Your company needs an efficient phone system to succeed in today’s competitive business environment. Without it, you may experience communication barriers within your teams. You may also find it difficult to reach or be reached by your prospects, vendors, or partners. This is where VoIP can help.
What is VoIP?
Short for Voice over Internet Protocol, VoIP is a telecommunications platform that allows businesses to make voice calls over a broadband connection instead of a regular telephone line. VoIP services convert human voices into digital signals that travel over the internet. If a regular telephone number is dialed, the signal is converted to a regular phone signal before it reaches the other end.
What are the benefits of VoIP?
If you’ve used apps such as Skype, WhatsApp, and Zoom, then you have already taken advantage of VoIP technology. Aside from the convenience of making calls via the internet, here are some other benefits of VoIP for your Seattle or Portland business.
#1. Lower costs
In a traditional telephone system, a line is taken up by two callers to communicate with each other. Because traditional phone calls require expensive infrastructure that can only be funded by phone companies, these firms need to recover their return on investment (ROI), making landline calls expensive.
On the other hand, VoIP requires no extra charge on top of your monthly ISP bill. There are no physical devices that need to be installed, saving small businesses significant costs. VoIP also reduces long-distance charges by offering free local and long-distance calling. If you're making international calls, doing so on VoIP would be cheaper than on a traditional phone line.
#2. Better flexibility and reliability
One of the biggest benefits of VoIP is its flexibility. In a traditional phone system, a line is assigned to a certain telephone number. Dialing the right number can be a hassle in an emergency or when you need to make an urgent business call. And when enterprises need to change locations, it can be time-consuming to go through the processes of keeping their old number.
With VoIP, those won’t be a problem. VoIP can be used on modern devices like smartphones, laptops, desktops, and tablets, making it easy for users to communicate with others wherever they are. For example, you can route calls made to your office phone to your mobile device using softphone software.
Enhance the flexibility of your workforce
Working from home is unavoidable in the age of COVID-19. You need to adopt a healthy and efficient remote working strategy so that your employees will be more engaged, less stressed, and more productive. Here are some tips to manage your remote workforce effectively.
#3. Smarter interactions
Given today’s increasing adoption of remote working systems, people can do their job anywhere. Some may work in the office, while others may work from home. VoIP makes sure that anyone is reachable wherever they are.
You can also choose where to receive your calls in a VoIP system. To make sure you don’t miss any calls, you may want the first few rings to be in your office. If the call isn’t answered, it will automatically transfer to your mobile phone or laptop.
Related reading: Tools, tips, and support from Fidelis to help your teams work from home effectively
#4. More versatile features
VoIP has features that can improve office productivity. For instance, unified communications (UC) systems offer instant messaging, video chat, and conferencing capabilities that make remote collaboration easier.
Some VoIP services even offer an automated attendant, which eliminates the need for live receptionists. The attendant answers all inbound calls and directs them to their respective extensions via call routing. You can also record calls, which are useful in assessing customer service quality and analyzing sales data
#5. Easy integration with business processes
VoIP can also work with other business systems and technologies to enhance operational efficiency.
For instance, a customer relationship management (CRM) app can display a customer’s calling history, making it easier to retrieve relevant information while you’re on a VoIP call. Meanwhile, click-to-call functionality can be integrated into email and other business systems to make it easy to dial phone numbers with one click without leaving the software.
Ready to get started with VoIP? Fidelis can provide you with the best phone system support in Seattle and Portland through our Crexendo Cloud service. Our hosted phone system goes beyond VoIP and UC to provide high-definition services and reduce equipment costs. If you want to learn more about VoIP and how we can take your business to greater heights, get in touch with us today.
