One of the foremost and curial tasks, when you are starting a business, is to ensure you have reliable phone access. Even though you perform most of the work on networked computers, but you still need a phone for daily communications. In such a situation, having a traditional landline can get expensive. Plus, they are challenging to reconfigure or scale up as your business grows. This calls for having a VoIP service instead. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems are growing in popularity as internet connectivity speeds steadily increase and high-speed internet access becomes more widely available.
Whether you're a small team or an established business with over 100+ people, you can put business VoIP to your use. It also comes with lots of benefits that makes it a better choice as compared to the traditional phone lines. Let's have a look at some of them:
With the advancement in technology, VoIP technology has evolved considerably over the past few years. In spite of this proliferation, many people harbor fallacies regarding this technology. For instance, quite a few numbers of managers consider that VoIP is too complicated to set up for daily use. At times, it can seem overwhelming to transit to new technology as it involves making big business decisions. However, for business enterprises, VoIP is only as complex as you make it. Several factors determine the level of difficulty involved in the configuration process of a VoIP phone system.
First of all, the level of difficulty depends on your requirements and how you want the system to work. If you design the communication system before time, it will be much easier to set up a VoIP. Secondly, the VoIP phone system entirely depends on internet stability. If you have poor network infrastructure, you need to improve that first before switching. VoIP phones are easier to install, even for someone who has limited technical knowledge. You don't even need any extra hardware. All you need is a computer, VOIP software, and headsets to start using the service. This substantially reduces the maintenance cost if you estimate how many lines you need. Your cost will cut if you have high-speed broadband internet, set up a budget, and finally choose the right vendor who offers a full suite of VoIP services.
With a traditional phone, you have to estimate how many phone lines you will need. After the phone is set up, it's extremely challenging to add more phone lines. This is because scaling up your business operations requires money, space, and crew. All three of which may be in short supply, specifically for small- and mid-sized businesses whose needs and demands may vary frequently. Luckily, those who are looking for a scalable business communication solution can rely on a VoIP system. Therefore, if you have a seasonal business, are launching a new campaign, or are growing/downsizing your business, you can trust in VoIP to take care of your changing business communication requirements. As a result, you can enjoy increased productivity and efficiency.
VoIP has many advantages over traditional phone systems, but one of the biggest reasons many businesses prefer handling calls through the internet is a centralized phone system manager. It transmits voice and data more cheaply and reliably. Adding or removing more users in a VoIP system is a piece of cake. You can manage your users through a VoIP account, where changes are simple and instant. Consequently, you don't have to pay for a technical assistant to add or remove users. Plus, users share minutes under one single plan, so this is cost-effective. With VoIP, you can have one mainline and assign extensions to all your employees. This way, you only pay for the phone number and can get the extensions are free. VoIP plans eliminate paying for unnecessary lines and significantly cuts costs for small businesses.
In a fast-moving business environment, you have to ensure that your telecommunication provider can move fast to provide you with new tools to meet your new demands. As compared to a traditional copper wire phone system, your business communication system becomes more flexible if you switch to a VoIP. The flexibility aspect of VoIP works for offices with a "hot desking" environment, which you can find in workplaces with flexible schedules for employees. All it requires is a simple configuration, and you can add or remove phone numbers on your plan. With a single click, you can integrate apps and other tech and monitor what is going on through an admin account. Most of the highly-recommended VoIP phone service providers offer a user-friendly interface to manage your account. You can check call logs, access voicemails, block phone numbers, and view other useful information on the go by simply logging in to your VoIP account. This makes communication management way easier than you could even imagine.
Another key feature highlighting the flexibility of VoIP is the ability to move phones without having to reprogram them or install new lines. Since it operates with a broadband connection, that's all you need to use the phone service. All it takes is for someone to plug the phone into an open jack. If a user moves the office, he or she can move the phone system to the new office. VoIP phones are portable so that they can move with people wherever they need to work. That's why it's best if you have employees spread across different parts of the world.
When VoIP service first rolled around, its substantial problems were voice delay and voice interruption. Calls would drop for no apparent reason, and the voice quality itself was bogus. All these sound issues appear because of poor internet connectivity or bad quality of audio compression. Today, as long as you have a fast and stable internet connection, voice quality is an issue no more. VoIP calls tend to be clear and crisp, and there is no issue of call dropouts. It all depends on a robust connection with good bandwidth. There are no phone interruptions so you can primarily focus on the meeting's minutes.
Unlike a traditional phone system, a VoIP system supports a wide range of call features that a business might need. This plethora of features is designed to streamline the call management process while a few are meant to improve the customer experience or help teams work more efficiently together. Below is a list of the VoIP call features you can have.
Caller screening ' If you are looking for a reason to switch to VoIP from your traditional landline, call screening feature could be the one. It is a useful VoIP feature for business owners who want to prioritize calls when answering their phones. Plus, you can receive incoming calls with Caller ID details to decide whether to take the call, decline it, or send it to voicemail.
Call transfer ' This VoIP call feature lets you transfer a call from one phone or number to another phone or number. You can also transfer the call to another service like voicemail.
