As you begin your start-up company or attempt to grow your small business, it is essential to ensure your business is working as efficiently as possible to secure its success in the long-term. While you are waiting for your business to take-off, it is essential to keeps costs low and ensure your only expenses are on necessities. This raises the question, do small businesses and start-ups need Voice over Internal Protocol?
Put simply, Voice over Internal Protocol, or VoIP, is a phone service conducted over the internet that has many scalable and customisable features. Below we explore some of the benefits that using VoIP may have for small businesses and start-ups specifically.
Improves employee communication
As a new business or small company, you may not have a physical office and members of your team may be working remotely. While this will save you money, it also leaves a lot of opportunity for miscommunication and for workers to feel isolated. In the past, telephone communications have been limited by location and distance, but with a VoIP system, as long as your employees have access to the internet, you can connect with them. Instead of having to send multiple emails to all of your remote employees, a VoIP system allows you to have a simple, effective conference call to ensure all of your employees feel heard and have a good understanding of the work your company is completing.
Ensures maximum efficiency
For a new business, every potential client or opportunity for a sale is important. Missing a message from a potential client due to an inefficient phone system or an over-filled answering machine is beyond frustrating but also possibly detrimental for a small business. With a VoIP system, you can customise your system to ensure you never miss a call or message from a client. For example, you could choose to have one number that simultaneously calls your work and personal phone. Alternatively, you could use a phone system that calls your personal phone automatically if you don’t answer your work phone after the first few rings. These simple solutions ensure no matter where you are or what you are doing, potential clients will always be able to reach you.
Cost-effective and affordable
It would be understandable for you to think that introducing a hosted VoIP system into your business would be an additional expense that your new or small business cannot afford. However, if you consider VoIP in the long-term, it actually has the potential to save your business money. Unlike traditional services that require a telephone line, VoIP uses the internet so it’s not subject to any phone line charges. A VoIP system is therefore cost-effective for small businesses that may need to make multiple long-distance calls, as the long-distance calls won’t be charged as they would on a traditional telephone system.
Grows with your company
While your company may now be in a relative stage of infancy, over time it is likely you will see your business grow and expand. It is therefore important to only have systems within your business that can grow with you. VoIP is a scalable solution as it can be adapted and expanded over time to include more phone channels and users, ensuring any new hires to your business can be included in your VoIP system.
Improves customer service
On a VoIP system, the journey of incoming calls can be tracked. This means that if individuals keep ending calls at a certain point in your phone system, you can easily identify what may be causing customers or potential clients to end calls. This may be because they are left too long on hold, for example. A VoIP system can also record calls, which is ideal for business owners who want to monitor how their employees communicate with customers. Recorded calls can be an incredibly useful tool for employee training, as successful/unsuccessful calls can be used as a teaching exercise.
Low maintenance and streamlines your expenses
Unlike traditional phone lines that require physical hardware, a VoIP system can be managed online. This means VoIP doesn’t require any physical hardware that will need maintenance or take up valuable space in your workplace/home office. By combining your phone and network system, your business will no longer have to pay a separate phone bill, which cuts costs and streamlines your business expenses, saving valuable time and money for a new or small business.
While the above points highlight the benefits a VoIP system can have for a small or new business, there are some important factors to consider before you introduce a VoIP system into your business. Some of these considerations include:
• Can your network infrastructure support VoIP? It is important to make sure your current network and data infrastructure can support a VoIP system.
• Do you have an ethernet connection? While it is not essential, an ethernet connection is the best port for a VoIP system.
• Do your remote employees have a sufficient connection? To get the best results from VoIP it is important that remote workers have a suitable internet connection wherever they may be located.
If you are unsure about the answer to any of the above questions, it is important you select a reliable company to host your VoIP to ensure your move to VoIP is as effortless as possible.
Immervox has over 20 years’ experience providing VoIP and business solutions to small and large businesses alike. Immervox understands how challenging running a small or new business may be and are here to support you every step of the way to ensure your business is operating to maximum efficiency with a VoIP system. For any questions, do not hesitate to get in touch with a member of our expert team today. Let Immervox help you unlock the full potential of a VoIP system for your business.
