Phone systems in the business world have come a long way in the past few years. Remember the bulky phone that used to sit on your desk? It’s gone. Or the rooms or closet full of hardware and cables? That’s become a thing in the past. Today’s enterprise phone systems are smarter, faster, and cheaper than their ancestors.
The VoIP revolution might have started in the residential/consumer market. But enterprises have not been far behind. Today, you would be hard-pressed to find a business that does not use VoIP in some form. If a company hasn’t started upgrading, it’s usually because they’re waiting for regulations to change.
What makes VoIP phones so attractive? Why are offices around the world ditching reliable landlines? Keep reading to find out!
Phone Systems and Business Connectivity
Today’s business phone systems juggle a lot of different jobs.
They’re responsible for connecting your employees. In the era of telecommuting and remote teams, a VoIP phone is the glue that connects everyone. It doesn’t matter if colleagues are sitting next to each other or scattered across 3 countries.
Your phone system connects customers to your business teams. Does a customer have a problem? They’ll call your support center. Does someone want to know more about your product? They’ll contact your sales teams. Does a current customer want to see their order status? The contact center comes into the picture. In other words, your phones bring you closer to your customers.
Behind the scenes, the best hosted VoIP systems bring together all your business communication. Some of these services bridge the age-old gap between real-time and asynchronous channels. Have you ever wanted to see all your emails, text messages, voice calls, video chats, faxes, and instant messages in one place? The top-rated VoIP phone systems do that and more.
Another benefit they make possible for you is making calls from any device and any location. Your VoIP phones enhance business connectivity by making your phone number truly portable. The bottom line? Your VoIP phone system is the workhorse of your organization. Sadly, it also means you don’t pay any attention to it until it stops working.
How to Select a VoIP service provider
Selecting a VoIP service provider that is the perfect fit for your organization is not easy. Especially when you know how important the choice is. The service should fit your needs today. But it should also be flexible enough to fit your needs tomorrow.
The best VoIP phone service varies from one company to another. The vendor you select may not be someone else’s choice. So, how exactly do you go about selecting one?
Figure out the Purpose
Before you dive into buying the new system, you need to identify its purpose. Do you want to keep your existing system and add VoIP features on top? Or would you rather scrap the whole thing and start from scratch?
The second part of this step is to consider what features you need. Sometimes, your existing landlines or fax machines are exactly what you need. In that case, you may want to look elsewhere for upgrades.
By the end of this stage, you should have a list of essential features. These are the things your business cannot work without.
Evaluate Your Network
VoIP phones send voice calls over the Internet, instead of dedicated copper lines. After you upgrade to VoIP, your network is going to see more traffic. Do you have the bandwidth to support that? Voice calls are real-time communication. So you need fast Internet to make calls. Do you need to upgrade your existing connection or add a second one?
Older network equipment sometimes does not know how to work with VoIP. Does a router or switch need a software update, a security patch or a total replacement? Go over every part of your data network and see if it’s ready for VoIP. A good VoIP vendor should be ready to help you with it.
Create a Short List
Remember that list of must-have features you made earlier? Now is the time to bring it out. Create a shortlist of service providers that offer all the features on your checklist. If they don’t have one or more of them, they don’t make the list.
Next, go through the list and eliminate any service that cannot fit into your budget. Given how inexpensive VoIP is, it is easy to fall into the trap of spending more than you intended. Set hard limits beyond which your budget cannot extend.
Compare, Compare, Compare
Once you have a shortlist of less than a dozen providers, it’s time to compare them side-by-side. It’s often hard to compare VoIP services. Even the top-rated VoIP phone systems don’t always have the same features. The reason you will see different names in any list of the best business VoIP service providers.
Features of Top–Rated VoIP Phone Systems
Any modern VoIP phone system can help improve business connectivity. But the best-hosted VoIP services will give you more than just the basics. What are some connectivity features you can expect to find in the best phone systems today?
Sophisticated Call Routing and Management Features
The best VoIP systems allow you fine-grained control over calls. How long should the phone ring? Which devices should ring at what time? Who answers a call if the caller cannot reach the right person?
VoIP phone systems also allow you to record calls. You can set up rules that tell the system when you are busy or free to take calls. Suppose you are traveling and have only your laptop with you. Create a rule so that calls do not ring your personal phone sitting in the house. Individual users, managers, and administrators have easy access to the settings panel.
Integration with Enterprise Systems
This is perhaps one of the biggest advantages of VoIP phone systems over landlines. They can integrate with enterprise tools such as CRM and ERP systems. Let salespeople call customers from within the CRM app on the desktop. Allow call records to automatically add call notes to existing records. There’s no limit to the things you can when you connect the phones to other tools!
Your phone system can also provide click–to–call functionality. Imagine a customer is browsing your website and wants to call your office. Forget writing down the number and then calling you from a phone. The customer can just click a button and the browser starts a voice call immediately. They don’t have to download anything or install a new app. There is no better way into business connectivity than by removing obstacles to communication.
Free and Inexpensive Phone Calls
Any business that uses traditional landlines has to monitor call records constantly. That’s because every call you make costs money. Quite often, employees hesitate to pick up the phone as they worry over costs. Will this call put them over budget for the month? Will a manager question why I made this call?
This type of internal questioning has real consequences. Your teams are disconnected from each other. Collaboration suffers because they hesitate to communicate. With VoIP phones, internal calls are free. So an employee from New York can talk to a colleague in Japan for hours without incurring any costs whatsoever. Only calls made to external entities carry a charge. Long-distance calls are as cheap as local calls.
Can you imagine how much connectivity improves in such an atmosphere? You have no idea! Say goodbye to monthly budgets. No more analyzing where calls are highest or longest or the most expensive. Free your employees to do their best work and not worry about call costs.
Price vs Features: Best Value
It quickly becomes apparent that no two VoIP phone systems are exactly alike. But the best-hosted VoIP services have a lot in common. The perfect fit for your business is a service that balances price with features. Your vendor will have a plan that includes all the features you need at a price you can afford.
All too often, companies make the mistake of paying too much for VoIP service. You indeed get what you pay for. But the remarkable thing about VoIP phone service is that you don’t have to stretch your wallet to get the best. Remember to shop around for the best combination of price and features!
At the same time, some businesses go the opposite route. They hesitate to pay for anything above the bare minimum. It means you’re shortchanging your users – employees, suppliers, and partners. They don’t have access to the tools they need to do their jobs.
Business connectivity is about bringing people together to solve problems. Perhaps the best way of doing that in 2019 is with a good VoIP phone system. So call us today and see what VoIPstudio can do for you!
