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12 Productivity-boosting Uses for VoIP

With VoIP, businesses have a lot of different means to promote themselves and manage operations. It allows companies to make and pick up calls over the internet and route phone calls at will, freeing businesses from the limitations of fixed lines. By deploying Voice Over IP even the smallest or homed bases companies can establish a virtual office environment that helps them in competing with bigger businesses. Setting up a virtual office: Several entrepreneurs and business base their company operations out of the virtual office. The callers get greeted by a professional phone menu. There is music on hold with recorded messages, flexible voicemail and call back option for when the calls aren’t answered. With VoIP Phone systems your customers can never recognize that you work from home. And for some, it may sound costly, but in reality, the majority of VoIP phone plans include these calling features as standard. 12 ways to Improve productivity using VoIP Phone System: According to research VoIP technology helps businesses increase their productivity radically. We are going to enlist twelve ways VoIP phone can help your business become more productive. Complete control over business telephone system: With VoIP, you can see a list of all your employees and you can call them with just a click. Also, you can easily check the number of dialled calls, missed calls and call lengths. Some VoIP systems might even allow you to listen in to calls giving you complete control. Remote offices: With VoIP you can have remote office function giving you the choice to route all phone calls to another phone. Also, whenever you call someone, your work phone number appears in the recipient’s caller ID. Easy integration with other systems: Every business usually uses different technologies and systems to improve your operational efficiency. VoIP system easily integrates with a variety of other business phone systems. This way you can take benefit of VoIP without changing the existing IT infrastructure or applications. For instance, outbound phone calls can be made through Outlook or other email system or customer record. Call divert: VoIP phone makes it easier to divert phone calls to wherever you are. You can either divert phone calls to a specific phone number or you can have phone calls forwarded to different phone numbers in turn, until you receive the call. L while callers do not even know it is happening. Call forwarding: With VoIP, you can set certain rules so only important phone calls are forwarded to your alternate phone number. This way you can avoid unnecessary phone calls, yet still connect with the important ones. Speed Dial: You can also set up unlimited speed dials to make calls quickly without searching and dialling phone numbers. Conference Calls: VoIP phone allows you to make conference calls with multiple individuals at once and as VoIP utilises internet connection, you shouldn’t need to pay extra for this feature either. Do not disturb: With do not disturb you can avoid interruptions by forwarding calls straight to your voicemail. Voicemail messaging: If you get large call volume then important messages can get buried and few systems might delete messages after a specific time. VoIP allows you to get voicemail messages delivered as audio files in your email so you can listen to them whenever you want. You can save them and share at your will. Priority calls: If you do not want to get disturbed but also don’t want to miss any important calls then you can set up priority alerts that can ring your phone only for the person you are waiting for. This can improve your productivity. Out of office messages: If you are out of office then VoIP phone can send you a message on your mobile allowing you to know if you have received a voicemail. You can also log on to your laptop and check your voicemail messages so you never miss a business opportunity. Scalability: To increase efficiency and effectiveness businesses can scale which is not possible with traditional landline phones. Scalability is one of the biggest advantages of VoIP which supports productivity and efficiency while remaining cost-effective as well. A new way to stay in contact: A VoIP phone system provides an online control panel through which you can change your calling setting from anywhere and anytime. You can generally create and edit your voicemail prompts or you can change your greetings regardless of your physical location. Also, you can conveniently have all calls routed to one phone number. Of course, one of the biggest benefits of deploying VoIP phone system is its cost. Rather than having to pay the capital cost of moving into an office space, paying rent and other overheads, a virtual office can provide a lot of the same services with more freedom and flexibility at a significantly lower cost. If you are looking for a reliable VoIP provider to purchase telephone numbers in the UK then check out VoIP business. They provide a plethora of calling features at most reasonable rates and you can also get a free 30-day trial.

