Business phone systems are the most crucial aspect of business sustainability. From team coordination to customer service, office phone systems are the backbone of your employee productivity and customer communication. Therefore, it is essential to choose a reliable business telephone systems provider.
In the last few years, more and more businesses have replaced their traditional business phone system with VoIP phone systems. The VoIP phone system market is expected to exhibit 15% CAGR growth between 2021 and 2027. If you have been thinking of switching to VoIP as your telephone system for small businesses, here is a quick guide to help you choose the best service provider.
5 questions to ask before switching your business phone system
Clarity on your motive to switch business phone system is essential to choosing the right service provider. So, here are some questions that can help you in gaining clarity.
- Why do you think that your existing service provider is not suitable?
- Do you experience frequent missed calls? What are the possible reasons? (downtime, remote employees, lack of any feature)
- Are your phone bills higher than you had estimated? What could be the reason? (hidden costs, higher rates on international calls, extra charges levied on a specific feature without notification, etc.)
- Has your work model changed in the past two years? Does your business phone system support the current work model adequately?
- Which type of business phone system can boost the flexibility of your employees? (Afterall, employee happiness affects your business productivity)
Essential 10-point checklist when switching business phone systems
Telephone systems for small businesses play a significant role in bridging communication gaps among co-workers, employees, and customers. Therefore, you must consider some key factors while choosing a business phone system service provider.
1. Type of phone business system
Evaluate your existing business phone system to understand what type of phone system is required for your business. IP PBX, cloud PBX, and VoIP business phone systems are some of the latest business phone systems you can choose from.
2. Feature and functionality
Business phone systems come with a plethora of features such as conferencing, ACD, call queueing, call forwarding, media sharing, etc. Every service provider offers some features that are included in the package or can be included as an add-on. Check out all the features and opt for the ones that are essential for your business.
3. Ease of Use
When changing phone business systems, it is essential to assure that your employees can adapt them with ease. The office phone systems must not be too complex. Employees must comfortably execute their jobs through the business phone system.
4. Flexibility
As the business landscape is transforming, you must consider the future communication needs of your business. If you are also thinking of switching to a hybrid or remote work model, choose a service provider that can provide your employees with the flexibility and mobility to work from anywhere.
5. Scalability
When the business grows, you need to scale your employee numbers as well. Therefore, the business phone system service provider must be able to accommodate the new users. Moreover, it must be simple to scale up or even scale down.
6. Ease of transition
Installation, configuration, adaptation- all the processes involved during the transition of the business phone system must be smooth and hassle-free. Always choose a service provider that supports your team to transit into the new office phone system easily.
7. Security
Customers demand privacy and security of their data when they share it with your business. As most communication flows through business phone systems, check the security compliances and measures like encryption to prevent data breaches in case of cyber attacks.
8. Disaster recovery
In case of any business crisis, your business phone system plays a crucial role in bringing back operations on track. It is essential for a business phone system service provider to have a disaster recovery plan to save your business from disruptions due to an unprecedented event.
9. Customer support
When business phone systems experience any technical glitch, it is the service provider’s customer support that holds the hand of the business from falling apart. Enquire about the service provider’s customer support before selecting them as your business communications partner.
10. Pricing
Even if budget is not a constraint for your business, it is imperative to look into the pricing policy, terms & conditions laid down by the service provider. You must scrutinize if there are any hidden charges. Always select the business phone system service provider who practices transparency in pricing.
5 red flags to watch out for in your business phone system services provider
Don’t wait too long to switch your office phone system provider! Every minute you are missing out on opportunities for an unreliable business phone systems provider. Here are some red signals that you must not neglect.
- Longer downtime resulting in communication interruption
- Obsolete hardware restricting employee performance
- System overload due to business growth or new users
- Poor technical support from the provider
- Lack of feature upgradation to meet evolving communication needs
Being stuck with the wrong business phone system service provider can jeopardize your business operations as well as customer relationships. Therefore, if you notice any of the above red flags, it’s better to switch the service provider.
Reshape telecommunication with the best business phone systems service provider
With a ton of players in the market, it can be perplexing to choose the most reliable business phone systems service provider for your business.
However, if you follow the given checklist, you can shortlist the names of some reliable service providers. Align the offerings of the business phone systems service provider with your business needs today and in the future to choose the most suitable telecommunication system for your business. HoduSoft is a renowned name in the field of unified communication. It helps SMEs, startups, and mid-sized businesses to establish a flexible business phone system with maximum uptime to ensure seamless business communication and collaboration.
