Unless you have been living on a desert island, you will have read in the media about Voice over IP (“VoIP”) Business phone systems and knowingly or unknowingly used one. Why doesn’t your business have one? Does the cost put you off? Does the technology worry you? Does the switch from the Plain Old Telephone System (“POTS”) to a digital Business Phone System worry you?
Here are six reasons why you should switch to a VoIP Business Phone System in 2018.
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Cost
Every time you make a call on POTS this costs you. On the contrary, VoIP calls travel over the Internet, and are essentially free. Of course you need to pay for your Internet connection, but after that calls are free. Local, regional, international, all free. If you make a lot of regional and international calls, the cost savings can be dramatic.
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Hosted VoIP
If you are worried about having and maintaining the Business Phone System technology on your premises, a hosted solution will be the way ahead. You don’t need to buy and install the VoIP equipment, so no loss of space in your office. No need for expensive technical support. This may not be an economic option for a large business, but certainly one to consider for the smaller outfit.
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Security
It is difficult in the POTS system to manage call costs, particularly unauthorised use of regional and International calls. Recovering the call costs is always after they have been incurred, and it may not always be possible to do so. With a VoIP system, individual security profiles prevent a user from making unauthorised calls. Only users authorised to regional and international calls can make them.
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Mobility
The combination of VoIP and smartphone technologies allows smartphones to be used in the same way as desktop phone extensions. If someone is connected to the corporate WiFi system, they can make and receive calls as if they were at their desk.
In the most advanced configurations, a desktop and smartphone user can use the corporate business phone system from anywhere they are connected to the corporate network locally and in remote offices. Depending on your Internet Service and VoIP suppliers you may even be able to connect to your own business phone system over the Internet from anywhere in the world that you have an Internet connection.
No hiding anymore, unless you want to.
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Productivity
A digital phone system brings many productivity benefits:
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A user goes to a remote office and can immediately use their main office phone credentials to make and receive calls. No more waiting to be allocated a phone, no more asking to “may I borrow your phone”. No need to advise colleagues and customers of their new extension number.
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Hunting groups allow unanswered incoming calls to be routed to another extension. This is particularly useful in a busy sales office where the call can be automatically routed to the first free extension. Calls can also be picked up out of turn if required.
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Call escalation. If for example, all phones in a sales office are engaged, an incoming call can be escalated to the sales manager. No potential sales are lost because a call wasn`t answered.
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Support calls. Calls to a generic support number can be automatically routed to a technician according to a pre-defined schedule. The technician can be in the office or on the road and reached by mobile phone if needed. Combined with hunting groups and escalation the can be a very effective way of ensuring that incoming calls are always answered.
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Handsfree applications also allow technicians and help-desk operators to use the phone system with point-and-click connection to calls.
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Quality of Service Improvements
Existing and potential customers will rate a business how they are dealt with when they contact the business. Unanswered calls, generic requests asking you to leave a message, calls lost after being transferred from the switchboard are major detractions from the company image. VoIP Business Phone Systems will go a long way to removing or at least reducing them.
In short, if you aren`t already planning for VoIP in 2018, start doing it now. It`s a no brainer.