The Buyer’s Guide to Choosing the Best VoIP Service for Business
Introduction
According to Forbes, technology is changing the business world
at a fast pace. These days, companies have to keep up with the
times and the technology or they could easily get left behind. One
innovation which companies have flocked to over the past few
years is VoIP.
In fact, Juniper Research says that businesses are switching
to a VoIP-based phone system at an exponential rate, with the
expectation of one billion VoIP users by 2017.
Perhaps you’re not terribly happy with your current VoIP provider,
or maybe your company is still using traditional landlines through
the phone company. Either way, the more you know about VoIP, the
better decisions you can make for your company.
Let’s take a look at a regular business owner, Phil, who may be
someone like you. Phil has run an accounting business for the last
15 years, and he’s getting frustrated with his longtime business
phone service.
Phil has spoken with some friends in the financial industry who use
VoIP and, while they seem to like it, some have had some issues in
the past with providers, or even just not understanding the extent
of what VoIP can do for them. As such, Phil decided to do his
homework and learn all he could about exactly what VoIP can do
for his business, and the best way to go about it.
The Buyer’s Guide to Choosing the Best VoIP Service for Business 5
6 The Buyer’s Guide to Choosing the Best VoIP Service for Business
Understanding the Benefits of VoIP
for Business
Phil began his research by learning exactly what VoIP for business means.
A quick Internet search taught him VoIP stands for Voice over Internet
Protocol and essentially runs through the existing Internet signal he already
pays for. Phil made a quick call to his Internet provider to find out if his
speed was fast enough to support VoIP calls for himself and his team, and
his provider assured him it was. That was all Phil needed to hear. His next
step: finding out exactly how VoIP can help his business.
After a short amount of research, Phil learned the following about VoIP:
It’s Flexible – Since VoIP calls come through as digital signals, they can be
programmed just like any computer data. With a hosted VoIP plan, Phil can
have a VoIP-based desk phone placed on every desk in his office, as well as
at the homes of his remote workers, all on the same system.
It’s Mobile – Phil can also make and take calls through his office computer,
his laptop, his tablet, or even his smartphone. He can even plug a headset
into the USB port of any connected computer, and it will automatically
connect him to his business line to make and receive important calls.
The Buyer’s Guide to Choosing the Best VoIP Service for Business 7
It’s Integrated – Phil was surprised to learn that with VoIP, he could have
all his business voicemail messages, emails, SMS messages, and even
faxes in a solitary application. He could be speaking with a client while
simultaneously accessing their information and documentation.
It’s Cost-Efficient – When Phil compared the monthly fees associated with
VoIP lines vs. what the company had been paying, he was amazed: Phil saw
he could typically save around 50% to 90% on his monthly bill.
The benefits alone were enough to make Phil excited about the possibilities
VoIP might hold for his business. But still, he needed to know about the specific
functions of VoIP and worried the company might have to give up basic phone
features they had grown to rely on for their daily business activities. Soon, Phil
was checking out the available features of VoIP for business service.
More reliable
Company growth
Lower price
More functionality
Better quality
Better support
More modern
Remote accessibilty
Easier to use
Better security
Source: Mikogo
REASONS FOR SMBS SWITCHING TO VOIP FOR BUSINESS
8 The Buyer’s Guide to Choosing the Best VoIP Service for Business
The Best VoIP Features:
What to Look For
Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, Caller ID, hold functions – those were all features
Phil and his team already used on a regular basis. His team loved them, and so
Phil wanted to make certain they wouldn’t have to give them up.
What Phil learned from his research is that, not only would those very same
features be included, when his VoIP system was installed by a quality VoIP
provider such as the PCnet, he and his team would instantly have access to
many, many more of the best VoIP features available.
He learned many features of VoIP saved employees 43 minutes per day
due to more efficient message management, while mobile workers saved
55 minutes per day. Phil was excited about being able to offer features that
would likely help his team to be more productive.
An article from TechRepublic showed him he could potentially have VoIP
features such as:
Door Phone Entry Buzzer Integration – Phil’s receptionist could receive
calls from visitors standing at the front door asking for entry. If she chose
to let them in, a simple press of the button could unlock the door and let
them in.
