Are you still using landline-based phones? If so, you may soon be in the minority of businesses that haven’t upgraded to a cloud-based phone system yet.
As of 2018, half of IT leaders were no longer purchasing on-premise communications infrastructure and instead switching to cloud-based VoIP phones. That number is expected to reach 90% VoIP for new phone systems by 2021.
The big switch to VoIP phone systems is happening in conjunction with businesses moving to cloud based applications for their workflows. The Cloud offers opportunities for flexibility, scalability, mobility, and cost savings that can’t be matched by legacy technologies.
While VoIP may have had its challenges when it came out two decades ago, improved connection speeds, software advances, and network improvements have all increased its value to companies and its call clarity. Today, you can’t tell the difference between someone on a landline or a VoIP call.
What benefits can your small business in Lake Okeechobee see when you make the switch from a landline phone system to VoIP?
Here’s Why Companies of All Sizes are Switching to VoIP Phones
If you haven’t used VoIP at your office before, you might be wondering how a switch would impact your day-to-day business. Would you lose features? Can you still use handsets?
Most businesses find they get a significant increase in features while reducing costs and gain more ability to answer their calls how they like – with VoIP enabled handsets, on their computer with a headset, or on a mobile phone.
Following are the advantages of using a cloud-based phone system and why they’re being adopted by all types of companies from small businesses to enterprise corporations.
Lower Costs
The biggest reason companies make a switch to VoIP is the cost savings, which comes from a number of areas, including hardware, calls, and ongoing operations and maintenance.
Here are some averages on how much a small business can save with VoIP:
- 40% savings on local calls
- 50-75% savings on overall phone system costs
- Combined average savings of $1,727 per month in cell and long-distance charges.
There is no expensive hardware to purchase when you use a cloud-based phone system and you can get up and running in a manner of minutes. Because you’re making calls over the internet instead of a phone line, there is significant savings on both local and long distance calling as well as all those taxes and fees that are typically tacked onto traditional phone bills.
Phones are Accessible Anywhere
If there’s been a power outage at your office, you don’t have to lose all those incoming calls, instead you can simply answer your calls from another location.
VoIP phones give you the freedom to have your business lines available from anywhere, which makes using remote workers easier and allows you to leave the office without worrying about missing a call – you can just have the VoIP line ring to your mobile with a click.
This is an important feature when you’re thinking about business continuity and how you would keep your company operational in the event of a disaster of some type happening at your physical office.
More Features for Less
Business owners are often surprised at all the “bells and whistles” they get with a VoIP plan, including features that typically cost quit a bit on an analog phone system.
Using a cloud-based phone system, you can sound like a Fortune 500 company when someone calls, even if you only have a small business run out of your home.
Here are some standard VoIP features:
- Auto-attendant
- Company directory
- Hold music
- Call forwarding
- Automatic voicemail transcription
- Voicemail sent to email or via text
- Ring groups and simultaneous ring
- Video calling integration
Easy to Scale Up or Down
With an analog phone system, adding a new user line involves a service call and installation of another physical line by your phone provider and is generally expensive. When you no longer need a line, it just goes unused as you’ve already paid for it to be installed.
Using VoIP allow you to easy add or remove a user line at the click of a button. New lines can be added in an instant and provisioned to a user. You are only ever paying for the number of lines you need and can easily scale up and down anytime.
Offer a Better Customer Calling Experience
With the additional calling features offered by VoIP, you can more easily route your callers to the right person or get them to someone else if the person they called isn’t available. This helps reduce frustrating hold times.
Because voicemail transcriptions can be sent via email or text, you’re more likely to see and get back to a caller faster because you don’t have to listen to all your voicemails to know which calls are the most urgent, you can just scan the transcription.
Learn More About an Upgrade to VoIP Today!
Would you like to take VoIP for a test drive? Are you ready to sign up today? Cris’s Tech Repair offers quality VoIP services and can answer all your questions and get your team set up in no time.
Contact us today for a free VoIP consultation. Call 561-985-4961 or reach us online.