The way your business communicates is key to success. From customer support to sales, hybrid work, IT support and decision-making, traditional phones have been replaced by Voice over Internet Protocol technology.
Analog phone networks can be expensive and complex to manage and scale, and deploying new services or optimizing processes can become time-, resource- and cost-consuming operations.
VoIP providers like RingCentral, Grasshopper, Ooma Office, Vonage, Nextiva and Dialpad run in the cloud. This allows them not only to slash costs dramatically — up to 75%, according to Harbor Networks — but also to leverage data and innovation to increase performance and offer new functionalities. Let’s dive into the best features of VoIP.
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Top 10 small business VoIP features
1. Advanced call management
VoIP’s main benefits are automation, smart analytics and innovation. The combination of new digital tools allows companies to enhance their processes. From automatic routing calls based on time, location and availability to full visibility of their phone systems, VoIP transforms call centers into human intervention-free environments, reducing costs and resources while increasing performance with AI integration.
2. CRM integration
When shopping for a VoIP service, make sure it has integrated customer relationship management software. Your greatest resources are your clients. With CRM, your teams can contact any of them with the touch of a button and access customer data with ease.
CRM also follows sales through the pipeline and processes to track results and monitor milestones. Additionally, CRM can integrate with customer support and other departments, giving your operators a full understanding of who the client is and their history with the company.
3. Hybrid technology
VoIP systems can link to any device, smartphone, laptop or computer. Your workforce will be able to do video or audio conferences, jump into calls, collaborate, easily share their screens during calls and much more.
To meet the demands of a hybrid work environment, VoIP providers have to incorporate the remote and flexible work technology tools necessary for the organization to thrive no matter where their workers are. Managers will have complete insight into their teams and talent, and they can monitor projects, workloads and workspaces.
4. Find me/follow me call routing and pulling
Find me/follow me call routing allows you to create a list of numbers where your workers can be found before the call gets pushed to voicemail. For example, you might have an office phone ring twice, but on the third ring, it can be directed to the worker’s smartphone. Then, on the fifth, the call can be routed to their home phone. If the list is exhausted, the caller is sent to voicemail.
Additionally, providers offer call pulling. With this feature, if someone calls your business landline, you can pull the call automatically to your cellphone or any other phone without losing the caller, writing down numbers or ever hanging up.
5. Automatic voice transcription
Voice transcription can automatically transcribe a call, voicemail or conference and make the text available to you via email or text. Transcribed texts can be imported into your CRM and quickly searched using keywords.
6. Advanced call analytics
With advanced call analytics integration, managers and leaders can easily track how well the system and teams are responding to calls in different departments. From knowing who is calling, when they are calling and how long the call lasts, to tracking results and caller satisfaction, you can better understand your business and how to meet your target and goals with this feature.
8. Auto attendant and queuing
Auto attendant is one of the hidden gems of premium VoIP services. You can customize greetings, offer different languages for the caller and set departments to pick up calls depending on the time of the day.
The auto attendant function also allows for full automation. Callers can report a problem, make a payment and much more without ever speaking with a real person.
Poor customer or business partner experiences will cost your company more than money; they will impact brand perception. Leaving someone on the line for long periods, transferring calls, having callers repeat themselves or failing to provide solutions — these are all ranked by users as the worst experiences to have with a company on the phone.
With integrated modern AI-powered queuing systems, VoIP providers can help streamline processes to avoid these problems. Faster transfers to the right person, skill-based routing, callback requests, smart call screening and other tools will help you better manage resources on the phone while keeping your customers satisfied.
9. Call monitoring and training
Training existing workers to perform new tasks and transferring them to new departments is easier with VoIP features specially designed for these purposes. With call monitoring, managers can listen to calls and advise workers during them. They can also jump into the call if needed.
10. Scaling and growth
All vendors offer different plans that allow your company to scale instantly with flexibility. You can expand your customer support, sales or marketing efforts in a few clicks or open new offices. Furthermore, because everything runs in the cloud, you do not have to worry about losing data when doing so.
Why your small business should use VoIP
VoIP has long surpassed traditional phone services. They offer very low-cost solutions with impressive capabilities. Managing your networks and getting full visibility on what is happening on your lines has never been so straightforward. Thanks to AI, machine learning, cloud and edge technology, you can easily migrate to VoIP and leverage all the tools that will help your company fulfill its mission.
Read more about this subject via our handy guide: 9 VoIP security best practices to consider for your business.
