The global pandemic and the subsequent rise of “Remote” and “Hybrid” work cultures have shown that businesses have a clear need for an ability to work from anywhere, anytime. Enabling remote employees requires cloud solutions. Such as collaborative platforms like Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, Project Management tools like Basecamp and Asana, and Time Management Tools like Toggl or Clockify.
But what are you supposed to do with all the client facing roles? What do you do when 80% of your customer support or sales department works from home? Will you make them use their mobile phones? Or maybe connect a landline to each of their houses? VoIP phone systems can be extremely helpful in this case.
VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) allows employees to stay connected with customers and colleagues no matter where they work from. Employees can work from home and still answer the business phone line, and callers get a similar experience no matter where employees may be working, office or home.
According to Microsoft, 82% of organizations have reported saving money after implementing VoIP.
While VoIP is clearly the way to go, this doesn’t mean it’s easy to set up. Companies that don’t set up their system properly, can experience issues like dropped calls, low bandwidth, and huge amount of useless features. It’s always better to reach out to professional IT service.
But if you are brave enough to try to set up your cloud phone system by yourself, check out these tips below.
Enabling a VoIP system is not a simple task and may require adjustments to your network to ensure it can handle the extra bandwidth needs. Review router settings to make sure it can handle peak traffic times, check for jitter and packet loss, and be prepared to address issues such as dropped calls or choppy audio. Adjustments to network hardware and/or increasing ISP bandwidth may be necessary to ensure a successful implementation.
Quality of Service (QoS) is a feature in many routers that allows you to prioritize certain types of network traffic. Without QoS, certain activities such as large cloud backups may take up too much bandwidth and interrupt your calls. By setting up “traffic lanes” and prioritizing your VoIP software, you can ensure that it has the bandwidth it needs to function smoothly and avoid interruptions from less critical processes. Implementing QoS can improve the reliability of your cloud phone system and also be beneficial for other crucial cloud-based activities.
VoIP phone systems offer the ability to set up ring groups, which can greatly improve the caller experience. By first creating department groups (such as accounting or marketing) and then including employee extensions, a call can be directed to the entire customer support department rather than just one individual, ensuring that the first available person can pick up. This reduces wait time for the caller and can also eliminate the need for them to leave a voicemail and wait for a callback.
In addition to improving the caller experience, ring groups can also increase the efficiency of your customer support team. By distributing calls among the members of the group, it reduces the pressure on any one individual and allows for more calls to be handled at once.
Auto attendants, which are commonly found in VoIP systems, can greatly aid in managing calls. The process begins with setting up a company directory and recording prompts for the caller. For instance, a message can be created that guides the caller to input the last name of the person they wish to reach. If they are not calling a specific person, they can be directed to a department. Though setting up a company directory may require some initial effort, it ultimately saves time and improves the customer experience by allowing callers to reach the right person or department faster. Additionally, it increases office productivity by eliminating the need for someone to manually route every call.
Auto attendants also provide convenience to the caller as it allows them to quickly navigate through the options available, without the need to speak to a live operator. Additionally, it can be customized to include after-hours or holiday hours, to ensure that the caller is always directed to the right person or department, even if the office is closed.
Testing your system thoroughly before going live is essential to ensure that all features and settings are working as intended. This includes making test calls, checking voicemail, testing call forwarding and transferring, and checking the caller ID and other call features. This will also help to identify and resolve any potential issues before they can affect your live calls. It’s a good idea to test the system with different devices and different internet connections to ensure compatibility and to check if there are any compatibility issues with any specific hardware or software.
Regularly monitoring the performance of your system and addressing any issues promptly will help to ensure that your calls are always clear and reliable. This includes monitoring call quality, checking for dropped calls, and monitoring the system’s overall performance. It also includes troubleshooting and resolving any issues that may arise. Regularly monitoring the system will help you to identify and fix any problems before they can affect your calls. Additionally, keeping track of the call logs, usage and other system statistics can provide valuable insights and help to optimize the performance of the system over time.
Need help improving your business phone system? Looking for a better customer experience? We can help!
Here at EB Solution, we have more than a decade of experience helping small and mid-size businesses throughout Toronto overcome their IT challenges and achieve their growth goals. We leverage high-level technology, technical expertise, and the latest resources to help them deal with their IT issues more effectively as well as provide day-to-day support needs like network monitoring and maintenance, business continuity and disaster recovery, cybersecurity, and VoIP telephony.
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