What Features Should We Look For When Choosing a VoIP Phone System?

77% of surveyed companies say that even after the pandemic is passed, they’ll have more employees working remotely 3+ days per week. While all cloud technologies have seen an increase in demand this year, one that’s been particularly vital is VoIP. Cloud-based VoIP phone systems make it possible to answer your business lines from any location. During the pandemic, they’ve helped businesses stay in touch with customers and given employees a way to still access a company phone and extension while working from home. Because of the feeling that “if this happened once, it can happen again,” many companies are looking for a permanent VoIP solution that they can use to ensure that no matter what, they’ll be able to answer their phones. But not all VoIP solutions are created equal, so it’s important to review several factors to make sure you’re getting a cloud-based phone system that is going to serve you well for years to come.

Considerations When Choosing a Permanent VoIP Solution for Your Office While email has become a popular way for consumers to contact a company, phone is still one of your most important methods of communication. 92% of customer interactions happen over the phone, so you want to make sure your VoIP system is robust and gives you the tools you need for positive customer experiences. To ensure you’re choosing the best VoIP phone system for your business and your customers, here are several factors you should look for.

Network Reliability Cloud-based phone systems can have crystal clear-voice quality, but they rely on the service provider for that. If you’re working with a smaller VoIP provider or one that doesn’t have an established presence in the U.S., you may end up with outages that cause your phones to be down. We offer Elevate to customers and one of the reasons we trust this service is the high reliability. The service has data centers on both the East and West coast to provide redundancy and to minimize latency. This means excellent quality and uptime you can count on.

Multiple-Device Access & Desk Phones You want to ensure your VoIP system can be accessed multiple ways, giving your employees the capability to use the method that works best for them and to also answer calls when they’re away from their desk if needed. Look for VoIP services that offer the ability to make and answer calls using:

1. A computer desktop app

2. A mobile app

3. A VoIP-enabled desk phone

4. A conference calling system

Unique Extensions One of the handy features with on-premises phone systems is the ability for employees to have their own unique extensions. This makes it easier to transfer calls and page people. You want to look for the unique extensions feature in a VoIP service as well, so you have the same call handling capabilities that your team is used to using.

Video Conferencing A big benefit of VoIP over landline phone systems is that it offers a lot of internet-driven features that landlines can’t. One of these is the ability to place video calls and schedule video conferences. Look for a video conferencing feature with your VoIP plan and the ability to screenshare. This feature can eliminate the need to pay for a separate video conferencing app.

Voicemail with Transcription Being able to read through a list of voicemails instead of having to listen to them all to see who needs a call back first is a handy feature. It can save your team time and is like having a personal assistant handle your phone messages for you. Look for VoIP systems that offer both voicemail and transcription services for voicemail.

Auto Attendant An auto attendant feature is another thing that you want to look for in a VoIP system. This is like having a digital receptionist that can route callers to the person they need automatically. This feature means less time on hold for a caller and faster call routing.

Hold Music & Greetings Using hold music and greetings not only can make your customer’s experience more pleasant, it can also be used as a sales opportunity. Hold messages that tell customers more about products or services has been shown to cause 16% to 20% of callers to make a buying decision. Custom greetings can help you make a great impression on someone before they’ve even spoken with anyone at your company, so look for this feature in any VoIP service you choose.

Elevate Your Phone Experience with Help from Texas I.T. Pros We offer Elevate VoIP, which is a unified communications platform. It includes all of the above features, plus much more! Try it today to see just how much it can improve your communications. Contact us today to learn more! Call 940-239-6500 or reach out online.