A big wake-up call for many businesses that had to quickly shutter their office and switch to a telecommuting workforce was the need for a cloud-based phone system.
Cloud business applications for CRM, accounting, and more have been vital for accessing data and work tasks. And even companies hosting apps on their own server, could work out a home networking system to allow employees to login remotely.
But, if you have a landline-based phone system, figuring out how to keep the phones answered when no one is at the office is a big challenge.
Sure, you can do call forwarding to another phone, but you’ve lost other on-premises phone system functionality, such as caller ID, line transfer, and company directory.
Many employees have had to use their mobile phones to keep in touch with colleagues, vendors, and customers during the lockdown. But this also is not a great or permanent solution if you intend to keep the option for employees to work remotely either part or full-time.
Some of the problems with using mobile phones as a makeshift business phone system replacement are:
- Mobile phones lack the functionality of an on-premises or VoIP phone system
- Customers can get confused when they see an incoming personal call, not one showing your business name in Caller ID
- Employees may not be willing to bear the cost of using their personal phone full-time for work
- Once operations are back, customers will have saved the employee’s personal cell number and call that instead of your number (what if the employee quits?)
The future of business phone systems is cloud-based VoIP.
This is especially true if you want to continue allowing employees to work from home, as many businesses plan to do even after the shutdowns are over due to the proven cost savings and productivity improvement. However, you can get in touch with mobileR: a reliable Iphone repair shop, if you have to customize your hardware or software of any phones.
VoIP phone systems have been shown to improve 67% of phone calls and accelerate message handling by 63% for small businesses. The best feature, of course, is that they allow you make your entire company phone system available anywhere. People can start Going Here for the best voip services.
Key Reasons to Upgrade to VoIP to Prepare for the Future
The workforce was already becoming more mobile even before the pandemic hit. The lockdowns to prevent spread of the virus just accelerated the process.
Implementing telecommuting for employees helps companies (and workers) lower expenses, and the lack of office interruptions helps employees be more productive. Employee stress is also shown to be lower.
On-premises phone systems are going the way of the dinosaur. They’re cumbersome and expensive compared to VoIP systems and hold companies back from full mobility.
Many small businesses have also found that whether or not they have a remote workforce, VoIP saves them significantly and offers features that are sorely needed in a digital world.
Here are the reasons that it’s time to upgrade to VoIP.
Your Office Can Be Run Effectively from Anywhere
VoIP phones have the benefit of being available anywhere on any internet-connected device. So, whether an employee answers the business line from their desk at the office, their laptop at home, or from a mobile phone while out for a walk, the caller’s experience is just as professional.
There are no lines to forward at the end of the day or workarounds to figure out when employees are working remotely from home. The phone system just works, no matter where your team is.
Full Enterprise-Class Functionality
Standard features like caller ID, hold, call transfer, and conference calling are all available on VoIP phone systems, but they also have multiple features that most on-premises phones don’t.
These include things like:
- Automatic voice mail transcription
- Voicemail sent to email or text
- Video calling
- Smartphone apps for anywhere calling (without displaying an employee’s cell number)
- Integration with other software (like a CRM or team chat program)
Cost Savings
Due to the slowdown many companies have experienced in New Jersey and the rest of the country thanks to COVID-19, business owners are looking to streamline and cut costs.
VoIP offers a unique opportunity to reduce costs while increasing your capabilities. So, you’re not losing anything, you’re gaining instead.
Upgrading to an internet-based phone system can save approximately 75% in operational costs and 30% on monthly phone bills.
Productivity Improvements
The automation and integration features of VoIP lead to improvements in how fast calls are answered and how much time employees spend on calls, messages, and other phone-related functions.
If employees save just 15-20 minutes each day by optimizing how phone calls and messages are handled, that can add up to hundreds of dollars in productivity costs every week.
Full Visibility & Transparency
A challenge of managing a remote workforce is how to keep track of company calls and communications. If employees are using their smartphones to conduct business, an important voicemail could be missed, and you lose sight of how many calls are coming in and going out on a daily basis.
Using VoIP means you have call logs and statistics that can help you keep an eye on activity, such as average call length. You also won’t have to worry about a call being answered promptly, because calls can be routed to a centralized location so more than one person is aware of an incoming call or message.
Get Set Up with a Complete Cloud & VoIP Solution
Two River Computer has everything you need to power your office to work from anywhere. This includes cloud solutions for calling, productivity, security and more.
Contact us today to plan your cloud strategy. Call 732-747-0020 or reach us online.
