A new kind of phone service company is emerging in the marketplace. Now, every business can choose between a traditional carrier and company that is more of a partner with you. Because Hosted VoIP Service providers supply both the phones and the phone service, they are positioned well to serve your voice communication needs. The right one can help your business soar!
Here are some questions you can ask to help you find the “right” hosted VoIP provider:
Who installs our phones and service? Many hosted VoIP companies drop ship their phones and expect a “plug and play” scenario. That works fine if you are not concerned about your voice quality. The right solution includes the installation of a piece of hardware within your network to perform traffic prioritization. Additionally, the right provider would be there to help “marry” the voice and data network for you. You may want power over Ethernet switches, separate vlans, etc., and this should not be expected to be on your shoulders.
Who administers our service? Many hosted providers want you to do this yourself through a portal to their system. Our experience tells us this works well for simple changes, but not for more complex items like call flow changes, auto attendant programming, line appearance changes on the phones, and other advanced feature administration. The right provider will serve as your “phone department”, where you simply can rely on them to take care of all your administrative needs.
We have offices across the country. Can you service all of our employees? This is a great advantage of VoIP providers when compared to the large telecom companies. The right provider can provide service across the country over any high speed internet connection. Creating a common phone platform for all your employees delivers many other advantages as well.
What features do you have that can help our business? Certainly, by offering both the phone system and phone service, VoIP providers are in a unique position to deliver numerous robust calling features that the traditional phone service providers cannot replicate. However, the right VoIP provider will answer this question with a question: “Can you tell us about your business and the communication traffic flow today?” This sets the stage for them to customize the configuration to meet your needs and to take full advantage of the feature set.
Do you require contracts for your service? This is where the rubber hits the road! The right provider will not require that you sign a term agreement for the best prices or to lock you into their service for a period of time. They will seek to earn your business each and every day through the delivery of quality calls and timely service and administration, earning the designation as your “partner” in the communication function for your business!
