A VoIP Phone System: It’s In Your Business’ Best Interest
A Customer Center entry from May 18, 2007
by Erik Linask - Associate Editor, Internet Telephony magazine
As an employer, you would like to ensure your employees have the best tools at their disposal as they conduct their daily business — and that includes a phone system that includes the latest features.
Perhaps you have an older key phone system that doesn’t have a caller ID. That increases the likelihood of employees letting important calls go into voice mail. Or perhaps it’s a decade-old TDM phone system that doesn’t support conferencing. An older phone system does not have the capacity to support company directories, or many of the other features that are simplified on a new IP-based phone system.
Indeed, the features available on a new next generation phone system are countless. they include all the basic functionality of outdated your existing — and outdated — TDM phone system, as well as a variety of productivity enhancing features available only a new IP phone system.
Certainly, the expense of tearing out your existing phone system and installing a new IP phone system has to be considered. But, factoring in merely the cost savings that can be achieved with a VoIP phone system, the expense can be recovered very quickly by not having to pay high PSTN long distance fees. In addition, the productivity gains your staff will enjoy with an IP-based phone system can not only save considerable time, but can also make your employees more accessible with various access means.
For instance, they will no longer have to look up co-workers’ extensions in a file or on a sheet of paper; they can use the company directory that is part of your new phone system to quickly scroll to the right colleague and dial the extension with the touch of a single button. Or, with a new IP phone system, they can transfer calls to other extensions, including virtual extensions anywhere in the world.
A new VoIP phone system also allows you to set up advanced IVR features, ensuring call are efficiently routed to the most appropriate extensions, saving time and ultimately increasing customer satisfaction. Conferencing features on a new phone system allow your employees to easily conference in co-workers, wherever they are, instead of having to take the time to set up a conference bridge, as they likely are required to do with your existing phone system.
The list of enhanced features available when you replace your legacy phone system with a new VoIP phone system goes on — call recording, simple adds and changes, simple Web-based administration, on-touch call control options, voice and data integration, and more. What’s more, even ignoring the fact that your investment in a new phone system will pay off in mere months, a new phone system is available now for any size business at a price point that makes it nearly impossible not to consider adopting a new IP-based phone system.
Please, knowing that it is in the best interest of your business, get rid of your antiquated, cumbersome phone system today, and replace it with a new, cost effective, feature rich VoIP phone system. The productivity improvements and the cost savings your new phone system will bring will be evident from day one.
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Erik Linask is Associate Editor of INTERNET TELEPHONY, IMS Magazine, and SIP Magazine. Prior to joining TMC, he was Managing Editor at Global Custodian, an international securities services publication. To see more of his articles, please visit Erik Linask’s columnist page.
— May 18, 2007