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Best Android apps for VoIP and SIP calls

Best Android Apps For VoIP and SIP calls

VoIP apps for android are designed to provide you with an alternative phone service on your mobile for little to no cost. A VoIP app allows you to make phone calls from your mobile. So, you only have to pay for the data usage over 3G/4G. People have become less dependent on mobile networks than they used to be. Now they use Wi-Fi more often. Thanks to all the technological advancements we can now talk to people over the internet just like we would over the phone. Best Android Apps for VoIP and SIP calls 2023 If you are looking for ways to ditch your mobile network, we have compiled a list of apps that are not only cheaper but more efficient. 1. Skype Cost: Free There is no doubt that Skype is one of the most popular Voice Over IP apps available. It is very easy to use and it has direct support from both Microsoft and Facebook. You can use Skype to make audio and video calls and to send text messages as well. You also have the option of masking landline calls for a small fee. Skype has a cross-platform for both mobile and PC devices. The big plus is that it’s free, so you can use it as much as you want without working about the cost. 2. WhatsApp Cost: Free Over the past decade, WhatsApp has become an extremely popular messaging app. Now the app also supports voice and video calls. The app also had extra features such as multimedia support, address book integration, and file attachments. However, if you need an actual phone number then this app is not for you. 3. VoIP Business Cost: Free (with the purchase of extras inside the app) If you an entrepreneur, own a small business or enterprise this is the app for you. With VoIP business, you can purchase phone numbers. It is an all-in-one voice and conferencing solution. With such VoIP services, you can unlock your team’s potential on a unified platform with task management, calendaring, voicemail, file sharing and much more.VoIP business app transforms a phone into an extension on VoIP business PBX to keep employees connected to the customers and office. 4. Facebook Messenger Cost: Free The Facebook app supports messages, voice and video calls. It’s not the best option for text messages. The quality of the app ultimately depends on the speed of the internet. This app heavily relies on resource usage; therefore it doesn’t work on lower or older devices. 5. Viber Cost: Free (with the purchase of extras inside the app) Viber has been quite popular around the work. The app supports complete chat service along with voice and video calls. Also, it has options to include file attachments, stickers, and public chats. However, stickers do cost a little. 6. Google Hangouts Cost: Free Google hangouts work like Facebook messenger. It supports text messages, voice, video and group calls. You can also connect your Google Voice number for phone calls, SMS and voicemail. If you want an app to only make voice and video calls then Google Duo is better. Google Hangouts is for people who want a little bit of everything. 7. Google Duo Cost: Free Google Duo is one of the latest videos calling app. It supports regular voice calling well. Though for the calling to work everyone has to be on Duo. The app has an excellent voice and video quality. It does come pre-installed on some new android phones. 8. Signal Private Messenger Cost: Free If you want an app that has privacy features then try Signal Private Messenger. The app supports texting and voice calls but does not have a prominent feature list. However, it does feature above-average privacy, security capabilities, and encryption and can integrate with your existing phone number and contact list. 9. MizuDroid SIP VoIP Softphone Cost: Free MizuDroid is one of the few VoIP Phones apps that are regularly updated on Google Play. However, you need an existing SIP account to use it, it does support several SIP accounts, call diversion, VoIP systems, and tunnelling, IM, encryption and voicemail functionalities. It is simple to use but the UI featured in this app is a bit older. 10. MagicApp Cost: $9.99 per year, some parts are free. magicApp is one of the more popular VoIP/SIP apps. It uses a person’s existing phone number to make calls. The app supports SMS, cross-platform support and landline support. However, this app is not free. Try a free signup with VoIP Business. 

