In today’s hyper-connected and competitive market, more businesses are turning to virtual phone systems to stay relevant and optimize their operations and enhance communications. If you’ve outgrown your traditional wired business phone system and want to make a change, it’s time to consider switching to a virtual phone system.
"No matter the size or industry, and especially with the
trend of remote workers becoming more commonplace,
a virtual phone system allows you and your employees to
never miss a call and to always stay connected."
Hosted through an Internet connection, virtual business phone systems keep your technology and information offsite in the cloud instead of hosting the wires and switches at a specific location like your office. Virtual PBX, which stands for private branch exchange, is a fancy way of describing a phone system that uses the internet or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) instead of traditional phone lines. Virtual systems are inexpensive, feature-rich, offer a great deal of flexibility and are easy to set up and use.
For companies with a dispersed workforce that span across multiple physical locations, virtual phone systems can unite and streamline communications. No matter the size or industry, and especially with the trend of remote workers becoming more commonplace, a virtual phone system allows you and your employees to never miss a call and to always stay connected.
Not only can a virtual phone system improve your business efficiency, lower support and administration costs, one of its biggest advantages is that it can also give you piece of mind knowing that you can access your business phone line from anywhere and that connections won’t be compromised in case of emergencies.
Here are some benefits of virtual phone systems and why you should make the switch today.
1. Gain more phone features. With virtual numbers, you typically receive a host of features including an auto attendant, call forwarding, voicemail transcription, fax to email, professional greetings, conferencing ability, mobile apps and more. These are features you wouldn’t get using a personal cell phone for fielding business calls. For example, call screening is an option that allows you to prioritize your calls when you’re out; answer the critical ones and send other calls to voicemail — all without the caller on the other end knowing the difference. An auto attendant can also route a call back to the appropriate employee so that there are no missed calls and business opportunities.
2. Reap immediate cost savings. Even with the features you’re accustomed to in landlines and these additional advanced features, a virtual phone system is actually quite affordable when you compare it to a traditional office-based phone which requires expensive hardware, lengthy set-up and ongoing maintenance and upgrades. A virtual phone system can save you time and money. With all the components in the cloud, you don’t have to purchase hardware and software — you just access phone services and manage it through your internet connection, paying a flat monthly rate.
3. Boost the professionalism of your business. With a virtual system, you can make and take calls from your smartphone and the phone number that shows up is a landline number for your business and not your actual mobile number. This allows you to keep your business and personal communications separate. The benefit is two-fold: this lends your company a more cohesive, professional image but also protects your personal information and privacy. Calls can also be set up so that they are automatically answered with a customized greeting and allow the caller to search the company directory. Usually, you can also assign a toll-free number to your business line too, which is a great way to expand your business and reach new markets.
4. Increase productivity on the move. Today’s office is a mobile world where employees can work when they want to, from anywhere, and are no longer tied to their office desk for calls, faxes and files. By switching to a virtual phone system, your staff can go on their sales calls, meet with vendors and still stay connected to the business with features like receiving voicemails as MP3 files to email and faxes that can be saved as PDFs in an inbox. This flexibility allows your workforce to integrate different devices beyond their desk phone so that everything from their mobile phone or tablet can be a point of contact.
5. Flexibility to grow with your business. A virtual phone system in the cloud is easily managed through an online management portal so you can effectively ‘plug and play’ upon setup. A significant advantage is scalability as you can easily add phone lines and remove them as needed. This gives you the freedom and flexibility to expand your phone system and add extensions for your company as it grows. A virtual phone number can also easily move with you even when you shift or add office locations and won’t affect existing services or call quality.
