Let's be honest, most business owners these days see their communications infrastructure as more of a cost than an investment. They think that either their current system will last forever and never break, or that the pain and hassle to upgrade is just something they don't want to deal with at the moment. Some of these concerns are why we decided to put out this handy article. To answer and disucss some of the questions and misconceptions revolving around business phone systems.
The answers and explanations below have been taken from our own experiences, the experiences of our customers, as well as statistical data within the telecom industry as of recent. We hope these items place you on a better path to making an informed decision regarding your own telecom situation.
#1.
How Much Will A New Voice Solution Cost My Business?
The biggest hurdle we as a telecom provider deal with is being competitive in a saturated market such as this. Cost/Price/Overhead; It's the biggest concern on a potential customer's mind, and we are not saying it shouldn't be. However, we come across too many business owners and decision makers who focus TOO much on this one thing.
In a recent 2019 telecom trend analysis, it was shown that 60% of companies today place phone systems as well as live agents as their most urgent investment priorities.
When you start out your decision-making process with "cost", you're setting yourself up in a bad way. Like any other aspect and tool in your arsenal, a good phone system is absolutely a necessity, as it's your direct line to your customers and clients. If it's not working properly, you lose business. When you can't find anyone to make changes or updates, you feel the effects right away.
The great thing about buying a business phone system in today's market is there are several options for you to choose from. The first one on people's minds when they see the total cost is "I cannot afford this, it's just too much!", because they believe they have to pay for it all up front. At Lanstar, we offer leasing options. That means, if you are approved, you can choose to split the total cost into easy monthly payments over a set amount of time. Completely affordable!
In most situations, this lease would run for 5 years unless you buy out of it. So, for example, a new phone system for your business that would normally cost $20,000 up front would now run you just under $340 per month (with 0% financing). Avaya will often run promotions for FMV leasing as well. Want to learn more about these options? Click Here to contact us.
#2.
Can Our New System Be Easily Managed?
Our next question comes from the view that most business owners do not want an overly-complicated "pile of hardware" that won't be easily fitted to their needs. There are still plenty of companies out there that are running operations with outdated and obsolete systems. This poses an issue that, when things start breaking or going down, no one will be able to service it or provide parts.
Fortunately, with our solutions, you can 100% customize it to fit your business's goals. Adding users, changing call routing, creating new groups, setting up remote workers, and much more can easily be done either through us or from your own web portal. Whether you have your own in-house IT team or you choose to use us, any and all updates can be handled easily and quickly. The latest VoIP technology and systems have allowed much smoother transitions for companies to scale and continue working at higher levels.
#3.
Will We Be Able to Easily And Quickly Scale Our Business?
There's no doubt that businesses are becoming more and more mobile, as we have briefly touched on in other articles. A simple start-up could begin with 1 or 2 people working from home, but then by next year there could be over 20 employees across 4 different locations. It's amazing to think about but it's also a 100% reality for some. You need to be prepared.
By utlizing the power of a VoIP phone system you get the luxury to spread out as far as you need, as fast as you need. Got 10 agents working in a central office? No problem. Need to setup 5 remote workers with mobile apps and voicemail? Done. Looking to connect a few locations together all under one network so you can pool resources? All too easy. These systems perform FOR you when you need them to. Downtime is minimal if existent at all, and you only need focus on the importance of running your business.
In today's world customers need to know that when they call your business, someone will answer them right away. Besides, over 65% of consumers PREFER contacting a business by phone as opposed to email/web form. Make sure you're ready for those calls!
#4.
How Quickly and Easily Can This New Phone System Be Set Up?
So we know that time is money, right? The last thing you as a business owner wants is complications, lengthy installs, and for all of this to drag out for too long. Granted, you can't rush quality sometimes, but recent platform updates and strategies have allowed telecom companies such as ourselves to be more efficent and cost-effective. That means once you sign up it can be just a matter of days before your new system is ready to drop in place.
VoIP systems typically have ways of mass provisioning the phones your company will use ahead of time, so they can simply be brought onsite and plugged in. All programming and setup is taken care of behind the scenes by skilled technicians who walk you through all the info they will need. You simply pick a date and time you want everything to be brought onsite, and the telecom company takes care of the rest.
Another great convenience for VoIP systems and devices is that you can literally unplug it and take it anywhere within your office, and it will come right up how you left it. For mobile app users, as long as you are outside your office network it can be taken anywhere IN THE WORLD! Technology is indeed amazing.
#5.
What's The Learning Curve For My New Phone System?
Besides cost and downtime in the early stages of implmenting a new voice solution, this seems to be another major "interest" customers will have. We believe most of this is generation-based and we are definitely not biased at all here. A younger generation of workers seem to just grasp the newer technology more easily, which is understandable. That doesn't mean though that older members are out of luck.
In all honesty, the way that VoIP is designed is just like how regular digital phone systems are engineered to work. Making calls, transferring, placing people on hold, checking voicemail, using programmed features, it's all there still. 100% of our own customers actually find that the new solutions we offer make their jobs much easier to manage. The only time we see issue at all is when we propose something new that the customer just has never had before (such as mobility apps, remote VoIP phones, call recording and reporting software, etc.).
Companies will typically always have some aversion to their current phone system, especially if they have had it more than a few years. Technology is constantly being updated, new features and availability being pushed out, and better experiences for end users are being offered. Learning about these things will greatly give you an advantage in the workplace, and it doesn't have to be scary.
#6.
Is There Redundancy and Failover With This Phone System?
Often times you get businesses that simply cannot afford to be down a single minute. Hospitals, medical offices, emergency service companies, and many others will ask the question, "What will happen if my phone system goes down?". Probably one of the best reasons to look into VoIP is because of these situations right here.
Many providers do have failover capabilities, where if your phone system ever dies or loses internect connectivity it will revert to another means of handling calls. This is helpful if you have customers who have 24/7 support contracts with you, or may need to reach you often after hours. These may be VIP clients who need a direct line to you at all times and know that someone will get back to them right away.
Luckily VoIP handles this beautifully, as it has the ability to route calls to cell phones, answering services, other SIP trunks or phone services, menus (to tell callers there is an issue and to give them an alternative way to reach you), and much more. Also, the methods of forwarding or twinning phone calls is important to note as well.
If an agent is out of the office, he/she can simply press a button on their desk phone to "twin" a call to their cell phone, home phone, or any other external number. This allows them to be reached much more easily, so calls are not missed. Another good feature to have in place is voicemail-to-email, which simply sends any voicemails on your extension to you in an email so you can check it if you're away from the office.
When utilizing VoIP and UC (Unified Communications) calls can be handled much more quickly, resulting in an increase in productivity up to 20%!
We hope that this short blog helped clear up any confusion you as a business owner may have had about phone systems. We at Lanstar are here to help and answer any questions you may have, because when it comes time to make a decision we just want you to be informed! If you'd like to discuss more with us or are ready to talk moving forward in your own company, please feel free to schedule a call with us below!
Check out more telecom and VoIP stats here at FinancesOnline
