A Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a telecommunication solution that helps business owners, employees, and customers to communicate using a regular phone network via the internet rather than a phone line.
With the right software, you can call and receive calls from your mobile devices and computer at no extra cost. That’s why the number of businesses switching from traditional hardwired phone systems to VoIP is growing at breakneck speeds. Forbes estimates that over 40% of small businesses currently use VoIP.
So if you’re still using traditional phone systems, you’re jeopardizing your business by losing potential customers, hundreds of productive hours, and more. Wondering how? Here are three ways your competitors are using VoIP to beat you.
Streamlining Business Processes
Using VoIP has a huge impact on productivity and efficiency. First, a unified messaging removes the tedious task of constantly checking voice mails because they’re delivered as emails. It makes it easy to listen, share or forward it to other stakeholders.
Secondly, hosted VoIP apps have collaboration tools to boost productivity. For example, when you want to share a file during a conference, you just IM the file without interrupting the presentation.
And finally, during occurrences such as hurricanes and floods, you won’t lose productivity since VoIP can be cloud-based. Calls can be automatically rerouted to a temporary location.
Managing Businesses From Anywhere
In the past, small businesses were often disadvantaged with small budgets and small staffs. With VoIP, you can make lemonades from these lemons since you and some of your staff can operate from virtually anywhere and anytime for the same cost.
Your mobile devices and computers can function like your desk phones as long as there is an internet connection. This is comforting since you’re sure you can move your business to various locations as it grows without necessarily changing your phone numbers, flyers, business cards or investing in complex IT programming.
Supporting Seasonal Growth
Most small businesses expect to grow in short orders. That means you could face serious operations issues if your business grows too fast. Fortunately, a hosted VoIP supports seasonal growth without the need for a large up-front investment.
For example, if your business grows during Black Friday, tax season or summer months, you just offer phones for extra employees hired at that time. When the season fades, you will scale back and maintain your usual routines.
Clearly, gone are the days when SMBs couldn’t afford big-business phone features such as automated attendants and conferencing. With VoIP, you can get these and more features including instant messaging, file sharing and mobility at the same cost.
At Smart Link Solutions, we believe you can take your business to greater heights with the right telecommunication solution. Contact us today to learn more about these solutions and speak with a VoIP specialist.