VoIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol – It is a technology that converts your voice into digital signals and sends them over the internet to the other person. Often when businesses consider replacing their legacy phone system, the easy choice is VoIP. However, today – Business phone systems have evolved and are now classified as UCaaS (Unified Communication as a Service). An example is Clarity Voice whose easy-to-use system integrates voice, video, text messaging, eFax and much more, unifying all the ways businesses communicate with customers.

A business VoIP service is just a phone service but over the internet. The only difference is that the internet is used as the transmission medium that transfers the data instead of the old phone copper wire cable system. Your voice data is converted into binary signals 0 and 1 and then moved over the internet using standard protocols to the other user. This is why when your internet connection is weak, voice conversations can sound choppy or garbled.

You may already be using a VoIP service, but may not realize it. If you get your phone service from your local cable company (often bundling internet and phone together), you use VoIP. If you use popular mobile apps – facetime, Skype, WhatsApp, google hangouts, you use VoIP.

But the VoIP applications that work well for your personal communication likely will not meet the needs of your business. If your mobile app is glitchy, typically your friends and family understand, but if your business communication experience glitches – you may lose a sale or upset customers.

To help safeguard your business, here’s a list of questions you need to keep in mind if you are looking to shift to a business phone system that uses VoIP or UCaaS.

• Are you looking for affordable options?

If your answer to our question was yes, Clarity’s budget-friendly business communication system likely offers a great transition for your business. As your legacy phone system ages, the cost of maintenance gets considerably more expensive. Not only do you have to manage system updates, but the geek-squad that maintains these systems would no longer be required if you moved to VoIP. Despite evidence to the contrary, many business owners rely on their IT team to research VoIP. So it is not surprising they believe that VoIP phone systems are incredibly costly. After all, these are the same employees a hosted communication system (VoIP or UCaaS) often replaces the need for. Whether you choose to use Clarity’s system or not, we can provide a free cost comparison. We will compare phone service and can even provide you with complimentary internet pricing for your area that could lower costs further. Ultimately when you weigh the fully loaded cost to run your legacy system compared to using a business communication system like Clarity, you’ll likely save your company money, and you don’t need to change your phone numbers to do it.

• Why should you pay extra when your employees are barely even using the service?

It is time to look around and observe the people around you. As the world is becoming more technologically advanced, people are also moving to more convenient communication options such as using their mobile phones. Most of the work these days is not happening at your office desks but through personal mobile devices and PC screens. You may have seen employees use their phones a lot to chat, text, manage work emails, etc. Wouldn’t you prefer this communication be conducted under your business name, caller ID and also provide you with managerial insights?

This behavior shows how much workers have changed, but by thinking you’re saving by allowing personal devices to be used to support your business – you’re missing the bigger picture. Today, mobile devices offer enhanced functionality and accessibility, but businesses lose control of their customer relationships. When employees leave, they take your customer contacts with them, because their history lives in their personal phones. Connecting these personal devices (mobile phones, tablets, laptops) through your business communication system, you can get real-time updates from everyone in the company with added features that will improve productivity and customer engagement, without losing control. Employees keep full flexibility, and managers maintain full control – it’s a win-win working with a communication company like Clarity.

• Do you give a high-priority to productivity?

Outdated technology can often be a barrier when it comes to increasing employee collaboration, productivity, communication and engagement. As a manager, you need a team that’s engaging and shows high performance through quickly addressing customer inquiries and sharing innovative ideas. By shifting to a business communication system, you can enhance your team’s collaboration through a convenient platform. VoIP systems have transformed the business world by adding value to workflow and productivity. For example:

  • Eliminate busy signals with unlimited lines.
  • Instantly give callers answers to commonly asked questions using an auto attendant.
  • No longer transfer customers to voice mail – presence feature ensures you know if someone is available to take calls.
  • Quickly instant message a colleague to get an answer to a customer’s question you don’t know.
  • Lose your fax machine and have an eFax number drop communication direct to your email.
  • Miss a call and get an instant text message to let you know or have the voice mail message instantly transcribed so you can quickly pass along to a colleague for fast follow up.

The many features new VoIP business systems offer teams is vast, packing a powerful productivity improvement.

With over 100 features and growing, the perfect call handling for a pizzeria is considerably different than a plumber. With Clarity, we build-in the best practices for your industry and allow you to customize your set-up further based on your business needs. At any time, we’ll train new users and offer additional suggestions to help you use your phones to sell more, and improve your customer service ratings.

• Do you want to add value to your business?

VoIP can effectively add value to your business because now you can prove key business metrics.

Gain an immediate competitive advantage using business insights. Reports highlight opportunities to enhance business performance. Use data to help drive your decisions. Reports include:

  • answer times, hold times,
  • missed calls, abandoned calls,
  • # rings before an answer,
  • # transfers to answering service,
  • # calls by marketing tactic used,
  • unreturned voicemails
  • …and more!

There’s much more to consider beyond costs. These tools can be accessed quickly and help you make better business decisions that improve sales, service, and, ultimately your bottom-line.

Many younger employees are attracted to newer technology. They don’t want to be shackled to their desks because of their phone. Business VoIP communication systems help free people to work the way they’re most productive.

  • If they want to make calls through their computer or tablet device – they can.
  • If they want to place calls through a mobile app – they can.
  • If they want to use a cordless phone, headset or traditional desk phone – they can.
  • If a customer prefers to get a notice by text – they can.
  • If a customer wants to share an image or hop on a video chat – they can.

Ultimately by communicating through a business communication system like Clarity’s, your business will always show as their outbound caller ID. As a manager, you’ll always be able to listen, join, whisper to help coach staff and all inbound and outbound reporting will be maintained so you can make informed decisions about staffing, marketing, and much, much more.

• Are you in search of a secure system?

The internet has had its share of issues; from bandwidth constraints and ISP outages to nefarious folks and hackers, you might feel a little insecure using VoIP services. However, reputable companies like Clarity are legally registered with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). This ensures they have safeguards in place to protect your data. From high-level encryption, redundant data centers and even optional 4G LTE failover systems, quality VoIP providers can show a 99.99% uptime and provide peace of mind related to the measures they’ve made to protect your data. All you need to do is ask.

Conclusion

Comparing VoIP or Unified Communications has never been so confusing for business owners, but the need has never been greater. While cost savings are likely, the core value driving this change should come from improving both workplace and organizational productivity, along with enhancing customer interactions.

If your answer to these five questions was yes, you know what to do – Use that outdated office phone to call us at 1-800-786-6160. Why wait? Getting a price comparison and demo is free and will save you considerable time.