June 25, 2014, Post by ToshibaTelecom

EVEN IF YOU LOVE YOUR LEGACY BUSINESS PHONE SYSTEM, HERE’S WHAT YOU’RE MISSING.

Your Web site, social media and e-commerce presence are important contact channels, but many customers are still more likely to call to get information or discuss issues over the phone rather than interact through a Web site.  That means an efficient, reliable and flexible phone system is as important as ever ‐ and it’s why more businesses are turning to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

If you have been on the fence about a new IP business communications system, here are 10 reasons to make the switch.

1. Freedom from the traditional desk phone

Legacy phone systems use traditional desk phones, which are great if all your work takes place at a desk.  But you don’t have to be anchored to your old desk phone.  With VoIP, you can be several orders of magnitude more efficient by using software on your PC to make and receive calls, as well as use a free app to make and receive business phone system calls on your smartphone.

2. No worries about missing that important call

With VoIP, you can direct incoming calls to ring at multiple locations ‐ cell phone, home phone, vacation home phone, etc.  You set your preferences for how phone calls find you and follow you based on time of day, incoming caller ID or your availability status.

3. A direct connection for every user

VoIP users with a direct inward dial (DID) phone number can have calls go directly to them without having to go through a receptionist or automated attendant. Your customers, vendors, suppliers and colleagues can more quickly and directly connect with any employee who has a DID.

4. Voice mail messages and faxes delivered to your email

On a VoIP solution with unified messaging, voice mail messages are recorded as a .wav file and then emailed to you and/or delivered to your desk phone or smartphone.  There’s no need to call into the office to see if you have voice mail messages.  You can listen to your voice mail message from email within seconds of the message being left for you.

Similarly, incoming faxes can be received as.pdf files and emailed to you or to a designated general email.  You can get your faxes anywhere you can get your email.  No longer risk that big order being left on the fax machine for days, or worse, getting thrown out by mistake.

5. Your PC as a power phone user’s productivity center

With unified communications, you can use your PC to click-to-dial, create on-screen “buttons” for other extensions, see the availability of colleagues and instant message (chat) with them, review call history, and add “favorites” buttons for shortcuts to files and applications.  Save time, be more productive and make your life easier by using your PC as a hub for getting things done throughout the day.

6. Using your smartphone as a business phone system extension

Have you ever needed to call a customer or vendor back from your cell phone and cringed at the idea that they will see your caller ID and capture your cell phone number?  With VoIP and a free app, you can call from your cell phone and project the office phone caller ID.  They won’t even know you aren’t calling from your office.  You can conference, transfer, screen calls and more, right from your smartphone.

7. Any phone as an on-demand business extension

You can log into any phone on the VoIP system, and it becomes your phone with your office number, settings and preferences.  Go to any other phone on the system and log in, and the system will log you out of the previous phone and put your extension on this new phone.

You don’t need a phone for every employee.  You can use this “hot desking” feature to set up sales desks with phones that salespeople can share.  They just log into the phone and it becomes their extension.  Managers and mobile employees can have a phone at headquarters, one at home, one at a vacation home and one at a remote company office ‐ each treated as one extension they can log into at any time to make it their business line.

8. Automatic screen pops from your CRM system

Inbound calls will open the contact in the customer relationship management (CRM) system based on caller ID.  You know who is calling as you answer the phone, before the caller even speaks ‐ and you have their current account and contact information immediately on your screen.  Save time, be more productive and provide exceptional customer service.

9. A simpler business communications infrastructure

Most old phone systems use traditional T1 and PRI phone lines for voice, separate from your Internet connection.  VoIP is delivered over the same broadband connection you use for Internet access.  Do away with the hassle and expense of maintaining separate voice and data circuits.  Consolidate your business communications and use the savings to get more Internet bandwidth, if you want.

1. The ability to grow the phone system as you need it

The old phone system uses physical cards and modules to add phones, phone lines or voice mail ‐ often in blocks of 8 or 16 phones at a time.  All too often, companies outgrow their old hardware or must buy additional outdated hardware in order to add phones or lines.

But not with VoIP.  Being software-based, a full IP business phones system doesn’t use hardware in this manner.  Whenever you want to add more users or lines, just license what you need.  There’s no need to buy more than you need today just so you can grow into it in the future.

To see how VoIP has helped other companies meet their communications goals, visit http://www.telecom.toshiba.com/Telephone_Systems_Resources/Success_Stories/.