May 27, 2015
If there is one ubiquitous piece of equipment in the workplace, it's the telephone. A staple of office communication for decades, many people still have an outdated view of phone system capabilities. The concept that a phone system should be built to make and answer calls underestimates the power of and underutilizes the capabilities of modern phone systems.
Your company's telephone systems can, and should, do more than just enable your employees to answer calls. A well-designed system can enhance customer service, improve the delivery of your core services, support call demand and enable the mobility of your workforce (including remote employees).
Virtualized Call-Control System
A virtualized call-control system provides an instant upgrade to your company's business phone systems. Now, your phones won't just answer calls, but will better manage the interactions between your company, employees and customers. The greatest benefit of virtualized phone systems is that you now have one disaster recovery plan that covers your entire database, as well as line of business and voice applications.
Unified Communications
This integrated suite of tools goes where you go and amps up your ability to collaborate. Meet with customers, partners and colleagues anytime and anywhere using the tool of your choice, whether that's instant messaging, audio, Voice over IP, video or integrated web conferencing. With Unified Communications, all of your phone, video, data and mobile applications are synced up and in one convenient place.
Scalability
An older phone system cannot grow easily when your company expands. As your business grows, so will your phone system needs. Traditionally, expanding a phone system required the installation of new physical lines and handsets. Today, virtualized systems make it easy to add enough new lines to match the number of inbound and outbound calls, without maxing out the number of lines required to keep communication open.
Reliability
Virtual hardware keeps your business phone systems online with impressive call answer rates, which older systems simply cannot match. If your company occupies a niche or industry that has high-demand seasons (such as summer or the holidays), you need to know that your phone system won't go down when customer calls increase.
Older phone systems typically consisted of one box and one power supply. Upgrading to virtual software means utilizing the power and flexibility of multiple hosts to run your business phone system. If one host goes down or suffers a technological failure, your services reroute to a different host seamlessly. The result is little to no disruption in service to your customers.
Mobility
With a traditional phone system, your employees are tied to the phone number on the line that connects to the handset at their desk. If they work from a different desk on any given day, they are cutoff from the calls to their direct line. For your remote employees, separate lines had to be run to their off-site locations to keep them connected.
A virtualized business phone system offers hot-desk capabilities that provide your employees with the mobility needed to remain productive regardless of where they choose to work. Hot-desk solutions allow your employees to answer calls from their primary line even when they are away from their desk. For your remote employees, virtualized business phone systems provide them with access to reliable phone lines and professional business extensions that keep them in the loop while serving your customers from anywhere.
Smooth Transitions
Many businesses avoid upgrading their phone systems out of concern for the transition process. Contrary to popular belief however, shedding your old phone system in favor of advanced business phone systems is seamless and easy to complete. Your virtual hardware can be installed side by side with your current infrastructure, allowing your business to continue fielding regular calls and following regular processes. Your customers won't notice when the transition takes place. When it's complete, your employees will have a new phone system that allows them to better communicate with your customers and one another.
Your business should have a phone system that matches your operations, both today and in the future. Virtual phone systems offer services and features that go beyond the simple ability to pick up a handset and say "hello." Modern business phone systems offer scalability to grow with your company, reliability to keep your business connected to its customers and mobility to free your employees from physical phone lines so they can go where the work takes them.
