But along with these new applications came something revolutionary. VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone systems don’t look new, they look like the same phones everyone has always used.
However, they’re not just slightly spiffier phones. VoIP systems have revolutionized business phone systems as deeply as computers versus typewriters.
VoIP allows companies to stay in contact with customers and potential customers. Employees can work from anywhere and still functionally be “in the office” as far as the business phone line goes. Callers get a uniform, high quality experience no matter where employees may be working, office, or home.
When people expect to work from anywhere, including their cell phones, the old landline systems simply cannot keep up. Businesses are moving to VoIP en masse for both necessity and cost savings. In today’s nimble commercial environment, nothing else will do.
According to Microsoft, 82% of organizations report saving money after implementing VoIP.
While VoIP will shortly entirely replace the old copper system, this doesn’t mean it’s foolproof. It’s now a part of IT, and like everything in IT the system takes skill to set up and maintain. Companies that don’t set up their system efficiently will experience significant problems. These problems includes things like dropped calls, low bandwidth, needed features left unused, and the dreaded “lag” warping sound.
If you’ve been struggling to make your VoIP phone system work at peak capacity, check out these tips below. We at NoContractVoIP would be happy to do it for you, but we also provide setup best practices for VoIP. Use these to positively impact your bottom line.
1. Check Network Capabilities
You can’t just assume that you can enable any old VoIP system, and all will be well. Your network may not be able to handle the extra bandwidth needs on its own.
Two big areas to look at include jitter and packet loss. In addition, review router settings to ensure sure it can handle peak traffic times. Experiencing dropped calls or choppy audio demonstrates the need to address issues. Solutions may include adjusting network hardware and/or increasing your ISP bandwidth.
We use a dedicated Quality of Service router for our clients to ensure that each call only takes 100 kBps, that’s one tenth of one Mbps. Our QoS router also ensures that the voice calls get prioritized over other kinds of traffic that can buffer more easily, such as streaming video playback.
2. Prioritize Your VoIP Software Using QoS Rules
Quality of Service (QoS) is a router settings area found in many routers that allows the system administrator to determine which traffic is most important. If QoS settings are not in place properly, it leads to resource issues. For example, s large cloud backup could start up and interrupt your calls because it’s taking up so much unprotected bandwidth.
QoS settings create up “traffic lanes” that give priority to certain functions. You need have your VoIP software prioritized to get the bandwidth it needs. Going through this prioritization avoids issues with less critical processes hogging up internet resources.
Using QoS keeps your calls from being interrupted by less important traffic. These settings also improve the reliability of your cloud phone system. Of course, you can use these settings for other important cloud activities at the same time.
3. Provide Quality Headsets for Your Team
Cheap headsets ruin the call experience for a potential customer. If someone calls in but can’t hear anything or gets choppy reception, they’ll quickly get frustrated and hang up. They will most likely figure that your company doesn’t have its act together.
Your employees probably cannot afford high-quality headsets. They may not even know what is and is not a quality headset. Head off potential problems by purchasing quality headsets yourself for your team to use.
4. Set Up Departments & Ring Groups
One of the stellar yet under-used features of VoIP phone systems is the ability to set up ring groups. First, set up your department groups (accounting, marketing, etc.). Then set the included employee extensions into those groups.
Creating a simultaneous ring group routes a call to your customer support department as a whole. This is a better option than one person, who may be busy. With call groups, the whole group gets the ring, and the first available person can pick up.
Ring groups improve the caller experience by significantly reducing the wait time. It can also mitigate the need for the caller to leave a voicemail and get stuck waiting on a callback. Most people have no desire to leave a voicemail in the first place.
5. Create Your Company Directory
Auto assistants, also known as virtual receptionists, are extremely helpful and nearly all VoIP systems have them. Once you’ve set up your company directory, record messages to prompt the caller to get to the department they’re looking for.
For instance, set up a message that prompts them to input the last name of the person they are trying to reach. If they aren’t calling a specific person, they get options to contact a department.
While setting up a company directory takes a little effort upfront, it will save much more time and effort in the long rum. You no longer need to have someone specifically routing every call. Callers can also get to the specific person or department they need faster. Using virtual receptionists improves the customer experience and boosts office productivity.
In addition, it knocks out bot callers who can’t navigate the virtual receptionist menu. We have clients who have a simple “press 1 to talk to someone” virtual receptionist for just that reason.
6. Take The Time Upfront To Understand Options And Pick What You Need
When we said VoIP systems are revolutionary, we meant it. Need field representatives’ cell phones to act just like their desk phone, extension and all? VoIP can do that. Need virtual fax that’s secure enough to transmit medical records? The right VoIP company can do that. Need business texting that can forward to email and cell phone because you want to sell to Gen Z people who hate phone calls? We can do that too.
Take a little time to understand exactly what you need and how to use it so you make the best purchasing choices upfront.
7. Train Your Team on the Call Handling Process
Don’t leave your employees to jump in and learn a VoIP system themselves. They could easily drown. Instead, train them on the features and the company calling process. Going through this training at the beginning ensures that your team can enjoy all those time-saving and connectivity features.
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