Business Communications
Helping people communicate.
Technology has changed dramatically over the years. Our goal has remained the same: helping people communicate clearly, reliably, and in ways that fit how they actually work.
Heartland Relay designs, hosts, installs, customizes, and supports business telephone systems for organizations ranging from small offices to multi-location operations.
Decades of Communications Experience
From military telephone systems to modern VoIP
Bill McClelland and Chris Heidelbauer have spent their careers working with communications systems at nearly every scale.
That experience includes military field telephones and switchboards, digital telephone systems, carrier-grade networks, Nortel and Avaya call centers, video relay, IP Relay, and modern Asterisk-based VoIP platforms.
Along the way, Bill and Chris helped develop new ways for people who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing to communicate, became named inventors on telecommunications patents, and built communications platforms designed around real human needs.
Today, that same experience helps Heartland Relay customers communicate more effectively without having to become telephone-system experts themselves.
More Than a Desk Phone
Communications designed around the way you work
A business telephone system should help people reach one another—not force them to work around the system.
Employees may work at a desk, from home, on the road, across several locations, or while carrying an on-call phone. Customers may need to reach a department, a specific person, or whoever is available at that moment.
We begin by understanding how calls should flow, who needs to receive them, what happens after hours, and how the system should respond when normal schedules change.
What We Provide
Flexible business communications
Choose a complete communications platform or only the services your organization needs.
Hosted or On-Premise VoIP
We can host your telephone service on our redundant infrastructure or build a system located at your own facility.
- Cloud-hosted service
- On-premise Asterisk PBX
- Redundant switching
- Automatic failover
- System monitoring and support
Business Phones
Select phones that fit each employee's role, from straightforward desk phones to multi-line sets and operator consoles.
- Desk and conference phones
- Multi-line appearances
- Operator and reception consoles
- Headsets and hands-free options
- Computer and mobile integration
Call Routing
Calls can follow the way your organization actually operates instead of being limited by a rigid telephone-company arrangement.
- Automated attendants
- Departments and ring groups
- After-hours routing
- Voicemail and notifications
- Custom call-flow design
Mobile & Remote Work
Employees can remain connected while working away from the office without exposing personal cell-phone numbers.
- Calls routed to mobile phones
- Outbound organizational caller ID
- Remote extensions
- Softphones and mobile applications
- Home and remote-office support
Multi-Location Communications
Several offices can operate as one telephone system, making it easier to answer, transfer, and manage calls across locations.
- Shared call handling
- Extension dialing between locations
- Central reception
- Location-specific numbers
- Unified voicemail and routing
Numbers, Carriers & Porting
We help coordinate the carrier details that often make telephone projects frustrating.
- Existing-number porting
- Local and toll-free numbers
- Numbers in many geographic areas
- SIP service coordination
- Carrier troubleshooting
Custom Communications
We adapt the system to your business
Sometimes a standard feature is not enough.
Chris develops custom scripts and call-routing tools that allow the telephone system to respond to real operational needs.
For example, some customers depend on an on-call employee whose schedule can change unexpectedly. Their authorized staff can call the PBX and update who is currently on call without waiting for an administrator to reprogram the system.
Incoming calls then follow the correct person to their mobile phone, while outbound calls can still display the organization's number instead of the employee's personal cell number.
Custom solutions can support:
- On-call and emergency-response teams
- Changing schedules and rotating staff
- Special after-hours call handling
- Caller-ID privacy
- Automated notifications
- Workflows that do not fit ordinary phone system features
The Features You Expect
Full business telephone functionality
Modern VoIP provides the familiar features businesses depend on, along with flexibility traditional phone lines cannot easily provide.
- Caller ID
- Call transfer and conferencing
- Music and messages on hold
- Voicemail and voicemail-to-email
- Automated attendants
- Call queues and ring groups
- After-hours routing
- Call recording when appropriate
- Local and toll-free numbers
- Multi-location extension dialing
- Mobile and remote extensions
- Emergency calling and notifications
Built for Reliability
More than one switch
A business telephone system should not depend on a single point of failure.
Heartland Relay operates multiple Asterisk-based switches with hot-failover capability. This provides a more resilient platform than relying on a single PBX or a single server.
We also monitor and support the communications systems we provide, helping us identify developing issues and respond before they become larger interruptions.
Why Businesses Move to VoIP
Better flexibility without paying for unnecessary lines
Traditional telephone service often charges businesses for individual lines whether they are actively used or not.
VoIP allows calls to use available Internet and network capacity, making it easier to support simultaneous inbound and outbound calls, remote employees, multiple offices, and changing business needs.
The right design can improve capability while reducing or eliminating expenses tied to outdated line-based services.
VoIP can provide:
- More simultaneous calls
- Easier moves, additions, and changes
- Better support for remote workers
- One system across several locations
- Reduced dependence on traditional lines
- Features tailored to the way your organization works
Let's Talk About Your Phones
What is not working the way you need?
Maybe calls are being missed. Maybe your monthly bill costs more than it should. Maybe the system cannot support remote employees, multiple locations, or the way your organization handles calls today.
Tell us what's wrong, what you need, and how we can help.