1. Understanding all types of business phone systems
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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No internet connection is required as it uses ethernet cables
Disadvantages
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Infrastructure set up and maintenance costs are higher
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Not ideal for startups, small and medium businesses due to the expensive
hardware and manpower required
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Lack of mobility: Users couldn’t take and make calls outside the office
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Service outages during natural disasters and power cuts
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Users have to install new telephones for scaling which consumes more money.
Cloud business phone system
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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
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Remote working: Calls can be managed from anywhere using the provider’s
softphone apps
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Business continuity: brands can enjoy uninterrupted communication 24/7
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Cost-saving as businesses don’t require hardware set up and use their existing
devices
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More advanced features than traditional PBX like IVR, virtual number, etc.
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Easy to scale users, business lines, and calls within the app dashboard
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Secure and encrypted calls
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Supports multiple communications like texting and video meetings
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Can be integrated into business software and CRMs
Disadvantages
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Requires fast and stable internet connection for making high-quality calls
Guide to using cloud business phone system
Registering virtual phone numbers
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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Some service providers like TeleCMI allow
businesses to onboard unlimited users and some require upgrading a billing plan
or paying for each additional user.
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During the onboarding process, create a 3-digit user extension, passwords, and
set user rules to kickstart business communications.
Creating teams and departments
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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Some virtual phone systems support multichannel communications apart from voice
calls. The additional communication features provided are SMS messaging and
video conferencing.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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If you're using a business CRM, integrating a cloud phone system into your CRM
makes sales and customer service work very easier.
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Because you can make and receive calls within your CRM using the click2call feature and offer
personalized service to your customers.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.