The idea of getting a phone system may seem a stretch for most small business owners today with mobile phones offering so much functionality. But freelancers, bloggers and other small businesses are turning to a new generation of business phone systems powered by VoIP.
In this article explain what VoIP is, how it works and the benefits it can bring for small business owners.
So what is VoIP?
VoIP is an acronym for voice over internet protocol ?, which simply means voice calls are sent over the internet rather than down old fashioned telephone lines.
How does it work?
Without getting too much into the nitty-gritty technical details, your voice is converted into a digital signal which can then be sent across the internet to its destination. Unlike traditional phone systems where you needed an actual phone to make calls, you can use any of the following to make VoIP calls:
- An IP Phone
- Your computer
- An app on your smartphone
Choose a hosted VoIP system
There are two primary ways you can start to make business VoIP calls, you can buy a very expensive phone system (controller) or you can subscribe to a hosted system, where you only pay for a subscription. For nearly all of you reading this the cloud-hosted system will be the best option, it means that you don’t need to buy any expensive equipment and only need to worry about a monthly subscription fee.
What are the benefits of VoIP?
From cost savings to presenting a professional image, there are lots of benefits associated with getting a VoIP phone system.
Cost savings
Making calls over the internet is vastly cheaper than making them using a traditional phone or even your mobile. With most UK VoIP providers offering healthy free call allowances with their hosted services, it’s likely you won’t need to pay anything on top of your monthly subscription for the calls you make. Better yet, international calls tend to be cheap as chips too, so if you spend time speaking to people overseas this can represent a huge saving!
Present a professional image
The great thing with VoIP is that you can get yourself a landline telephone number, or even a freephone one if you like. Rather than giving out your mobile phone number which screams small business, you can confidently provide your landline number to prospects and customers. What to go one step further? Your VoIP system will let you do things like auto-attendant and call waiting, so you can have people go through an automated set of menus before they get connected to you. Create your own multi-department organisation with all calls ending up on your phone! ?
Flexibility
As calls are sent and received over the internet, you can work from anywhere with an internet connection. Yes, that’s right, you could be sunning yourself in a far-flung exotic location and as long as you have an internet-connected device, calls to your local landline will be transferred through to you. With Covid-19 still causing significant disruption at the time of writing this, having the flexibility to work from anywhere has never been more important.