Find Me/Follow Me Call Routing – Incoming calls can be programmed
to call certain phones with a predetermined number of rings before
redirecting to another phone. After all attempts are exhausted, callers
would be pushed to voicemail.
Many of the features of VoIP saved
employees 43 minutes per day due to more
efficient message management, while 43
mobile workers saved 55 minutes per day.
43
The Buyer’s Guide to Choosing the Best VoIP Service for Business 9
Transcription – When Phil receives a voicemail message, he doesn’t have to
excuse himself from a meeting to check the message. He can simply pull up an
automatic transcription sent via SMS or email. In addition, he can now perform a
word search through his voicemail to quickly find specific messages.
On-Demand Music On-Hold – For years, Phil’s callers were subjected to
ancient on-hold melodies such as The Girl From Ipanema or select tunes
from Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. No longer. VoIP allows Phil and his
staff to select any type of music for their callers to listen to while they wait.
Data Usage and Call Reports – Reports on both your company’s VoIP
bandwidth usage, along with who called whom and when can be quickly
pulled up and reviewed as needed. So, if Phil wants to determine if the
company needs faster speeds to keep up with the growing phone usage, he
can see a detailed report in real-time. Or, if a customer claims they called at
a certain time, Phil can verify the claim instantly.
Call Screening – Let’s call it “Caller ID 2.0”. Not only will the screening
show Phil who’s calling, but he can also press a button or two, and tell the
phone system how to handle the call. If he’s about to leave for the day and
receives a call, he can switch the call to his mobile phone and talk as he
heads home. He can even choose to hang up on unwanted callers without
ever touching the receiver.
10 The Buyer’s Guide to Choosing the Best VoIP Service for Business
Call Recording and Coaching – With this feature, Phil can listen in on his
team’s business calls, and record the call for a later performance review.
He can even speak to the employee on the line without the other caller ever
hearing him. A great training tool.
Auto Attendant – Most VoIP systems come complete with an auto-attendant,
which directs callers to the correct department or individual without any need
for human interaction.
Availability – Every day, Phil comes into work to a large number of
voicemail messages left during his lunch break or after hours. While
enhanced communication is great, Phil worries he’ll never be able to “leave
work” with redirected business calls always interrupting whatever he’s
doing. Availability allows Phil to schedule or manually choose when calls
can or cannot come through, and how to handle them if refused.
The Buyer’s Guide to Choosing the Best VoIP Service for Business 11
VoIP Solutions for Better
Source: Software Advice
12 The Buyer’s Guide to Choosing the Best VoIP Service for Business
Communication & Collaboration
As if the benefits and features weren’t enough to convince him, Phil
decided to venture more deeply into VoIP and discover additional
benefits he could share with his team when making the VoIP change
announcement. In doing so, Phil learned about collaboration tools offered
by PCnet which he felt would take his team’s productivity and collaboration
to another level. And he’s right; according to a recent survey by Frost &
Sullivan, companies investing in collaboration technologies increased their
overall productivity by as much as 400%.
Phil learned that, while diverse and powerful, PCnet’s collaboration tools were
engineered to be very user-friendly and quick to utilize. With just a few button
touches, his team members could quickly set-up audio conferences between
select members – or even schedule one hour, days, even weeks in advance.
These conferences can be used in combination with online sharing
sessions – allowing team members all to be looking at the same file while
discussing thoughts, issues, or concerns – fostering a truly collaborative
environment, even if the attendees are not in the same building.
In addition to integrating with real-time voice conferencing, instant
messaging, and online sharing, PCnet’s VoIP system also allows integration
The Buyer’s Guide to Choosing the Best VoIP Service for Business 13
with common workplace applications such as Microsoft Office, as
well as sales and marketing applications like Salesforce, NetSuite, and
ZenDesk.
Once VoIP was in place, Phil also discovered, his office could then
integrate voice data with streaming services to take advantage of
unified communications. At that point, all of the office’s communications
mediums – from live chat to video conferencing to email automation –
could all be unified and accessed from a single platform.
When Phil realized how impactful the migration to VoIP could be to his
company as a whole, he was convinced he had to have it. Now, the only
matter left was to select the right company to handle the migration.
