May 25 What to Look for in a Phone System for Your Business

The good news is that — no matter what your size or situation — there’s a VoIP hosted PBX system that fits your needs perfectly. There are some basic phone system features that virtually every business today expects: voice mail, phones with displays and programmable keys, and park/hold/transfer. But there are many other amazing features now being offered:

• The ability to capture name-and-number Caller ID on every call for instant redial, and “attaching” the Caller ID information to the message.
• The ability to greet callers with an automated attendant and route calls to the desired department or extension quickly and efficiently.
• The ability to instantly record a live conversation by pressing a single key or record all calls and have them emailed to you as an attachment.
• The ability to have your important calls automatically follow to you wherever you go — to a different office, a cell phone, to your home, anywhere.
• The ability to use the Internet as an alternative to traditional phone lines for office-to-office connections and to support teleworkers.

How do you sift through the hype to find the phone system that works best for you — one that really represents your best set of functions, reliability and price? Here are some things to look for — and avoid — in a business phone system. You’ll discover just how to find the phone system that will maximize your efficiency, help you build strong customer relationships, increase your revenue stream and give you a competitive advantage.

Some of the feaures to look for include:

Voicemail to email - Voicemails are emailed to you in .wav format so you can listen to them at any time

Auto Attendant - An auto attendant answers your calls virtually and routes them to the correct person or department

Hunt Groups - Searches for a user using a pre-set group of phone numbers that are called simultaneously or in sequence.

Conference Bridge - Setup a conference call with an unlimited amount of callers each with their own pin number that they use to access the call. Make sure emails are sent out ahead of time to remind the group.

Call Reporting - See how many calls came in/went out seperated by extension or department. The length of the call and even a recording of the call can be accessed anytime via the web.

Call Recording - Record calls and access the recordings via the web or have them emailed to you.

iPhone and Android Apps - The ability to use your smart phone to make or take business calls and to be able to transfer the call, record the call, and show the caller id of your business.

These are just a few of the new features that VoIP hosted pbx companies are offering small businesses. They are being added to everyday. Now that business phone systems are being run digitally over the internet, the feature list will continue to grow at a fast pace.