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voip phone buyer guide

The Ultimate Business VoIP Phone System Buyer’s Guide

What is a Business VoIP Phone System? A business VoIP phone is a communication service that provides data or calls packets across the internet. The VoIP technology utilises a digital signal data packet to convert into voice calls, it allows people to make phone calls from a VoIP phone, desktop or laptop to any other device which has internet. It is important to understand the technical terms which are used to explain VoIP phone technology, and which will be used in this guide. There are two most commonly utilised technical terms that are used to describe the VoIP phone are ‘VoIP PBX’ and ‘IP PBX’. Both these terms are confused often, but they have different meanings. Let’s understand these terminologies. VoIP = VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. It is a phone system that handles your connection to your phone service provider. then it directs your phone call control functionality over internet protocol technology. IP = IP stands for Internet Protocol. It is a technique of transporting phone call or data packets across your Local Area Network or a Wide Area Network. PSTN = The PSTN stands for Public Switched Telephone Network. The regular circuit-switched phone network, which started in the late 1880s, uses copper wires to transmit the analogue voice data. PBX = The PBX stands for Private Branch Exchange. It is a communication system that manages your phone and call control functionality, fax machine whilst at the same time maintaining your connection the PSTN. Which VoIP Hosting service is the Best? A VoIP phone system depends mainly on the IP network in order to control the user’s data transmissions. Hence, before you look at the VoIP phone features, you will need to decide how you want your IP network hosted. As we have mentioned earlier, there are three VoIP hosting options: Hosted VoIP When selecting an off-premise hosted option, you will have to pay a regular subscription to the VoIP service provider. in turn, they organise your essential network structure on their global data centres. The scalability of a hosted VoIP system is its major benefit, it allows you to change your subscription kind to match your daily business priorities. The Hosted VoIP phone system for business is remote and user-friendly, and the VoIP service providers provide software that your team can install on their mobile devices. Since the service runs on third-party servers, also you can make and pick phone calls anywhere you are in the world. Your provider will determine which VoIP features to include or eliminate from every subscription tier, depending on your business needs, also which leaves the system enhancements to their will. The tiered subscription model eliminates large upfront charges however remember charges can rise as your business grows. On-Site VoIP The on-site VoIP phone systems are customised mainly for large organisations, businesses, and government agencies. These organisations or government agencies buy in-house VoIP phone infrastructure instead of subscribing to an off-site VoIP phone service. The drawback of an on-site system is the high upfront fees associated with installing the hardware onsite and setting up a secure IP network. Purchasing and setting up the VoIP network servers are costly. Hybrid VoIP A Hybrid VoIP system combines a lot of the ‘benefits’ of on-premise and hosted VoIP. A traditional example of a hybrid communication solution will be connecting a non-VoIP enabled PBX system to a VoIP service provider’s network through gateway servers. One of the greatest pros while utilising a Hybrid PBX solution is that if you experience VoIP services outage then you will still be able to make phone calls through a standard PSTN. What VoIP Features do you require for your business? Following are the most common features you can find in a VoIP system: Call Monitoring and Call Recording Call Park, Call Pick-up Call Reporting Call Queues and Call Routing Call Forwarding, Three-way Calling Caller ID, Call Transfers, Call Waiting Conference Calling Direct Inward Dialling (DID) Auto Attendant Application Integration Integrated Messaging Mobile Applications Remote or Virtual Extensions Web-based Management Analytics and Monitoring Tools Notifications and Screen Pops In-Queue Music and Messaging Voicemail and Voicemail to Email Now you can understand that a VoIP system’s critical features cover almost everything an organisation or business requirements. VoIP Phone Systems for Buyer:  Presently, there are six VoIP systems available on the market. We are not going to refer to brands, rather a functionality. You will understand every system and then consider what your business might need now or in the future. On-Site PBX system Hosted PBX system Proprietary VoIP system Hybrid Phone system Open Source VoIP system Open Source-based VoIP Phone system What is an On-Site PBX? An on-site PBX or IP PBX system is like a traditional PBX phone system which is set up at the business’s location and is generally found in a phone closet or computer equipment room. What is a Hosted PBX? The Hosted PBX also called hosted VoIP, is where the VoIP provider is accountable for housing the IP-PBX and control the technology which provides the services to an IP phone system. What is a Proprietary VoIP System? A proprietary VoIP system is the fundamental operating system and a PBX software called closed ‘block box’ technology. You will have no access to the system source code or have no insight into how the underlying operating system works. What is a Hybrid Phone System? A Hybrid system is an upgrade option for organisations or businesses which are switching to a VoIP system but don’t want to invest in re-cabling/re-wiring or replacing their TDM*PBX. What is an Open Source VoIP System? This phone system is the fundamental operating system