Whether a business is focused on scalability, flexibility, or affordability, cloud-based Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone systems have many advantages. A VoIP system makes advanced telecommunications features available to businesses of all sizes – especially small and mid-sized companies with up to a hundred employees. Small and mid-sized businesses can reduce costs by switching from a traditional phone line to a VoIP system and gain functionality at the same time.
The diverse functionality of VoIP systems is one of their main benefits for businesses. Companies can mix and match different VoIP services to get the capabilities needed without overspending.
But what are the different VoIP services your business can choose from? In this article, we’ll dive into the top VoIP services and functionality that companies can add to their system to increase efficiency, improve customer service, or otherwise further business goals.
Top VoIP Services for Businesses
Advanced Auto Attendant
An auto attendant feature on your business phone system can enhance the overall customer experience. The auto attendant provides a short greeting presenting callers with opportunities to navigate their own solutions. For example, a VoIP auto attendant can answer calls quickly, inform customers of operating hours, and provide options for learning about business location, getting more information on self-service solutions, or contacting customer service.
By addressing the business need to field daily customer service queries, a VoIP auto attendant increases productivity by freeing up employees to pursue other tasks and enjoy greater challenges and rewards.
Call Queue Management
Americans spend 900 million hours per year on hold. For the average customer, that adds up to a lifetime total of nearly 43 days. Call queue management can minimize frustration by dealing with incoming calls and their priority more effectively.
With call queue management, businesses can decide in advance how to direct calls with the greatest efficiency. Managing maximum callers, queue member retries, and queue ring strategy can more effectively mitigate peak times and save a significant portion of your budget.
Call Recording Module
Recording VoIP calls reduces business liability and enhances compliance by creating a record of every customer contact. An automatic call recorder also enables early detection of security problems or inappropriate employee activity.
Further, recording VoIP calls helps encourages consistent professionalism. The customer is better assured a quality experience when the company has the ability to monitor current and past call recordings to gauge overall employee demeanor and efficiency.
Live Answering Service
A live answering service makes it possible for businesses to have professional, friendly receptionists available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Routing appointment scheduling, order processing, or customer service inquiries to trained professionals instead can also leave business employees better able to focus on higher-level tasks.
Live answering services can also have a major impact on your business, including acquiring and retaining new customers. According to some statistics, as many as 80 percent of callers will hang up without leaving a message if you don’t answer their call. That could result in a significant loss of business, affecting your profitability and growth plan. With a live answering service, your business is assured a consistent, reliable way to answer all customer calls without overworking employees.
Store Locator Service
With VoIP phone systems, businesses can easily manage and monitor incoming calls to meet customer or client needs in real time, whatever the time of day. Businesses with multiple stores or locations can use a store locator service to quickly connect prospects or loyal customers with the correct store. Since all the business’s calls are sent to a main VoIP number, the business also benefits from the branding and marketing savings associated with a single overall customer-facing service on one number across all locations.
Virtual Faxing
VoIP fax solutions allow businesses to send and receive faxes without the expense of a traditional phone line and fax machine. Virtual faxes are sent to the recipient’s email address with a PDF attachment that is easy to read, save, and forward. Sending and receiving faxes virtually over the web, without a modem-based machine or dedicated phone line, reduces costsand offers employees greater faxing flexibility.
Voice Broadcasting
Voice broadcasting is a mass communication method that helps small and mid-sized businesses effectively share important messages with prospects and clients. Essentially, the broadcasting service automatically dials chosen numbers and shares a pre-recorded message with recipients.
With voice broadcasting, businesses can deliver one succinct, direct message to business contacts in small, medium, or large groups — all in a cost-effective manner. When scripted and recorded well, voice broadcasts effectively share information while boosting the consumer’s sense that they are individually important to the company. Plus, a pre-recorded voice broadcast leaves no room for error or inconsistency, so businesses can ensure recipients receive the information they need.
For more details on ways businesses use voice broadcasting, check out this article on How to Use Voice Broadcasting.
VoIP Services Help Businesses Gain Functionality and Insights
The VoIP services your business needed will depend on your industry and the main purpose of your phone system. Do you work in a heavily regulated industry and need call recording to help with auditing and compliance? Do you deal with customers who need to be able to reach a live person at any time of day or night? Make a list of your business’s top communication objectives and the VoIP services that will help you achieve them.
On top of those services, you can also consider how VoIP analytics will help your company. VoIP analytics are an important benefit that could help your company improve service and communication. Many business VoIP systems include analytics capabilities allowing even the smallest company to track its network communications and analyze ROI.
Leverage VoIP analytics with other services to improve your communication. Once you’ve decided on the different VoIP services you need, you can start evaluating providers that offer all your must-haves. Select a VoIP business phone systems provider that includes those services, as well as quick deployment, expert tech support, and customer service to put your business in the best possible position.
Editor’s Note: This article was most recently updated in 2019 to include updates to VoIP services and business phone system capabilities. It was first published in 2017.
References:
http://money.com/money/4209600/average-lifetime-on-hold/
https://easybeereceptionist.com/6-interesting-statistics-prove-business-needs-phone-answering- service