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How to Pick the Best Business Phone Service for Your Company

When you aim to uplift your business and brand through flexibility, productivity, and facilitation, Voice-over-IP is the most important aspect to consider.

 

What is VoIP?

Voice Over Internet Protocol is basically another term for phone services provided over the internet. This IP telephony is a widely popular and effective way of enabling companies to use the latest business phone technology integrated within their network. This service seamlessly allows businesses to collaborate and communicate easily and in a more affordable way. VoIP converts voice into digital signals and allows direct calls placed from a computer or any other device connected to the network. Broadband phone service, another term for VoIP technology, operates over computer networks that use packet-switched protocols. Voice signals are converted into packets, like an envelope, and then transmitted over a compatible network.

 

Business Phone

VoIP-based phone services incorporate a phone system that renders calling services over the office’s IP network. Together with a connected computer and headset, Voice Over Internet Protocol allows employees to place calls anywhere at any time. Now, who wouldn’t want such a versatile business phone service for their company?

In addition to office use, the platform provided through VoIP can be utilized for work from home. Even if your employees are working from home for an extended period of time, you can be sure of thorough and results-driven communication between your clients and employees regardless of where they are working.

Switching from traditional telephony to VoIP or broadband phone services not only helps businesses remain at optimal performance and efficiency, but it renders a much lower cost as well. You are only paying for access to an internet connection. Pretty much everything else is free of cost, like Long-distance and International calling. A wide range of possibilities for communication opens up for you when you make the decision of choosing the best business phone service for your brand.

 

So without further ado, let’s move toward how you can select the most suitable service in terms of investment, usage, and maximum potential.

 

1. Pricing
   As with all services bought for optimizing businesses, the cost is undeniably an important factor to start with. But before you opt for that all-inclusive hefty price tag, think about what the requirements are for your company. Why go for a multifaceted pricing plan when you can get the requisite features in a cheaper package? The best way to do this is to have a run through the offerings and list down your current requirements. Don’t forget to anticipate other necessary features that might be added over time, like the future requirements of your company and how things will progress.
2. Call Management
   It is critical to ensure that your choice of a business phone has the necessary features to meet the ongoing demands of your company. For office facilities that typically have a high number of calls coming in, like for a help desk, many other add-ons come in handy. For instance, you may need call waiting, call forwarding, or call queueing due to the large volume of incoming calls. These and under tools fall under Call Management. Your VoIP system should be smart enough to allocate calls to the right extension according to location, availability, and any other specified criteria.
3. Collaboration Services
   VoIP providers offer a variety of collaboration techniques so that employees can make the most of their working hours. Such capabilities include ways to interact via text messaging, video conferencing, screen sharing, and collaborating on documents/files. These tools are an integral part of modern-day networking.
4. Security
   Among all of these VoIP essentials, one characteristic to look out for in choosing your business phone is top-notch security. Having your company’s communication carried out on the cloud through devices connected to the internet, you are sure to be vulnerable to attacks given inadequate measures. Make sure you go through all the terms and conditions prior to signing up for any VoIP service. Apart from end-to-end encryption and multi-factor authentication within the VoIP offering, you must ensure that your official internet connection has all the necessary corporate security features intact and working at optimum levels. It’s quite understandable that VoIP services with a high-security feature will cost you more, but that’s what pricing is all about, right?
5. Support
   As with any software or hardware integration, one of the ultimately crucial aspects of its functioning is the support that comes with it. Depending on your business scale and needs, you should take note of the level of support you could require on a day-to-day basis. This means to take into account whether your business will run 24/7 or only during certain hours. For a business that is highly global, it’s best to get a VoIP service that maintains 24/7 customer support. Queries and technical glitches need to be resolved within the shortest turnaround time. Furthermore, if you know your business will need custom features, premium support is definitely worth the extra bucks!
6. Third-party Integration
   VoIP systems usually come with a list of app integrations. Customers can use whichever extensions are needed for their business model. For example, Google Drive or Dropbox can be used to store data files like automatic recordings or trouble tickets. These support features can either be free or come with additional charges.
7. Unified Communications as a Service
   Unified Communications as a Service, or UCaaS, is an attribute that constitutes the entire range of communication functions. Phone calls, video calls, emails, voicemail, conference calls, and various collaboration tools are all included within this superset of VoIP services. Although voice seems to be the primary mode of communication within office environments, a multichannel approach can surely take companies to a new level of proficiency and feasibility.