Kick start your 2021 business phone system wish list now
With the number of phone system providers growing, it can be daunting to find the perfect phone solution for your business’s needs. This guide will give you the tools you need to evaluate which system is right for your business. To make things simple we’ll stick to only covering VoIP or cloud-based phone systems in this quick wish list guide.
A VoIP system is a software solution that runs all phone calls through the platform on your computer. Because of this it requires no hardware, although desk phones can still be used. The service provider will run the server that hosts and maintains calls. The only thing you will need to provide is a strong and stable internet connection to handle the calls.
It’s great to start by considering what features and functionally you want from your new phone system. There are a large range of platforms available giving you many different possibilities from a phone system. It’s hard to know what your business could benefit from and which tools will actually be useful so careful planning at this stage is very important.
We recommend asking these six questions to get the ball rolling:
What are your team are doing on a daily basis and what processes are they repeating – could they be automated?
Many phone systems offer integrations with other software which can simply processes and increase efficiency. These additional features can range from click-to-dial functionally, to automatically saving call notes in a CRM system.
Could activities be recorded and reported on?
If you believe it would be helpful to your management and training, spend some time thinking about all the activities you would like to measure and record, and how this could benefit your business. For example: the number of calls a day, average time on a call etc.
How are your teams making calls – are they always located in one place, or on the go?
If your employees are likely to be out of the office, it’s important to consider if a phone system can be used on the go. CloudCall has a mobile app to keep you connected wherever you are.
Would you like to increase adoption of other business tools, such as a CRM system?
If you have other tools in the business which you would like to increase usage for, consider a phone system which integrates with that tool. This could be a CRM system, through which all calls are saved and recorded, ensuing employees will use it more often.
Do you need to scale up and down easily?
If you expect your number of users to grow or shrink quickly, it’s good to consider a phone system that makes it easy to add or remove users.
What is your budget?
Budgeting is an important consideration as all options will come with their own set-up costs and ongoing costs. Cloud based systems will generally have lower upfront costs than a traditional phone system but expect to pay a monthly subscription fee. You should also consider the cost of a high bandwidth internet connection.
REMEMBER: Prioritise the features which mean the most to your business. Ultimately, you should choose the solution that suits your business’s needs and complements your other software tools.
