How To Incorporate A Phone System Into Your Business Operations

Communication is vital in business because a successful operation thrives in the effective exchange of information. As business technology keeps evolving, inter-department communication becomes more precise, minimizing errors and bottlenecks. Moreover, many are choosing to replace legacy landlines with internet-based transmissions.  

These phone systems are easy to set up and integrate with existing workflows, and many businesses believe the benefits outweigh the problems. If you’d like to experience what phone systems can do for your business, here are some tips on incorporating them into your business operations.  

1. Use It As A Center For All Communications 

Collaborative work takes time. Before, there used to be different calling methods, resulting in miscommunications among teams. But with a telephone system, you can easily manage communications in a single platform. Streamlining workflows is easier because cloud phone systems have various features and functionalities.  

You can choose among different tools, such as an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) menu, call routing, call logs, and more. Your team can use audio and video conferencing to enhance teamwork. By integrating business communications, a cloud phone system becomes the central hub which every team member may access and manage an admin portal.   

With cloud phone systems, you may integrate them with other communication tools because they are a simple solution with innovative features that are not available with traditional telephone services. You have intelligent call forwarding, advanced call screening, custom answering, and team collaboration rules.  

A unified phone system is an all-in-one platform that enables you to integrate your customer relationship management (CRM), the private branch exchange (PBX) system, and your existing solutions, including extensive communication and file-sharing platforms. It provides a central location for meetings, phone calls, and conversations, making teams more productive.  

2. Boost Sales By Using It With Customer Database 

Depending on the number of features and extensions required, you can determine the cost of a reliable desktop phone system. However, it’ll be more beneficial if you could choose one that allows you to add features for current or future usage. 

Some phone systems have valuable features that will allow you to instantly view the information of the customer who contacted one of your channels. Their details immediately pop up on the screen, including information on recent orders or calls. This way, you can give your customers a personalized experience, such as addressing them by their names, thus giving you an advantage over your competition.  

Some communications systems can also send ringless voicemail to customers, such as Drop Cowboy Ringless Voicemail, enabling businesses to keep their customer base in the loop. Voicemail messages allow customers to listen to them at their convenience and play it multiple times. Businesses can use ringless voicemails to make offers and deals in a non-intrusive way that many customers would appreciate, as demonstrated in this video:

Furthermore, call recording can help you increase sales by letting the customer service agent analyze it to create the best approach the next time a customer calls. You can listen in when a sales agent struggles to make a sale or becomes tongue-tied. In addition, you can help your agent without letting the caller know about your presence. This feature dramatically helps you during challenging sales situations and training your agents. Nonetheless, you and your team should be mindful of data privacy and protection when monitoring calls.  

3. Unifies Communications Of Distributed Teams 

A cloud phone system benefits remote workers, who use it similarly to an on-site communications system. They use a stable internet connection and a desktop or laptop computer, making it easier for them to have the same access to business communication tools as they would if they were in the office. It would be helpful if you also equipped remote workers with a headset for use on teleconferences. 

You can set up a virtual call center for your remote workers for those handling sales and support. Setting up remote teams allows you to use various talents distributed in different locations. With international and toll-free phones, remote workers can have a global reach. Setting up a business phone system necessitates that your off-site employees have access to the advanced features that carriers provide. 

A phone system installation is easy and takes only a few minutes, depending on their needs. Once the software installation and the integrations are finished, they can immediately begin receiving and making calls from their homes. Phone systems also allow them to communicate clearly and collaborate with on-site employees. They can send an email, chat, and direct messages to one another if the company uses an omnichannel platform.  

It’s also crucial to train your team on how to use the necessary software to do their tasks. Remote workers also dabble in CRM, sales and support software, and the voice calling feature of the phone system. You can demonstrate how they can include these functionalities into their workflows. 

4. Utilize For Review Reporting Metrics 

Businesses that use hosted phone systems get to use performance tracking tools to measure call performance. It’s beneficial for customer service, where issues can arise from poor communication and handling of concerns. It allows teams to target areas that need improvement and make decisions accordingly. You can also use hosted phone systems to look into call data, automatically updating information for those who handle customer concerns. It’s all due to its added capabilities in customer relations management. Hosted phone systems can provide accurate reporting on metrics along with the following: 

• The average length of the call made 
• Number of missed calls 
• The volume of incoming calls 
• Number of answered calls 

In addition, hosted phone systems have advanced security features, mobility for remote workers or anyone working from around the world, and integration flexibility. Notably, businesses would find cloud phone systems better for daily operations.  

5. You Can Enable Call Routing To Relieve Stress On The Staff 

A business phone system can allow your team to set up voicemail, make call routing possible and receive and make calls within the company and to customers. You can use it anywhere and anytime without interrupting the workflows. In general, it reduces the stress on your team, especially on days when the workload is overwhelming.  