Follow me, find me ' VoIP phone service allows you to redirect unanswered calls to specified numbers in a pre-specified order.
Conference calling ' Add a new participant to your ongoing call and even drop them from the call without disconnecting with the original party.
Music on Hold ' Keep your callers on-line and engaged using VoIP Music on Hold feature. All you have to do is press the Hold button during a call to keep your callers from hanging up on you.
Call blocking ' VoIP phone systems allow you to block specific numbers from calling you. With a simple configuration, you can block international outbound calls to save yourself some serious bucks.
Voicemail ' If you can't take the call, for any reason, the voicemail feature of VoIP phone systems prompts the user to leave a message in your absence that you can listen to later. With the advancement in technology, some efficient VoIP service providers offer visual voicemail that transcripts the message into words that you can read anytime.
Auto-attendant ' An auto attendant phone system greets and routes inbound calls to prespecified extensions, phones, or voicemail boxes automatically. Most business phone services offer this feature at a minimal price.
Call recording - Call recording - Most VoIP service providers offer some form of call recording features. Some VoIP providers include it in their service plan or charge as an add-on feature.
A good VoIP solution provides a handful of advanced features, including Do Not Disturb, alternate caller ID, distinctive ring, simultaneous ring, and softphone support.
One of the biggest concerns of any business technology is reliability. The advance system with an extensive range of features will be useless for a business if it doesn't work properly or when it is required the most. Software and hardware may require maintenance or downtime for updates. On the other hand, unexpected downtime, errors, or bugs can cause frustration and interrupt workflow. VoIP technology depends on the internet, so what if your internet connection goes down? There are several ways to protect your phone system. One such option is to use a mobile (LTE) connection as a backup.
One of the benefits of VoIP flexibility is that in the event of an office phone going down due to lack of network, calls can always be forwarded to mobile phones and other devices. That also means weather issues and power outages no longer present the risk they once did. Several VoIP service providers offer VoIP failover feature that lets you pick up your VoIP phone calls from your cell phone when your IP-only phone dies.
A throwback to older times, even though faxing is still prevalent in many industries. Probably, this is because faxing has ceased to be the primary means of transmitting documents within the workplace. VoIP phone systems come with a virtual faxing feature that allows you to send faxes whenever necessary. The best part is you don't even need a fax machine and paper for that. You can send and receive faxes by simply using your email account. Affordable VoIP fax systems use the Internet in much of the same way that the old fax system used a line and a fax number. The only major difference is that VoIP is digital. The older phone system is based on a public switched telephone network (PSTN) and is an analog system. VoIP fax even allows users to sign their messages electronically.
Since VoIP is a hosted system, it is easy to integrate with the business applications that we use daily. VoIP systems integrate with other apps, software, and technology solutions. You can create a unified communication system within your company that makes it easier for everyone to stay up to date, use all the tools effectively, and communicate internally or externally. For instance, you can use Outlook to place outbound calls and even access your voicemail accounts through email. Different business VoIP systems are compatible with instant messaging services, voice messages, central inboxes, and single number reach.
Integration offers many benefits for your business, especially when it involves voice calling. Many reputable VoIP service providers offer one-click Integration with popular enterprise tools such as CRM apps, HR software, etc. They may charge extra for each integration. CRM tools like Salesforce, Zendesk, Box, Outlook, and more are essential business tools that allow companies to store, access, and organize customer data. By syncing a VoIP phone system with CRM tools, you can maximize and combine the advantages of these two critical platforms. This integration enhances the customer experience, helps you gain insight on employee performance, and subsequently upsurges the efficiency of the system.
Distance or location makes no difference to a VoIP phone system. You don't have to be physically located in the same place to take calls. VoIP lets you divert calls to anywhere in the world all thanks to the cloud-hosted VoIP system features. Users can conveniently access the web portal anytime regardless of their location and reconfigure their system. It's perfect for employees who travel a lot. The right VoIP solution allows users to answer and make calls on their mobile devices. With the softphone app installed, they can turn their mobile phone into an extension of their desk phone so that they can take the call when working outside the office or on the road.
As the name suggests, a VoIP phone system uses Internet Protocol to make calls. All communication data is turned into packets and sent over the IP network. On the other hand, calls placed over landlines mean that a line is taken up by the two callers using it to communicate. Traditional phone lines can be very expensive, especially if you need to make frequent calls to international clients. But VoIP has reduced this expense to a massive scale. Plus, you don't need any hardware, and scaling up or down doesn't cost much and there is no need for expensive repairs. You don't even have to worry about the maintenance. Also, the use of softphones and calling applications saves businesses from having to buy handsets for all their employees. The same service and features they receive on a $300 VoIP handset are available on the softphone they install on their computer or mobile device.
Businesses that use VoIP are often given the ability to make VoIP-to-VoIP calls over the internet for free. All you have to do is pay for the VoIP plan. Monthly or annual business plans are affordable and give you the chance to customize and get more of what you need without getting an unnecessarily huge bundle. VoIP plans can be customized to fit your needs. For a startup who has to take care of a lot of other business expenses, a huge amount of capital investment will not be necessary to use the VoIP service. Overall, VoIP can end up improving your bottom line by cutting your communications expenses considerably.
