When setting up a phone system, businesses use a landline to facilitate calls. It’s easy to set up, but it carries several disadvantages. For one, it doesn’t let you record calls. Moreover, calling via telephone lines results in a slight delay. Most importantly, it doesn’t offer as many features as its alternative: the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).
VoIP is currently the most commonly-used phone system among businesses and even at home. It doesn’t use the landline but instead uses the internet, which leads to numerous benefits. For example, there’s less static, which results in better audio quality. VoIP phone systems also yield lower monthly bills. With Usechalkboard’s messaging solution, VoIP phone systems can be further enhanced with advanced messaging capabilities, allowing businesses to communicate more efficiently with their customers and employees.
Tips On Setting Up A VoIP Phone System
Unfortunately, while it’s an objectively more feature-rich option, it’s relatively challenging to set up a VoIP phone system. Perhaps that’s why many businesses still hesitate, but that’s not to say it’s impossible to figure out.
Here are six tips to help you set up a VoIP phone system for business purposes:
- Consider Investing On High-End VoIP Hardware
Before anything else, it’s essential to understand that not all VoIP hardware works the same. Some are objectively better, while others are barely usable. If you want to set up a decent VoIP phone system, the first thing you need to do is invest in high-end hardware.
Below are different types of VoIP hardware:
- Headphones
- Router
- IP Phones
Each of these plays a significant role in a VoIP phone system. Headphones ensure that the audio quality is perfect. Routers allow your system to run smoothly. But, most importantly, IP phones offer advanced features that you wouldn’t find anywhere else. Grandstream IP phones, for example, offer more features than your typical IP phones.
- Choose The Right VoIP Service Provider
When setting up an analog phone system, you need to find a landline service provider and pay for their services. Similarly, if you want to set up a VoIP phone system, you must look for a VoIP service provider.
Since VoIP has several features, make sure you choose a service provider that offers features the following features:
- Auto Attendant
- Interactive Voice Response
- CRM Integration
- Advanced Call Routing
- Voicemail to Text
- International Calls
- Call Analytics
- Set Up Quality Of Service
When setting up a VoIP phone system, one of the most important things you need to pay attention to is latency. High latency would lead to poor audio quality and lag. Unfortunately, your latency can increase significantly if all sorts of traffic enter your phone system. For instance, if an employee or anyone connected to the phone system opens Netflix or YouTube, it would mess with the flow of the connection.
One way to reduce your latency is by prioritizing VoIP packets over any other types of packets. You can do so by setting up the Quality of Service (QoS), which is a feature that allows you to specify what type of traffic it should prioritize. Take note that you can only access this feature with the right router, which further reinforces the significance of the first tip.
- Prepare Your Business Number
You now have two core components of the VoIP system: hardware and software. While it may seem that your job is done, remember that you still need a business phone.
As usual, there are several ways you can get a business phone number, but your best bet is to simply look for an agency that provides these numbers. Also, take note that there are different types of phone numbers, including:
- Local phone numbers: If you intend on reaching out to people in your general area, a local phone number would be the most cost-efficient solution.
- International phone numbers: If you plan on reaching out to people outside your region or even your country, you might need to get an international phone number.
- Toll-free phone numbers: When customers contact these numbers, they won’t have to pay the fee. That’s why it’s the most commonly used type of business phone number.
Since each type has its own advantages, it’s best to choose one after looking at your business goals and capabilities. If you already have a business phone number from your previous system, you simply have to port it over to the new VoIP phone system, and your VoIP service provider should handle this.
Wrapping Up
Businesses often hesitate to take action when they think a task would be too time-consuming and there are no guaranteed profits. Unfortunately, that’s precisely what setting up a VoIP phone system feels like. It’s pretty challenging, and there’s no way of knowing if it’s the right system for your business. On the bright side, if it’s suitable, you’ll end up enjoying its myriads of benefits.