As far as a couple of decades ago, to start a business, you’d need to have some sort of office from where you’d meet with your clients. But in the digital world we live in today, just about everything you’d find in a typical office environment has moved to the online space, including telephones.
VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephone systems, simply known as cloud or virtual phone systems, are a form of phone service that allows businesses to make and receive phone calls and text messages via the internet.
Business mobile phones are also the best choice that makes your business communication easy.
The virtual phone number you get when using a virtual phone system works a lot like a regular number in many ways. However, a virtual number happens to be a lot more versatile and offers businesses more in terms of flexibility and potential uses.
Keep reading to learn seven ways a virtual phone system can boost your business’s productivity.
1. A Virtual Phone System Is a Money Saver
In light of how competitive the business landscape is, businesses are looking to cut down on costs as much as possible, and virtual phone systems provide a highly convenient avenue for entrepreneurs to save some money.
Virtual phone systems are cheaper compared to regular phone service networks for local and international calls. That’s because VoIP connections use internet protocol to make calls instead of telephone lines.
The virtual phone system converts communication data into packets and sends them over the IP network. On the other hand, regular telephone networks require the installation of so many lines that can be quite expensive. The Internet, however, helps circumvent this issue, reducing the overall cost of making calls.
2. You Can Work Freely
A virtual phone system can give you and your team a lot more flexibility, especially if your business is on-the-go.
With a traditional phone system, you’ll have a line running to your business with its own phone number. Movements within and out of the office become even more tedious since you’ll have to remember the correct codes or keys to dial.
But a virtual phone system doesn’t have any physical limitations, leaving users free to move as the business demands. It will also save you a lot of time that you would have otherwise spent calling phone companies to transfer phone numbers to new locations.
3. A Myriad of Incredible Features
With a virtual phone system, your business can be as connected as you need it to be.
For instance, thanks to machine learning innovations, a virtual phone system can provide automated call recording features. You can access recordings, send them to your email and even integrate them into your customer relationship management (CRM) software for use by sales, customer service, or marketing.
Sure, you can get a phone recording on a traditional phone system, but encoding it to mp3 and attaching it to your customer relationship management (CRM) software requires a lot of time and effort.
Virtual phone systems also provide high-value features such as spam blocking and customized call routing.
4. You Can Configure Virtual Phones to Have a Single Number for Multiple Employees
You can set it up to ring on one phone in the office like a regular number or certain phones simultaneously to allow various employees to take the call. Such a feature can be very convenient in customer service or a sales team.
This way, you can even stop using your personal phone line for business calls.
5. Team Members Will Find Working Together a Lot Easier
A virtual phone system will get you and your team to fully immerse yourselves in a collaborative workspace. Like traditional phone systems, you can easily communicate via phone calls or text messages, but VoIP will allow you to do much more.
For example, you can share phone numbers so that anyone who’s available can pick up a call or take over a text conversation regardless of where they get to chime in. Some virtual phone systems allow users to mention colleagues in a thread. This function brings the mentioned employee into the thread for easier collaboration.
6. Setting up a Virtual Phone System Compared to Traditional Phone Systems
Have you ever experienced the frustration of overseeing a traditional phone system installation project? If so, you must surely know how long the process can take and how disruptive it can be to your business’s productivity.
The process involves complex wiring and configuring business phones that only professionals can do, all of which can take quite a lot of time. However, you can set up a virtual phone system and start making calls within minutes. Best of all, it requires no technical skill whatsoever.
All you need to do is sign up for a VoIP service, choose your phone number, and download the app/software you’re going to use. The signup process is similar to those active on common online platforms and only takes a few minutes to complete.
Since making calls or sending texts is the same as you would on a smartphone, there’s no learning curve, and you can get straight to work after successfully signing up.
7. Technology Updates Come at Almost No Added Cost
With everyday advancements in communication technology, businesses need a communication system that can quickly adapt.
With a virtual phone system, you won’t have to wait for a recently released fully featured desk phone or pay extra for upgrades. The phone system is updated free of charge as long as you are part of the service.
But it’s not just performance upgrades you get to enjoy. The same applies to your privacy and security features as well.
The Bottom Line
If your business has many employees who are frequently away from their desks or working remotely, then you could do with a virtual phone system. And in today’s hyper-connected work environment, traditional phone systems simply don’t provide that kind of flexibility.
You need a phone system that will provide as many communication strengths as possible hence the need to adapt to a virtual phone system. Hopefully, the potential benefits of VoIP technology highlighted in this article will motivate you to make the switch.
