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How to Use A Business Phone System (The Complete Guide)
- Using and managing your business phone system would not be cumbersome again after reading this guide. With different types of business phone systems out there, we walk you through how to use VoIP or cloud-based phone systems with simple and complete instructions.
- So hereafter you can get to know features and functions of business phone system in and out. Including tips to automate answering and routing incoming calls especially if your business receives a plethora of calls daily.
- Before diving into the content, check our cloud business phone system if you're planning to buy a virtual phone system for managing professional calls, support calls, and team communications.
Table Of Contents:
1. Understanding all types of business phone systems
1.1. On-premise PBX phone system
1.2. Cloud business phone system
2. Guide to using cloud business phone system
3. Conclusion
1. Understanding all types of business phone systems
- Since the 1960s, technologies used in business phone systems have progressed rapidly from PBX to IP PBX and the latest VoIP, and gone are the days when on-premise PBX and copper wires are required to manage an organization’s internal and external voice communications. With the rise of cloud infrastructures, businesses have changed the way they communicate using virtual or VoIP phone systems.
- Cloud-based phone systems offer many benefits to both small businesses and enterprises like instant virtual-based setup, saving communication costs, automating incoming and outgoing call tasks, and managing calls using the web, desktop, or mobile apps.
- The main difference is PBX depends on office telephones to make and receive calls powered by the PSTN network and VoIP depends on the internet connection to manage calls and uses applications provided by service providers.
- Let’s take a look into the major types of business phone systems and their advantages and disadvantages before diving into how to use your business phone system.
2. On-premise PBX phone system
- In the early days, organizations use onsite PBX to power their communications. PBX is a private branch exchange installed on the premises of a company. It acts as a single network and connects all telephone lines and phones in the office using copper wires. PBX uses analog signals to send and receive calls within the company.
Advantages
- No internet connection is required as it uses ethernet cables
Disadvantages
- Infrastructure set up and maintenance costs are higher
- Not ideal for startups, small and medium businesses due to the expensive hardware and manpower required
- Lack of mobility: Users couldn’t take and make calls outside the office
- Service outages during natural disasters and power cuts
- Limited scaling options
- Users have to install new telephones for scaling which consumes more money.
Cloud business phone system
- VoIP or cloud phone system uses a data line/internet connection to terminate calls and transmit digital voice and video signals. Apps are provided by software providers to manage calls which can be installed on your existing smartphones and desktop devices.
Advantages
- Remote working: Calls can be managed from anywhere using the provider’s softphone apps
- Business continuity: brands can enjoy uninterrupted communication 24/7
- Cost-saving as businesses don’t require hardware set up and use their existing devices
- More advanced features than traditional PBX like IVR, virtual number, etc.
- Easy to scale users, business lines, and calls within the app dashboard
- Secure and encrypted calls
- Supports multiple communications like texting and video meetings
- Can be integrated into business software and CRMs
Disadvantages
- Requires fast and stable internet connection for making high-quality calls
Guide to using cloud business phone system
Registering virtual phone numbers
- It's the first step involved while setting up your VoIP or cloud phone system. The main advantage of using a cloud phone system is the option to buy a virtual number for any country you wish.
- On your cloud phone system dashboard, you can buy a virtual-based phone number by searching and selecting a number from the list of available numbers.
- Or else, you can request help from your phone system provider to guide you through this process. You can buy one or more numbers based on your business needs.
Porting your current business number
- If your organization is already using a business number and looking to transfer to a new service provider, there are two methods available for moving numbers, (1) either by self-service option where you can click the number porting option in the dashboard menu to transfer numbers yourself or (2) you can request number porting service from your new provider and they manage the process.
Adding users and team members
- Once you successfully logged in to your new cloud business phone system, you can onboard teammates using user adding feature. The number of users you can onboard is subject to your billing plan.
- Some service providers like TeleCMI allow businesses to onboard unlimited users and some require upgrading a billing plan or paying for each additional user.