A dedicated small business phone system also relieves the need to hire an additional IT technician. These phone system providers offer consistent support and are constantly extending a helping hand for various technical issues that your team may encounter. You don’t need to train your staff beyond basic troubleshooting techniques. The vendor that provided your phone system has dedicated experts trained to fix problems you may encounter using the system.  

Some phone systems are also equipped with automatic attendants or a queue that helps minimize human errors that one could make when hastily trying to reach your employees. The feature enables the employees to take only one call at a time and concentrate on providing clients with information. Remember that work performance can improve once internal trust is cultivated and productivity is prioritized. 

How To Choose The Right Phone System 

Your business phone system is the primary tool for communicating with your customers, suppliers, and team. Keep in mind that there will be operational and financial consequences if you choose the wrong one. Here are some viable ways to effectively select the right phone system: 

1. Consider The Number Of Your Staff 

The business phone system should accommodate a substantial number of simultaneous users. Check your business plan and determine the number of employees needing a phone in four years. If you are starting a small business with fewer than five employees, you can purchase a two-line business phone from any electrical retailer. But this strategy will not be sufficient if you continue to hire more employees while expanding your organization.  

2. Determine The Types Of Features You Need 

There are several types of business phone systems to choose from, each having a unique set of benefits for your company. Nowadays, there are three types of phone systems on the market, as follows: 

Virtual Phone 

A virtual phone service provides your unique business number. It establishes a connection between your customers and your remote staff via their mobile phones or fixed devices. Moreover, a virtual telephone mainly uses a call-forwarding function that enables all employees to receive calls using only one primary contact number. Some features you can use are automated answering service, forwarding and screening, toll-free number, and voice mails.   

Virtual phones are ideal if you have remote employees in the customer service sector and you need a centralized number where customers can reach them. Virtual phones still depend on mobile and landline services to process calls. That means you’ll still be paying charges for the services.     

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)

The latest among the business phone systems introduced and used is VoIP. It’s a hybrid system since it combines the features of virtual phones and landlines.  

There are two varieties of VoIP: on-premise solution use equipment that must be in one physical location so you can have total control over your network. The other one is the cloud-based solution that doesn’t require any hardware. Users of this type only rely on the software provider for operation and maintenance.  

These VoIP types have specific features you’ll need to understand, so you can choose what is best for your business. Providers may also offer value-added add-ons.  

Public Switched Telephone Network (PTSN) 

PTSN also referred to as a landline, is a phone system that businesses have used for decades. As a legacy system, it has basic features such as call forwarding, call transfer, and redirection. It relies on PBX hardware, which is responsible for its extension numbers.  

Landlines don’t rely on the internet. They are easy to use and have been used for many years. However, it has limitations that the current technology can surpass, offering more advanced features to various businesses.  

3. Ownership Cost 

The required structural cost can also influence the hosting solution you choose. If you want on-site premise systems, you must instantly pay for the equipment, installation, and license fees. They can cost you a few thousand dollars or more depending on the equipment and the employees using them. Recurring payments will be based only on consumption. You can choose cloud-based systems if you don’t want to pay upfront fees. There are monthly fees that can cost up to USD$80 per team member.  

4. Internet Reliability 

Cloud-based phone systems rely on the internet. If you choose this approach, you must ensure that your internet connection is always stable and reliable. If it becomes disconnected or slow, workflows will be interrupted, and money will be wasted. So, it would be best to evaluate the performance of your internet before choosing cloud-based services. Use the cloud-based option if your internet upload and download speeds are adequate. In contrast, a traditional landline may be the best option if your internet connection is poor. 

5. Examine Your Geographical Location 

Some solutions are only suitable to operate in one location, which is why your geographical location is also a factor. There are phone systems that demand expensive hardware on-site. If you have offices of varying sizes, you may need to determine which phone system will suit each location.  

6. Collaborations Features 

The qualities that phone systems provide make them desirable. If you have a significant number of employees who do collaborative work, it’s only fair to acquire tools that will make their work faster and easier. Look into conferencing calls, instant messaging, file-sharing options, and tools that will allow your team to view if any team member is available that day and if they are in a meeting or working.  

It’s crucial to understand your business needs to be able to choose which phone system is right for your business. Decide what you require and can do without to prevent spending money on unnecessary items.   

In Conclusion 

You can incorporate a phone system into your business operations by choosing one t to serve as the hub for all team members and customer communications. You can use your phone system and some of its features to keep your customers in the loop with business events, grant access to remote workers to be able to collaborate with the on-site team, and use it for reporting metrics to improve performance. You can enjoy these advantages by selecting the ideal phone system for your business.