The phone system you choose for your company can either make or break your business. You may think that your telephony solutions are simply a tool for you to make and receive calls from your clients but you’re underestimating its capabilities. If you choose the right type of phone and know how to use it, it can become a powerful tool for growing your business.
Aside from the traditional landline system and the very popular mobile phone, you can also acquire an internet telephone. At first glance, you might think that it requires a high-end computer and an IT expert to use. In truth, all you need is a good computer that has some particular peripherals and a stable internet connection. Any computer can perform internet telephony. All you need is a sound card to process the data faster, a mic and a headset.
Once you’ve subscribed to an internet telephone service, you may find the following beneficial to your business:
- Monthly phone costs are cheaper. No matter where you look, a VoIP phone service costs much less to keep up at $20 a month. Why is it so cheap? This is because you provide most of the hardware and equipment needed to run it. You also provide the internet service that serves as your phone network. All VoIP phone service providers can charge you is for the actual telephony functions you use.
- You get a full suite of features in the basic package. Instead of paying separately for each new feature like voice mail, call waiting, call filtering and caller ID, you usually get them all once you subscribe. Some of the features that do require additional premiums are toll free numbers, online faxing and PBX systems.
- You don’t need to pay long distance fees. The thing with internet telephony is that you aren’t limited by physical location and distances. When you use the internet, packet switching technology immediately searches for the shortest route your data can take to its destination, which can change each time the data is sent. This way, your VoIP service provider can actually give you a phone number that operates as if it were in Britain even if you lived in North America. You don’t have to pay long distance fees since you use the internet.
- You can connect phones all over the country under one private branch exchange. Unlike a traditional PBX, a virtual PBX lets you connect various internet phones all over the country under one switching program. You can link all your branches, work-at-home employees and mobile phones under one telephone system. Another great feature is that managing your PBX isn’t too much trouble as your service provider can handle all the call routing and transferring for you at their location.