The best phone system for small businesses
While selecting a phone system for a small business, a lot more thinking is needed. Every penny counts, and you need to get the best out of every deal.
Your phone system should be able to meet the unique demands of your business, such as you should be able to receive calls even when you are out of the office running errands.
A phone system bound to the premises is primitive. Therefore, VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol is the best phone system for small businesses.
Moreover, in the highly competitive business environment, uninterrupted service gives the required edge to your business. High-definition voice calling, video and audio conferencing, team messaging, unlimited extensions, cloud PBX with auto-attendant, and other features and functionalities are not a luxury anymore.
Apart from these features, the most important criterion that makes VoIP phone systems the right choice for a small business is – cost. VoIP services cut telco costs by 70%. But before heading to know more about VoIP, let me explain what is VoIP!
What is VoIP?
VoIP is a technology that allows you to make calls over the internet data network. This ability to call over the internet directly translates into cost savings.
70 to 80 per cent of your telephone bills can be reduced with VoIP. It uses your existing internet connection instead of the regular telephone lines, so you need not pay for fees imposed by the phone company.
The VoIP Phone has two systems – Hybrid IP PBX and Cloud PBX. The Hybrid IP PBX system is a mix of two worlds, allowing you to take advantage of VoIP and SIP. This means you can set it on-premise like a traditional PBX, yet enjoy all the features of the most modern IP PBX.
Cloud PBX enjoys hosting in the cloud, and a majority of those extensions are connected and managed directly over the internet.
VoIP is now becoming a standard business phone system for small and medium businesses. The VoIP phone gives businesses the most needed flexibility with room for future expansion. You can use any device, even your mobile phone, to make and receive calls off your business number. Not only calls VoIP provides features for Unified Communication by enabling you to send text messages, voice messages, media and more.
Why should small businesses choose a VoIP phone system?
Phone systems are essential to any business. 2020 taught us we need agile and flexible technologies that are adaptable as and when required. For instance, in an emergency situation, where you are forced to keep your offices closed, you need a phone that can be carried along by your staff. There’s enough anecdotal evidence to say that nearly one-third of small businesses have already made the transition to VoIP.
If you can relate to any of these frustrations, then you need a VoIP for sure:
- Your monthly telephone bill is more than what you can afford
- You feel your business is tied to a phone system that can neither grow nor move
- You wish to provide more features to your callers, such as an interesting and customised On-Hold message, and other dynamic features that can help build a brand.
Reasons why VoIP is the right choice for small businesses:
- Cost: With VoIP, you can cut your telephone bill down by 70%. That leaves a good margin for small and medium businesses. With cloud PBX, you can bring down your costs further, as it requires no equipment and no maintenance. VoIP allows you to receive calls through your mobile phones and laptops, avoiding installation costs that incur traditional phone systems.
- Flexibility: As a small business, your needs are different to others. VoIP helps you customise by allowing you to pick and choose tools you need for your business. Such as with the 3CX phone system, you can increase or decrease the number of channels active on the network at the click of a button.
- Built-in Backup: Outages due to unexpected incidents are common with traditional phones. The resultant loss from an outage of a business phone can be huge. On the other hand, VoIP allows you to reduce the impact on your business by quickly redirecting calls in response to an outage, or pre-setting routing plans in anticipation of the worst.
- Supports remote working: This is one feature needed in the highly volatile situation we are in now. With remote working capabilities, you can work from any location with any compatible device. VoIP providers make it easy to transition devices through apps that allow you to set up your phone extension on any device.
Features to look for in a small business phone system
- Scalability
- Auto Attendants
- Application for devices
- Conference bridges
- Custom music & on-hold messages
- Remote support
- Disaster recovery
Advantages of VoIP for Small Business
Easy to set up and manage: Business VoIP, 3CX phones, for instance, can be set up in a day. Unlike traditional phone lines that are cumbersome and need several other facilities and connections to make them ring.
Freedom from office: With several ways to use the phone system – such as app, telephone handset and mobile, you are not tied to a premise phone. If you have decent internet, you can make and receive calls from just about anywhere. In case a business owner is unable to answer, they can route it to a colleague or receptionist at the click of a button.
Cost benefits: Traditional phones are way costlier than Business VoIP systems. Setting up a traditional line within your premises can be a costly endeavour. The actual savings on the telco bills can spare a good amount for you to manage other business priorities.
Better service: Hosted PBX offers excellent call quality with stable internet. With several other features like on-hold messages. Several of these features are at par with enterprise-level sophistication.
Unified communication: The most dynamic feature of IP PBX is unified communication. It allows you to share media, make conference calls, hold virtual meetings and more. This is essential when you have remote working staff and overseas clients.
Wide range of features: There is a myriad of call features that users have come to expect from traditional phone lines. These same features are also available with hosted Voice over Internet Protocol systems, including call transfer, call hold, call forwarding, call hunt, auto-attendant phone menus, conference calling, automated assistance and more.
Secured communication: Compared to traditional analogue telephone, VoIP is much more secure as it uses modern standardized encryption protocols.
Advanced features for small and larger teams: With VoIP features such as auto attendant or Live chat, you can provide services at par with larger teams. Better service translates into happy customers.
Also, with a VoIP phone number, you can enjoy a complete local image, even if you have a remote workforce in other countries.
With advanced features like auto attendant and call transferring, VoIP allows even a one-person operation to project the image of a larger company.
Disadvantages of VoIP for a small business
Needs a stable internet: You need a stable internet to operate VoIP phones such as 3CX smoothly. Any hindrance to the internet will disrupt your phone systems too. So you require good internet with sufficient bandwidth.
Latency issues: With poor internet data transmission suffers and one starts experiencing delays, lags and disconnection. However, the most modern VoIP services like 3CX, utilise algorithms that help them deliver a minimum standard quality even with bad internet.
How do I set up a small business phone system?
Finding the right Business VoIP is essential for the success of your business. We can help you with one of the best VoIP phone systems in Perth – 3CX. We are just a call away if you wish to get a no-obligation demo.
For further information on 3CX