When your company expands, it can be tough for your phone system to keep up with the increase in use. This is most noticeable when your business’s expansion is rapid. Increased call volumes can strain the network, resulting in lost calls, or calls being routed to the incorrect department. This can lead to lost revenue and a reduction in the quality of your customer service.
If this is sounding eerily familiar, it’s probably time to upgrade your office phone system. Here’s what you should look for in your new business telecoms platform.
Flexibility
For any developing company, having a phone network that can scale with them as they grow is essential. Your new phone system should function just as well whether it’s handling 10 calls a day or 100.
Suitable For Working From Home
Just a few years ago, working from home was a rarity, but today, a large number of employees are regularly working from home. Some businesses are now operating a hybrid model, with some of their team in the office and some at home.
If this is something your business is considering, you need a telecoms system which allows for seamless collaboration between home and office team members. One way to accomplish this is by using a hosted VoIP platform. Because the infrastructure is cloud-based rather than being hosted on your business’s premises, it functions identically no matter where you are connecting from.
Video Calling
People are now more accustomed to using video calling technology in their day-to-day lives. Businesses which follow this trend and contact their customers via video call will find it easier to establish a personal connection. Most legacy telephone systems do not support video calling, but even the simplest and most affordable cloud-hosted VoIP platforms do support it.
Out Of Hours Service
Even if your company isn’t open 24/7, you don’t want to miss out on customers that call outside of your normal office hours. Using an auto assistant – also known as a virtual receptionist – helps to maintain a professional image even out of hours. An auto assistant can redirect calls or present callers with a variety of options to choose from when they phone outside of business hours. This helps ensure you don’t miss a sale just because someone called 5 minutes after you went home.
Simplified Call Routing
It’s time to upgrade if your customers have to dial complex extensions to reach a specific department or team member.
Customers shouldn’t have to go through a series of automated prompts before speaking with a live person. Most prefer to speak with a live person as soon as possible. Using a modern, automated call routing system can help to transfer callers instantly.
Reduced Costs
Is your phone bill excessively expensive? Are the costs unpredictable? If that’s the case, switching to cloud-hosted VoIP is a simple and cost-effective solution. On-premises legacy phone systems can be expensive to maintain.
You could get big savings by switching to a cloud phone solution. Provided you have adequate bandwidth, you can use your existing broadband connection. VoIP calls between your team members on the same platform will be free and international call costs can also be greatly reduced. It’s also more cost-effective to scale, as you only pay incrementally more for each user you add to your plan.
The Time To Switch Is Now
Whether or not you feel like getting a new business phone system now, soon enough it will be a necessity. BT is in the process of switching off its existing analogue phone circuits by the end of 2025. It makes sense to get ahead of the competition and make the switch to hosted cloud telecoms now, rather than doing so in a panic at the end of 2025.
If you’re ready to make the switch or would like to know more about the different business telecom solutions which are available, speak to our team today. Carden Telecoms have helped businesses of all sizes to revolutionise their communications, making them more efficient and helping them save money.