14 The Buyer’s Guide to Choosing the Best VoIP Service for Business
Selecting the Best VoIP Provider
for Your Needs
After all his research, and realizing VoIP subscribership has continued to
grow by approximately 14% year over year since 2009, Phil was convinced he
needed VoIP but wanted to ensure he got the right system for his business.
He also realized he needed a dependable vendor who was an expert on
the system and could help him and his team with any issues which sprung
up. Weighing all his options, Phil decided a VoIP system from PCnet would
best serve his company. He then simply needed to locate the best VoIP
provider in the area. That’s when he discovered the PCnet.
Phil learned PCnet has years of combined experience in setting up, installing,
and managing VoIP systems – making them an obvious choice to get
his business moving in the right direction with their communications.
Today, Phil’s business is enjoying the enormous benefits of their new VoIP
system, and have seen productivity increase as a direct result of better
communication and collaboration amongst his team members.
PCnet is proud to have provided and host Phil’s VoIP solutions, as well
as his network monitoring, cloud services, unified communications, and
business continuity solutions. We would love to discuss how we can do the
same for you.
The Buyer’s Guide to Choosing the Best VoIP Service for Business 15
16 The Buyer’s Guide to Choosing the Best VoIP Service for Business
Contact Us
2026 East Phelps
Springfield, MO 65802
(417) 831-1700
sales@pcnetinc.com
Microsoft Teams can make your meetings significantly more efficient. Teams allows you to simplify group working and makes collaboration a breeze. Let’s take a look at some of the ways that Microsoft Teams can assist you and your company before, during, and even after a meeting!
Before the meeting:
- First thing you need to do is to ensure everyone is on the same page. To accomplish this, share your meeting agendas and invites the attendees early. You can even chat with them before the meeting to answer any pre-existing questions.
- Invite external guests to the meeting. Whether you have a guest speaker or just a friend outside of the organization, you can ensure they can join the meeting with you! Send them a link in an email to join, and it is as simple as a click.
- Provide context and previous meeting notes to everyone who needs them. With Teams, you can quickly and easily find data from previous meetings and share them out as needed.
During the meeting:
- Start your meeting easily and quickly! With Teams, it is as simple as clicking ‘Join’ to join in on a meeting. You can easily use a one touch approach to start your meetings.
- Use video to make it more personal. You can even use blurred backgrounds or personal backgrounds to really add some professional flair. Imagine using your company’s logo as a background, it really allows more brand focus!
- Share and collaborate as needed easily. Being tied into the Microsoft 365 environment, Teams allows you to share information very quickly. Everything is seamlessly integrated.
- Record the meeting!
After the meeting:
- Share the recording of the meeting. Even if someone wasn’t able to make it to the normal meeting, you can share the recording so they can ‘attend’ later.
- Chat with the attendees. Teams allows you to be able to talk to everyone that attended the meeting.
- Schedule future meetings. Using Microsoft Teams, you are able to schedule meetings quickly and painlessly.
As you can see, Microsoft Teams will allow you to run a meeting more efficiently. You can schedule meetings, ensure everyone is on the same page, and collaborate with coworkers. Microsoft Teams is the new business standard, so try it today!
Microsoft Teams is helping businesses communicate and grow better than ever before. It is quickly becoming the standard for business communication. Let us explore five reasons that Microsoft Teams is the best tool to help your business communicate.
- Conversation Channels! You can dedicate specific conversation channels to certain topics. This makes it far easier to chat about specific issues within specific channels to virtually eliminate clutter. You can even view which of your team members are in that chat so you can avoid awkwardness.
- Reduce email clutter! Everyone hates getting a thousand emails a day. No one wants to receive a dozen emails from coworkers talking about the same subject. Teams eliminates the need for that. With Teams, you can just shoot your coworkers a quick message while in the meeting and eliminate the clutter!
- Collaborate in real-time! Your workday can oftentimes be bogged down by multiple people trying to do things at once. With Microsoft Teams, you can get rid of these frustrations. Simply allow all your coworkers to work in one space and collaborate on Office docs all at once!