- During the onboarding process, create a 3-digit user extension, passwords, and set user rules to kickstart business communications.
Creating teams and departments
- Like above, add a team and assign users to the team using the team feature available on most business phone systems. You can set teams like sales, support, and finance and assign users who are in sales roles to the sales team and support team who are in customer service roles.
Making an outgoing call
- To initiate an outbound call, log in to your VoIP app provided by your service provider, either it's an Android, windows, or web app. Simply click any number in the list or dial using a softphone. All your calls are terminated over the internet connection and hence make sure you have a strong wifi or mobile network connection in place.
Receiving an incoming call
- When someone calls your business or toll-free number, the call will be first picked up by the IVR system and redirected to the team member present in the appropriate department. To enjoy IVR and custom call flow features, first, you have to enable and set up them in the dashboard menu of your business phone system.
- Once the call is redirected, it appears on your phone system app with an incoming call pop-up screen or softphone. And then you can attend, cancel, transfer, or record a call.
SMS & text messaging
- Some virtual phone systems support multichannel communications apart from voice calls. The additional communication features provided are SMS messaging and video conferencing.
- This helps brands communicate with teams and customers via more than one channel. You can access these features beside contact numbers or within the call screen.
Setting call flow and IVR
- There are many important reasons why these features are a game changer for your business. If your business receives a large number of incoming calls every day, IVR takes care of attending and routing inbound calls from customers, teammates, and stakeholders automatically.
- These features are available on most VoIP platforms like TeleCMI. Admins can easily design incoming call flow and IVR using the visual call flow designer present in the dashboard.
- As a result, you can auto attendant and redirect incoming calls to appropriate departments like sales, support, and finance with the help of AI voice bots and virtual agents.
Tracking users’ activities
- Team managers can monitor and manage users of the organization’s cloud phone system using the centralized admin dashboard. Where admins get a clear view of all call analytics and user activities like the number of calls answered, triggered, missed, call history, avg call duration, callbacks, and much more.
Accessing call history
- To track call history, go to your phone system dashboard by signing in through a mobile, desktop, or web app. Recent call feed will appear with complete data of incoming, outgoing, and missed calls under the call history section.
Using call center features
- You can also use your business phone system as an inbound and outbound call center software to process support queries and run lead generation campaigns.
- Because most service providers like TeleCMI offers features such as multilevel IVR, call queue management, concurrent calls, sticky agent, business hours, auto dialer, and other essential call management features to automate sales and customer care tasks. All these come as inbuilt features and are open to access on your VoIP phone dashboard.
Collect voicemails
- Voicemail feature is used to collect voice queries from callers during non-working hours. So when your teams are not available to answer calls, by enabling the voicemail feature, you can automatically collect queries and store them in your app. Then, you can arrange a callback later.
Integrate into your business tools & CRM
- If you're using a business CRM, integrating a cloud phone system into your CRM makes sales and customer service work very easier.
- Because you can make and receive calls within your CRM using the click2call feature and offer personalized service to your customers.
- Whenever a call is being made or received, a call popup will appear on your CRM with the customer details, and also call data would be logged automatically.
- To connect your CRM and business phone system, go to the CRM integration option present in your dashboard menu and follow the authorization steps. Like CRM, you can also interconnect your phone system with other business software in the market.
Upgrading your cloud phone system
- Scaling is an instant and hassle-free process if you're using a virtual business phone system. You can add any number of users, or business lines, or downgrade your existing features in a few clicks using a centralized dashboard for managers.
- You don't need IT experience to perform these tasks as it’s a must-have skill for using traditional phone systems like PBX. That's one of the reasons why VoIP phone systems are used by today's businesses as everything is managed on the cloud and software.
Conclusion
- Now you mastered how a business phone system works and the differences between PBX and cloud phone systems. If you’re planning to buy a phone system for your business, try the TeleCMI VoIP phone system with a free trial.
- Make unlimited domestic and international calls and connect to your existing devices. Let us demonstrate to you how our cloud-based phone system will be great for your business communications, contact us to get a demo.