How Can VoIP Help Your Business?

From money to manpower to morale, your business can be affected by the communication technology you choose.

You may have heard about Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) or wondered about what kind of businesses actually use this technology. VoIP is a technology that allows users to make phone calls over the internet instead of using traditional phone networks.

To help our readers see how VoIP can benefit all types of companies, we asked businesses and VoIP professionals for their input. Keep reading to see how VoIP calling technology has impacted companies around the globe.

Save time and money

Bill Vogel, Vogel Advisors: “My company has exclusively used a VoIP-based PBX (we use OnSIP) for the last 6+ years, which has saved us time and money...and be more accessible to our clients.”

Sean Pour, Sellmax: “As far as money saving goes, the cost was much cheaper because we did not have to buy any fancy phone systems; we could just use our computer and we have a full call center setup. In addition, the cost for an 800 number is $2.00 which is very cheap.”

John Colon, Fit Small Business: “VoIP is a very important alternative to landlines that are crucial to many small businesses, providing important features such as auto-attendants, voicemail, and customer relationship management integration for a relatively low cost, with relatively easy installation and high reliability.”

Run a global company

Marie O’Riordan, Prepaid Financial Services: “VoIP is a tremendous asset when your company is live in 24 countries and you have four offices in three countries! It provides us with unrivaled portability and connectivity via desktops, laptops, internet-enabled desk-based telephones, and smartphones via apps. Traditional desk phone calls can now be taken anywhere!”

Alon Rajic, Finofin LTD: “My company operates in the UK, USA, and Australia, and I have business partners all around. I travel often for business and for personal reasons, hence it is not uncommon for me to run my entire business from my cell phone for weeks.
 
I also don't have a landline phone at home or in the office, and I didn't even [make] my cellular phone plan "international" (i.e. allowing me to dial to other countries).
 
I do all of my communication solely via VoIP. Whether calls or video meetings with my employees, provider, freelancers or business partners, I always rely on either WhatsApp or Skype to conduct these calls.
 
Without Skype technology, everything would have been much more complicated! I would have to constantly make sure I am able to call from place A to place B, check the costs, make sure every one of my freelancers and business partners is able to pick up calls from abroad, and of course, I would not have been able to conduct video meetings at all. In fact, I would go as far as saying that VoIP technology is one of the backbones of my business.”

Make your small business look professional

Jennifer Hancock, Humanist Learning Systems: “I run an online learning company out of my house. I have one employee — me. I went with Skype because it was cost-effective. I pay a small cost per year for the number and I think $8/3 months for calls in the US. I can add another country if I need it.
 
I didn’t have to worry about wiring up another phone line to my house. I can answer the phone on my computer while I am on the computer. I can forward to my cell if I travel or go for a walk —  so I never miss a call. It has been very convenient and still gives me a professional number for people to call.”

Enhance customers’ experience

VoIP phone services can offer a more customized experience for users, with features that aren’t easily available with regular phone service.
 
Kamil Faizi, Challenge Coins 4 U: “We use a VoIP phone system and it is so useful. We have a staff of 10 people. When any of my salesmen are out of the office, we have a way of making sure through the VoIP system that calls are forwarding over to their respective cell phones after 10 seconds. This way we never lose a sale and my salesmen are able to communicate to customers.”
 
Heather Thomas, Destin Vacation Boat Rentals: “You can transfer your existing phone number...so you do not have to change numbers. [You also have] the ability to turn an employee's phone on and off from anywhere at any time. Multiple agents can work at one time (calls roll over to the next available agent), so we can manage times of high call volume. The customization of hold music enhances the experience while the caller is waiting. Sometimes we pick up and callers are singing along to the hold music! Voicemail transcription makes it easy to quickly read voicemails to return calls. [You] can adjust plans throughout the year, so we aren't paying for a plan that we don't need in the off-season. Calls can be announced so you can tell if the incoming call is a customer or a personal call.“

Increase employee morale with flexibility

Sean Pour, Sellmax: “VoIP technology has allowed our business to grow significantly, and without it, I know we could not have grown as quickly as we have. ... [W]e developed a call center in-house using the technology. It saves us a lot of money and keeps employee morale high.

As far as keeping morale high, our employees love it because we allow them [to] work remotely. Our employee's login to the phone system from their house or wherever they want and work. All of them seem to love the freedom of working from wherever they want. Also, since implementing the new technology our conversion rate has gone up about 12 percent which is fairly significant. Our opinion is the increased team morale and the customer call center helped increase conversions.”

Ian Wright, British Business Energy, Founder: “...VoIP is a very important part of our business. The main way we use it is [to] create a virtual call center. We have agents across the UK who can handle calls, but they are able to work from home. This saves us office costs and means we can hire people from cheaper parts of the country. The benefits to our employees [are] they can work from home and work schedules that fit around their lives. So for us, VoIP is vital for running our business.“

Matt Schmidt, Diabetes Life Solutions: "VoIP technology has allowed our employees to be able to make and receive phone calls from their smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers. Having access to this technology from almost any type of device provides our employees the flexibility and freedom to work pretty much wherever they please. This has helped us hire and retain employees as we value the freedom to our employees and let them work where they choose."

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