Choosing a business phone system when you are in the beginnings of a business might be the furthest thing from your mind. But when it comes to purchasing a phone system, you need to make sure you are choosing the best one, and the most suitable one, for your business. Depending on the nature of your business and the type of contact you maintain will affect your choice of phone to purchase. You need to ask yourself a few questions. Do you need a full and comprehensive phone system which has physical office phones? Or do you just need a virtual service that relies on cell phones instead of the normal phones? When it comes to having a phone system, a lot of businesses are going for the VoIP setup.
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VoIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol. For those that are new to business phone systems, it is a way of being able to make phone calls by using the internet instead of a phone line. The benefits of doing it this way are numerous. Rather than installing the standard phone lines or traditional Business Phone Service, you can connect the VoIP phone system to the workplace internet connection. When it comes to setting up these systems, they are easily configured, and the costs to run them are a lot cheaper than landlines.
VoIP systems provide features such as call queues and automated attendants. Also, a handy feature is computer integration that allows voicemails to be sent to people’s email inboxes and laptops. Or the desktop computers can be turned into “softphones.”
VoIP systems also provide options for mobiles. It gives workers that are remote access to the business’s phone system from their mobile phone.
There are two ways to have a VoIP system. You can choose to either own the equipment outright and self-host. Or you can rent it from a service provider and have it stored in a cloud-based system.
When it comes to self-hosting, you have total control over your equipment, but you would need to have specialist staff to maintain it.
If you decide to get it from a service provider, you have monthly fees which are usually based on a number of users. Additionally, the service is maintained by the provider. With having the service over a cloud-based system, the cloud offers growing businesses the opportunity to easily add new lines.
From an environmental and productivity standpoint, using a cloud-based system has many benefits. For example, a reduced carbon footprint, easy access to files, as well as up-to-date protection from viruses and suspect files.
A word of warning when it comes to VoIP systems, if you are in an area with poor internet reception, this might not be the best approach to take. Having poor phone reception is annoying at the best of times, so if you are reliant on constant phone contact, it may not be the best approach to take. However, this is a type of system that is best for small businesses that have a small amount of staff. If opting for the cloud, the provider can do the maintaining for you.
With the pros and cons of a VoIP system presented here, it’s up to you to decide if it is suitable for your business.
