What Businesses Should Look for in a VoIP Provider

There is, as you might guess, no universally appropriate business VoIP provider for all businesses. Selecting the best business VoIP service provider for your business requires introspection, analysis, planning, and thorough research. In fact, it is fair to say that there may not be one perfect guide on how to choose the best VoIP for your business. Naturally, the best businessman…is the man who knows his business best. Here are some guidelines and specific recommendations, including criteria to look for in a service provider, based on the kind of business you have:

Sole Proprietor/Micro-business – VoIP for small proprietors and micro-business focuses on the importance of incoming calls. Your incoming number, other than yourself, gives the best impression of your business to customers. VoIP for micro-businesses uses the same PBX tool box as much larger companies, giving your small company the gravitas of a larger one. Even if you’re working out of your garage, auto attendant gives the appearance that your office exists in a luxurious penthouse. Calls can be routed via the auto-attendant to the best number to reach you, or tasked to the employee most suited to handle the customer. VoIP providers on this scale understand and emphasize that subscribers are often on-the-go, with the need to stay connected, especially if they are on a job site, sitting down for a meal, or at home.

Small Businesses with Offices – Small business today, even if they are far removed from the tech industry, must integrate social media, post blogs, and be able to understand the basics of internet telephony. VoIP has many business models, with a myriad of unbundling services that were traditionally locked together such as voicemail and a phone, a phone and a desk, a phone and a phone number, and so on. Businesses as diverse as real estate, insurance, car dealerships and travel agencies, to name a few, benefit from VoIP in their own ways, sharing in the commonality that they all save money. On top of these cost savings, they get more features compared to utilizing old phone companies, or simply relying only on cell phones. As many small businesses rely on their personal devices, appropriate VoIP providers continue to develop and enrich user experience on these platforms by offering integrated applications and web-based system management. Gone are the days of heavy equipment and recurring maintenance costs, to the delight of small businesses on a budget looking to keep things running at their best.

Tech-Savvy Businesses That Can Use Powerful Cloud/Desktop Software – Powerful desktop software can be used both internally, to facilitate communication via chat and extension-to-extension calls, and to integrate other programs, such as Outlook, Quicken, and Salesforce, into phone calls, so you always have information at your fingertips. These systems can take time, effort, and money in order to set up to be used properly, but the rewards are immense. Businesses can increase productivity by using these tools every day. Generations X and Y feature some of the brightest technical minds that have grown up amidst technological innovations, which have encouraged the testing of capabilities to their furthest limits. This is where VoIP has really found a niche, allowing new/advanced businesses to manage, customize, and scale their businesses to infinite ends.

Larger businesses with Traditional Business Models – Businesses can save between 30 and 90% by switching to VoIP. The more phones you have, the more important your business is to potential business VoIP providers. Businesses that are very large tend to have a long established history, finding advantages in sustaining that history with VoIP. It can even be difficult to make the switch from an older PBX system because the head honchos are under the mistaken belief that the current system is “good enough,” without realizing how much it is really costing them. It’s a wise business move to invest in VoIP. Many, if not all VoIP providers offer tiered subscription models which give big breaks on price as the amount of users grow. To boot, adding and removing seats no longer requires technical intervention as it did with old legacy systems. Reducing or adding lines typically requires a short call to service providers, and at times, can be done completely on the web – this saves time, resources, and revenue.

Call Centers – Call Centers have their own specific needs, which is why many business VoIP service providers have separate plans dedicated just for call centers. Call centers, by definition, have a huge number of incoming and outgoing calls, and employees always need to be on their game. New business tools for VoIP call centers reduce hold time for customers, keep recordings of calls, and a host of other features. The result is better caller satisfaction, and more sales or fewer technical problems, streamlining communications to one convenient area. By keeping employees productive and customers happy, call centers are able to take chaos out of their workloads by adding order though optimized and innovative unified communications.