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5 Office Phone Annoyances VoIP Solutions Can Eliminate

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A business’s phone system should be one of the last things on managers’ minds. However, a dropped call, network failure or rising phone bill has frustrated most of us at one time or another. These phone system annoyances can seriously dig into company time and money, and even damage the company’s reputation or cause the loss of customers.

Businesses have recently been ditching clunky landlines and unreliable cell plans for hosted VoIP solutions to save time and money while enjoying a hands-off and hassle-free phone experience.

1. Accommodating Remote Workers

Nearly half of U.S. employees work remotely some or all of the time. Some off-site employees use cell phones or alternative landlines, and require customized routing: a traveling employee, for example, may be available to talk with coworkers, but not with customers. Landlines and cell plans provide basic call-forwarding technology, but do not offer the detailed routing options many remote workers need.

The VoIP Solution:

A VoIP PBX facilitates customizable call routing. For example, with a VoIP PBX, employees can route only external calls to an alternate phone number, or send certain numbers straight to voicemail, allowing them to seamlessly receive and manage calls wherever they are. 

2. Spotty or Dropped Calls

Nothing kills a good conversation quite like hanging up in the middle of one. In some cases, spotty phone service can damage a company’s image and even cost businesses a sale or customer.

This is most often a problem with mobile solutions, which are contingent on cellular service. Although cellular service covers much of the United States, dead and weak spots still exist, and can cost businesses big.

The VoIP Solution: VoIP phone services rely on internet connection: As long as you’ve got internet, you’ve got phone service. Even when the internet goes down, most VoIP providers have back-up plans in place to keep phones working smoothly. Cell phones can use VoIP to make calls as well, allowing even remote or on-the-go employees to make calls with reliable reception.

3. Phone System Downtime

Many businesses do not have a plan for power outages and network failures. However, phone system downtime drives considerable losses, and can damage a company’s reputation and customer loyalty.

The VoIP Solution: While a commonly cited downside to VoIP is poor performance in disaster settings, this fails to take back-up services into account. Quality VoIP providers will seamlessly route incoming calls to a secondary location or alternate phone numbers during an outage. Some providers also include automatic internet fail-over to keep phones operating normally during network connectivity problems.

4. Hidden Fees

That reasonable-looking price tag on landline packages is just the tip of the iceberg. Landline pricing is generally à la carte: Additional features like call waiting, long distance calling and voicemail transcription cost extra. To get landline service that resembles modern phone solutions, you’ll be paying a lot more than the advertised price.

The VoIP Solution: Most VoIP plans already include standard features such as call waiting, voicemail-to-email and CRM integration. Payment is usually by usage, which allows for easy scalability and eliminates payments for unused lines or services. Additionally, VoIP long-distance fees are significantly less than their landline counterparts.

5. Maintenance Hassles

With on-site phone equipment, it’s up to the office to manage maintenance and repairs. This usually entails spending considerable time troubleshooting and attempting to rectify problems in-house, and often results in paying to have a professional step in.

The VoIP Solution: Equipment maintenance costs businesses using hosted VoIP services neither time nor money: they simply leverage the cloud to tap into their providers’ data center infrastructures. VoIP providers handle and fund all equipment maintenance, and they generally have back-up systems available to avoid disruptions during maintenance or repair work.

As landlines disappear from the workplace, VoIP solutions provide a wider variety of services at a lower price, all while managing maintenance hassles so businesses don’t have to. To find out how adopting VoIP could help save your business time, money and frustration, request a demo of 4Voice’s services today.

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Amruth Laxman
About the Author

Amruth Laxman

25+ years of telecom experience, specializing in high availability software and systems, I’ve seen the transformative impact they have on businesses. As the founding partner of 4Voice, I deliver customized, reliable phone solutions and can’t wait to share my insights with you in this blog.

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