Many businesses ask themselves why they should switch from their current phone system to a VoIP phone service. With the “old phones” working fine, does it make sense to switch? Although conditions differ business to business, it’s time to dust off the top five reasons to switch to hosted VoIP phone service!
- Increased Productivity Through Technology Improvements. There once was a time when businesses asked why they should upgrade to Word Processing equipment from typewriters! We may argue that the simpler times were better, however there’s no doubting just how much more productive our companies are made with new technology. VoIP is one such example. There are countless features that are an improvement above old analog systems, and these features will help your company be more productive.
- Improved Communication Internally and Externally – Hosted VoIP service can be programmed to increase the ability to access or communicate with your employees. Whether it is to improve communication and accessibility internally, or improve the communication flow with your customer base, hosted phone service can enable both. Incoming calls can be handled by an auto attendant or backed up by an attendant after attempts are made to an initial ring group. Ring groups, queues, directories, and direct dial numbers are all components of a mix of programming that can improve communications. Find me/follow me features can also be deployed, so your associates can be reached whenever they are needed by your customers!
- Low Investment – You are receiving enterprise level features and productivity improvements for just the upfront cost of the VoIP phones and a few other pieces of minor equipment! The PBX is hosted by your provider and you no longer have to worry about its purchase, maintenance, upgrades, or state of repair. Those facts alone drive many out of the analog business and to the cloud for VoIP. For many of the same reasons companies are moving to cloud based applications, cloud telephony can drive significant benefits. Many companies find that their current phones need upgrade, and the parts are not available. If that is the case, it is definitely time to switch!
- Cost Savings – Productivity improvements many times will dwarf the hard savings in your actual telecom costs, but it always helps to save money on your phone bill! As competition has increased in the business telecommunications marketplace, traditional providers have also been addressing their rates. However, with hosted VoIP companies, they may still be able to generate cost savings through their unlimited local and long distance calling plans and other elements that will lower your monthly telecommunication costs.
- No Administration Costs or Headaches – Imagine being out of the phone equipment business! No longer will you need to pay for service calls to move phones around, worry about the longevity of your current technology, or maintain your phones in any way. Good hosted providers take care of all of that for you.
Perhaps the best argument for switching is to make sure your company takes advantages of all of the improvements before your competition does! Businesses are switching every day, and it is accelerating, so jump on board and make the switch!
About the author: Mark Greim is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at sipVine, a provider of a variety of digital phone solutions and services. Mark has extensive experience working for start-up or entrepreneurial organizations and a passion for affordable, reliable, and purposeful technology solutions in those environments.
