These days, more and more businesses are seeing the advantage of switching out their traditional phone systems for Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems. In fact, nearly one-third of all companies now use VoIP phone service for business. While the majority of these are small businesses, the fact is that VoIP is a great tool for businesses of any size. As more enterprise companies discover VoIP, they’re figuring out how to use it more efficiently and profitably than their small-business counterparts. Let’s talk about what your larger competitors are doing with VoIP that you probably aren’t—and what you can do to become more competitive.
Large Businesses Make the Most of VoIP Features
Perhaps the most important way enterprise companies use VoIP better is that they utilize many features that you probably do not. Features like call forwarding, call park, auto-attendant, call screening, on-hold music, queue callback, and many other VoIP features are affordable and easy to use once you learn them. Chances are your larger competitors are making the most of these services, making themselves more productive and profitable.
Large Businesses Integrate VoIP with Other Applications
Another huge benefit of VoIP systems is how well they integrate with other applications. Your larger competition has most likely integrated their VoIP with their CRM and other applications, allowing them to take and process calls without ever leaving their CRM interface. They probably have also utilized a Unified Communications system which allows them to combine their phone, videoconferencing, and messaging seamlessly–all of which saves time and money and helps boost revenues.
Large Companies Have a Full-Time IT Staff
Whether they’re using cloud computing services or on-site servers, large enterprise companies take their IT networks seriously, including their VoIP service. Many of them keep a full-time IT staff on hand to maintain, troubleshoot, and scale their network as they grow. This should come as no surprise to smaller businesses who can’t necessarily afford full-time IT, but the end result is that large companies experience very little downtime–and therefore can be more present for their customers.
How You Can Use VoIP to Be More Competitive
If you feel overwhelmed and demoralized by the advantages we’ve described above, take heart. Even if your business is small, you can use VoIP in many of the same ways as your larger counterparts to give yourself a more competitive edge. Here’s how:
- Utilize more features. Even VoIP systems for small businesses offer extensive features at an affordable price, and these systems are easily scalable. Start learning and taking advantage of these features, and you’ll be able to function with the same level of professionality as your larger competitors.
- Integrate VoIP with your other business systems. You can develop an elegant integration between VoIP and CRM, accounting programs like QuickBooks, email platforms like Gmail, and more. Integrations are easy to create–especially with cloud computing services that don’t require any programming skills at all.
- Hire a managed IT service. You can’t afford a full-time IT staff, but the fact is you don’t need one to be competitive. A managed IT service can be your own 24-7 help desk, monitoring, troubleshooting, and maintaining your network in the background at very affordable rates.
If you’re an Orange County small business looking for ways to utilize business VoIP to become more competitive, NetServ can help. To learn more about our VoIP service for business and managed IT services, call 1-877-NetServ today.