social media, a news outlet, or
making a restaurant reservation, we’re mostly using one of the
many apps on our phone.


If you have a business and you want people to find you online,
you need an app of your own. Or a website that works equally well
on a phone, a tablet, and a computer. If you’ve thought
about building your own app, or customizing your own website so
it works seamlessly on every device, and you’ve actually pulled
that off, you deserve a medal. Most of us are simply incapable of
doing that.


And that’s why, here in Baton Rouge, we turn to app and web
developers like Breach Software. Breach Software have built
apps and web tools for LSU, state and local governments, and a
bunch of small businesses.


The company is headquartered at LSU’s business center, Innovation
Park, and they’re probably the only business in Baton Rouge to
have gotten business advice from Family Feud host, Steve
Harvey! The co-founder of Breach Software is Colin Hebert.


Press 1 For More Options


There aren’t many things you can bet on and be guaranteed to be
right. But I’d be willing to bet that if you don’t currently have
a phone in your hand, you recently put it down, or you’ll soon be
picking it up.


There’s no getting away from it, our phones have become an
integral part of our everyday lives. And if you have a
business, they’re an integral part of your business
too. Melissa Asevedo and Colin Hebert's companies that fuel
our business phones are equally integral parts of the local Baton
Rouge business community.


This episode of Out to Lunch is hosted by Olivia Stewart, CEO of
Oxbow Rum Distillery. The show was recorded live over lunch at
Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show
by Erik Otts at itsbatonrouge.la


See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.