- Fast searching! How many times has a meeting come to a screeching halt while the presenter looks for an old message or email? With Teams, you can simply search through every message you have ever received in a fast and efficient manner. Click on the search box at the top and you will have your information momentarily. No more interruptions!
- Built-in integration with Outlook! With Teams, you no longer must kill time in a meeting trying to switch between Outlook and the meeting. With Teams, you have full access to Outlook and vice-versa. You can quickly share something between the two.
Microsoft Teams will allow you to maximize time and allow your business to communicate better. It is becoming the standard for businesses across the world, so try it today!
Telecommunications is one field that has benefited greatly from recent innovations and developments. Since technology has become a means for companies to invest in the right business tools, advanced communication systems are now vital components for businesses focused on improving internal efficiency and productivity.
Among the communication systems available today, none has shown more suitability for business applications than VoIP. Many organizations are now adopting VoIP solutions to reinforce their communication infrastructure and reduce overhead costs. VoIP is also the cornerstone for unified communications (UC) – a system that integrates all business communication channels so they exist on a single platform.
Boosting business productivity through adopting VoIP solutions goes beyond cutting IT and communications costs. Here’s a look at how using VoIP drives productivity in the workplace.
Automatic call forwarding and digital voicemails
A VoIP system ensures that no calls go unattended, and no messages get lost. A majority of internal and external business communication still takes place over the phone despite the availability of other mediums such as email, instant messaging, and social media. VoIP systems help businesses manage call traffic by automatically routing incoming calls to the right people and enabling digital voicemails.
Automatic call forwarding ensures that every call reaches the intended recipient via whichever device is available to them. For instance, calls placed to the office can be redirected to a personal smartphone if they go unanswered using the Find-me or Follow-me forwarding features. Digital VoIP functions integrate voicemail with other mediums, such as emails and apps. The voicemail-to-email service allows employees to receive transcribed and raw voicemails directly to their inbox.
Additional features such as DND (do not disturb), Auto Attend, call screening, and monitoring help the organization save valuable time that would otherwise be wasted on non-essential calls. VoIP can help your business answer more calls, minimize call wait time, and improve accountability and responsiveness. Ultimately, this helps build stronger customer and co-worker relations.
VoIP motivates collaboration
The idea of remote working is gaining a lot of traction nowadays. This has created the demand for practical ways to bring remote workers together and keep them tethered to a central virtual workplace. VoIP connects all employees – both remote and on-site – to a shared data pool over a single network. Also, VoIP solutions allow for video conferencing, video calls, and shared-screen sessions that bring a sense of intimate participation in virtual meetings.
Having a communication system that supports collaboration at many different levels is an excellent way to get individuals and teams to work together as a collective unit. With guaranteed facilitation for cooperation, you can have a flexible workplace, which studies show improves employees’ morale, wellness, and productivity.
Easily access information from anywhere
Commercial VoIP services run on hosted platforms, which means they can be accessed and used from anywhere at any time. VoIP empowers mobility flexibility in the workplace, where employees can communicate and access business information while on the move, in the office, or even on vacation.
Hosted VoIP solutions promote staff mobility without compromising on personnel availability and collaboration in the workplace. Employees can communicate and share documents and files via their personal devices instantly, regardless of their location. Given that businesses have ever-changing needs, it’s essential to have a stable communication system that can be depended upon in any scenario.
According to Global Market Insights, the global VoIP market is expected to hit $55 billion by 2025; that’s a 12 percent CAGR between 2019 and 2025. The rapid growth of the industry indicates that more and more enterprises are leveraging the benefits of VoIP solutions. Don’t get left behind in taking advantage of what is clearly a must-have for modern businesses.
VoIP is an acronym that stands for Voice over Internet Protocol; also referred to as internet telephony, IP telephony, and Voice over Broadband (VoBB). From a fundamental perspective, VoIP is relatively simple technology; it allows the transmission of voice data packets from one IP address to another. In simpler words, VoIP supports the transmission of live conversations over the internet instead of the traditional telephony infrastructure.
