Switch your phone systems and a better way of doing business

The end of pandemic restrictions is giving businesses a chance to plan for long-term savings

Trade

In association with IP Telecom

As pandemic-imposed restrictions lift and workers reconsider their working environment, many businesses are looking for ways to optimise communications and reduce unnecessary expenditure.

Perhaps one of the easiest ways that a business can achieve both these objectives is to make the switch to business VoIP now. This is particularly relevant now as we’re just a few short years from a shutdown of the old PSTN network across Europe.

The benefits of making the switch to VoIP right now are manyfold and is the equivalent of going from an analogue, 088 mobile (remember them) straight to an iPhone 13 on a 5G network.

Unlike standard PSTN landlines, VoIP not only eliminates your line rental costs but also gives you a host of advanced features like smart call routing, call recording, diary-based forwarding, and video conferencing. All with the benefit of a simple to use online interface to make adjustments.

Call quality is superb too. Chances are you’ve had hundreds of calls with other businesses using VoIP and never noticed the difference. Going beyond this, we in IP Telecom now have HD Audio quality across our network making you sound even clearer on calls and video.

The flexibility that VoIP brings to your communications cannot be underestimated. When the pandemic struck, we were able to pick up our laptops knowing that if a call came to our deskphone in the office, we could answer it on our laptop or via an app on our mobile phones. This was equally applicable pre-pandemic when we were off-site meeting customers or on the road, something we’re looking forward to getting back to.

Internal calling is reinvigorated too. No more dialling the extension and having the call forwarded to a mobile (meaning the company bears the cost of the forwarding leg) – dial the extension and the app rings – all across the data connection – so no additional costs here.

This is vital for the new way of doing business. The ‘anytime anywhere’ approach allows businesses the flexibility to maintain customer communications no matter where colleagues are based. With hybrid working set to be the model for many businesses, companies are embracing VoIP based communication solutions that allow this approach.

VoIP-based phone systems such as the IP Telecom Hosted Phone enhances business processes and eliminates duplicated efforts. Because of the way it’s built, our phone solution integrates fully with your existing business software and platforms. Calls can be made through CRM platforms such as Salesforce and Zoho, allowing colleagues to make and receive calls that both pulls up the customer record instantaneously (making for a great customer experience) and makes a record of the latest interaction with the customer, which gives you the metrics you need for quality control.

Collaboration software such as GSuite, Microsoft Teams and Slack are also integrated allowing for enhanced collaboration internally and externally to your company and making your team super productive.

Switching to VoIP is easy. You can keep all your existing phone numbers when you move, and our dedicated porting desk will look after all the arrangements on your behalf. When IP Telecom puts a solution in place for a customer, once the customer is on the platform everything is working fully from day one and built around the customer’s business needs.

Our dedicated training resources ensure that customers have knowledge of our easy-to-use online interface and if there’s anything else that’s needed our dedicated support team are always on hand. Our platform is super robust too with multiple points of presence and carrier-grade data centres that offer 99.999% uptime and full network redundancy.

Your phone system is at the centre of your business communications and central to your business. It’s time to make the move to a phone system that’s built with your business in mind.

Rory Whelan is head of marketing for IP Telecom, one of the leading providers of business phone services and cloud-based communications in Ireland.