If you have decided to switch to a VoIP system, here are a few factors you need to consider:
The first step when it comes to choosing the right VoIP solution is assessing your company size and business demands. You need to consider your business needs and your company's geographical location to pick the right option.
This should be your prime consideration to look for in a VoIP service provider. While you may prefer the most affordable option you can find, you still need to ensure the quality of the service provider with no dropouts or poor call quality on the other end.
Look for a VoIP service provider that offers more than one plan for the service. Based on your company's needs, you can choose the most preferred option.
Customer support is one of the most important factors to consider when making the buying decision for VoIP service. Look for a service provider offering 24/7 customer support.
It is challenging to find the best VoIP service provider out of the lot. Another important thing you need is to ask for a satisfaction guarantee. Several companies offer a trial version and a money-back guarantee.
Look for the offered call features before making the final decision. Call forwarding, call waiting, conference calling, caller ID, and voicemail are some of the must-have VoIP features.
Go for providers offering additional features with no extra charges. Some of the useful features to look out for, include enhanced 911 service, voicemail transcription, call filter, call blocking, and call recording.
Look for third-party integrations that you can use to connect your VoIP service to other tools like your CRM software, email marketing service, and more. Look for vendors that support a healthy dose of extensions.
Be sure to look for authentic customer reviews and testimonials of the service provider you choose. You can find quality reviews on different review websites. You can also call the company to get further information about their service.
There are hundreds of VoIP services available in the market, so we know it can be quite a challenge to choose the right VoIP solution. There are endless reasons to choose Axvoice; we are just mentioning a few here:
Axvoice doesn't just promise that the service is affordable ' it is the most affordable VoIP service you will ever get in the U.S. and Canada. It offers high-quality calling just at a marginal price of what others are charging. It offers free in-network calling with every Axvoice residential or business plan.
One of the prominent features of Axvoice VoIP is how it allows you to manage your VoIP phone without a phone. You can access your Axvoice account from anywhere and anytime using any web-browser-based device. By simply logging in to your Axvoice online account using the login ID and password that is provided to you, you can configure your VoIP settings. For instance, you can access your call activities, block/unblock numbers, access voicemails right away from your inbox, and so on. You can manage all your call forwarding preferences and blacklist settings through your account. You can get all your billing information in a single click. This makes the VoIP account management way easier than you could have ever imagined. The interface is simple and user-friendly. All the tabs are self-explanatory, and still, if you have any issues or queries regarding any feature or service, it also offers a direct link to your customer support agent.
Axvoice is the most affordable VoIP phone system in the U.S. AXvoice is all about an unparalleled VoIP calling experience and that too without breaking the bank.
Virtual Number ' Add any number from any area code to your account for $3.99/month.
Toll-Free Numbers - Axvoice offers toll-free numbers with nationwide coverage within the U.S. and Canada.
Axvoice provides high-quality calls. It has designed its VoIP phone service by considering two major factors: reliability and customer service. We use the best technology to ensure crystal-clear call quality.
With Axvoice, you can take your desk phone home or away from the office, plug into high-speed internet, and get the full VoIP features you have back at the office. With the 'Work from anywhere' feature, users can work virtually and connect to their system functionality no matter where they are. You can take your VOIP phone anywhere with you. All you need is an internet connection and, you can easily make/receive calls.
Axvoice customer support is quite responsive to email and the performance of customer service is more than satisfactory. You can submit a ticket, and the support agent will contact you as soon as possible. Though there is no live chat support, the website offers bundles of resource materials, guides, and FAQs to facilitate the users.
Axvoice offers a 15-day money-back guarantee. If you cancel your service within 15 days of the activation, you can get a refund. Though the shipping fees are non-refundable, your monthly service fee and phone adapter charges are refundable.
To get started, all you need is a high-speed internet connection, an Ethernet port to connect to the AxVoice adapter, and a smartphone. AxVoice provides a phone adapter that connects to the phone and the internet router. If you want to use AxVoice on your phone, you can simply download a softphone app and configure it with your AxVoice web-based account.
You are at an internet caf' and receive an important business call on your laptop. You are on the road and listen to an important voicemail through your email inbox. Your business has a phone number with a Texas area code while your office is in Colorado. Welcome to the world of VoIP!
Sensibly, any suggestion that requires an entire transition in companies' operation sounds too risky. Considering a switch to a VoIP phone system can be confusing with all of the services that are available in the market. The benefits of VoIP systems are numerous. With VoIP service, your phone can travel over the internet. This service cuts your telecommunication costs while maximizing your productivity. It is because of these benefits, lots of businesses have switched to VoIP services already.
No matter the size of your business, it is time you consider these benefits and make a move. When you do decide to go ahead with VoIP, consider all your available options and make a wise decision based on your business needs. If you notice, you would see that as compared to other VoIP service providers Axvoice is not only affordable but offers an expansive range of features with a no-questions-asked refund policy.