The Idea of VoIP began in 1973 as an experimental network on the early ARPANET system. It wasn’t until 1995 when the first internet phone software was developed and used. Since then, VoIP has grown into one of the most disruptive cloud technologies and has completely revolutionized the telecommunication industry.
According to Statista, there were over 40 million business VoIP lines in the U.S. in 2018, and the number has grown exponentially over the last couple of years. So, why are businesses switching from traditional telephony to VoIP solutions? What are the benefits of using VoIP in a business environment?
Reduce communication cost
Perhaps the most attractive benefit of using VoIP is the significant reduction of communication costs, especially on international voice calls. Most VoIP providers only charge an initial installation charge for the equipment and a monthly or annual service subscription fee based on the VoIP package. The subscription costs are extremely low compared to traditional phone service bills whose rates depend on the usage and nature of calls.
Flexibility
VoIP is a flexible technology that can be implemented in a way that best suits a particular business model or workplace setting. Although many VoIP services provide the necessary hardware and software to enable VoIP, the technology can also be integrated into the existing IT infrastructure. For instance, VoIP services can be installed onto a personal computer and smartphone, which comes in handy with remote workers and improves communication efficiency and convenience.
The flexibility and versatility of VoIP also make it ideal for building unified communication systems for businesses. Companies can use VoIP as a big part of their communication structure, especially for handling voice and conference calls.
Exception service quality
VoIP technology offers superior communication services compared to traditional landlines and even cellular networks. As long as the internet connection is reliable and sufficient, then you never have to worry about dropped calls, latency, and poor delivery, making VoIP more reliable as well. Plus, the sound and image quality on both voice and conference calls is incredibly high. With enough bandwidth, you can even stream live high-resolution HD videos without any glitches.
On the other hand, the quality of service and reliability of conventional telephony systems can be adversely affected by several factors, including distance, bad weather, low-performance equipment, noise, and even natural disasters.
Scalability
VoIP is not a one-size-fits-all kind of service. VoIP packages encompass a variety of service levels and features, which are usually bundled or tiered together. Companies can choose precisely what they require from a VoIP provider depending on their communication needs. Packages come in a variety of sizes with features to accommodate various businesses. For instance, an office can purchase a VoIP package depending on the number of phones needed, the existing IT layout, and the exact features required.
The good thing about VoIP services is that they are scalable. If the business grows or shrinks its communication needs, then the VoIP service can be adjusted accordingly to accommodate the changes.
Easy installation and maintenance
Service providers have made it easy to install and maintain VoIP systems. You can easily install some VoIP systems on your own, even with little technical know-how. All you need to do is open an account with the VoIP provider, select a service package, and maybe install a few devices and some software and you’re done. Depending on the provider, the size of your enterprise, and the package selected, the whole process can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days.
Most VoIP providers host their services on the cloud, and also provide managed services either as a free service or a paid option. So, it’s the provider’s responsibility to ensure that the system is always available and working flawlessly. When it comes to maintenance on your part, all you have to do is update and patch your software and drivers occasionally.
Why VoIP is the way to go
By using VoIP instead of traditional phones, you’ll save a massive chunk of your communication budget, get better and more reliable services, and drastically improve your workplace collaboration. Businesses have to keep adjusting to new technologies to take full advantage of useful innovations and stay in tune with the times. VoIP is one such innovation that can’t be ignored.
Understandably, cybersecurity is a major concern nowadays, and routing sensitive business calls over the internet may seem counter-intuitive. But rest assured that the security protocols embedded in VoIP services are more than adequate to deal with any form of cyber threat. So there is really no reason not to adopt VoIP services for your business.
Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us to learn more about VoIP, unified communication, and cloud-based services. We’ll appreciate hearing from you and also helping your business adopt modern digital solutions.
A reliable phone system with up-to-date features can be the change that helps your business flourish. Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, systems allow you to make phone calls over your internet connection instead of standard analog phone lines. This service offers better functionality, lower costs, and other helpful business benefits.
How could your business profit from a VoIP system?
A reliable phone system with up-to-date features can be the change that helps your business flourish. Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, systems allow you to make phone calls over your internet connection instead of standard analog phone lines. This service offers better functionality, lower costs, and other helpful business benefits.
How could your business profit from a VoIP system?
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