and a PBX software which is free and available to the public. The users have complete access and control over the source and how it works. What is an Open ‘Source-Based’ System? This type of phone system is the underlying operating system and a PBX software which is: first, open source at the core and second, with the propriety code built on top. Now that you are familiar to all six VoIP phone systems, you can understand all different kinds of operations available on the market. How Much Does a VoIP System Costs? While estimating how much VoIP phone systems cost, you need to notice that there is no set cost which any VoIP service provider can initially display. The reason that every business has unique communication needs. Below we have mentioned seven pricing aspects which you need to ask your service provider before you buy a phone system: Setup and Hosting Fees VoIP Monthly Cost Level of Subscription Number of Users Phone Equipment Additional Equipment Broadband Setup and Hosting Fees When you decide where to host a VoIP system, you need to know the service Provider’s tiered subscription charges. Remember that a hosted VoIP system rarely has any setup cost. VoIP Monthly Cost When you try to find out the overall charges of a VoIP system, you also will notice that charges start around £7.99/ month per user for VoIP phone and rises from there. There are a lot of reasons why cost fluctuates: the total number of devices, the number of users or the hosted plan is chosen. Level of Subscription A VoIP service provider usually provides multiple tiered plans. Using VoIPbusiness as an example, they offer three packages: ‘Basic’, ‘Standard’ and ‘Premium’. Every plan has a fixed monthly charge and there is no setup cost. Number of Users VoIP service providers charge a monthly fee based on the number of users or workers at a company. Phone Equipment The compatible IP phone has dropped in price dramatically and generally, they begin around £60-£70 but depending on the features the cost can go up to hundreds of pounds. Additional Equipment With new VoIP systems, most of the hardware is included with except for extra headsets and adaptors. Usually, you can purchase a new headset for around £30-£40. If you want to add an analogue phone adaptor, they are £50 to £60. Broadband VoIP phone depends on a robust, sturdy and fast broadband connection, hence an internet service which provides a minimum of 10 Mbps need to provide you a continuous VoIP phone experience. But, as your business grows, you might have to increase broadband services. How Can VoIP Phone Systems Help Business of every size? Despite the size of your business, VoIP systems have become a standard for today’s successful company. VoIP phone has made it possible for SMEs to see giant growth in customer satisfaction by using the features provided with the VoIP systems. Start-up and Small businesses Costs VoIP phone allows your broadband connection to transform that connection into a phone line enabling VoIP phone to operate at a decreased rate. Social Reinforcement VoIP providers can make your company appear bigger, but just at a portion of the price with their out-of-the-box calling features. Medium-sized businesses Organisation When your company’s size increases, it is essential that your workers remain organised in their separate specialisations. Productivity When organising, your team remains critical for productivity, being capable to gather and understand data is vital as well. Bigger businesses Mobility Having a Virtual Phone Numbers wherever you go. As VoIP is digital, all that is required is a data-driven device and an internet connection. Management Call Monitoring and call recording is not just a great way to train new workers, but, it helps in protecting a company against scam as well. Regardless of the size of your operation, a VoIP system have solutions which are customised to suit your business requirements. With a wide range of VoIP phone technologies offered, no company is too small or too big. Reliability of VoIP Phone Systems When thinking about switching to a VoIP phone system for the first time, as a business owner you need to understand the reliability of the VoIP technology. Like any other product, the VoIP phone technology does have its benefits and drawbacks. Benefits Low Cost While comparing VoIP phones vs. traditional telephone systems, the VoIP is less costly. Rather than paying constantly fixed telephone carriage charges, the voice signal utilises the IP connection to deliver your phone calls for free over the internet or in rare circumstances at a decreased per call rate. Mobility The VoIP system allows you to take your phone with you. You simply just connect your phone system anyplace with an available internet connection and you will be up and running in just minutes. In addition, you wouldn’t have to get a new number since numbers are transferable. No Additional Charges for Features A VoIP phone system provides a lot of robust features at no additional cost. These features include call waiting, call conferencing, call forwarding and caller ID. With the traditional telephone services, these features are add-ons and an additional cost to the business. Traditional telephone and Fax Support While you make the switch to the VoIP phone system, you wouldn’t have new phone hardware initially. Service providers usually have devices which will convert traditional phone and fax machine signals into digital data packets to transmit over the internet connection. Low Cost No Additional cost for Features Portability High Internet Bandwidth Required Location Hidden from Emergency Calls Traditional telephone and Fax Support Incessant Internet Connection and Power Supply Required How is a VoIP System Set Up?             When you are prepared to proceed and switch over to VoIP services. To start the conversion, you need to follow the five-step procedure which you and your service provider will discuss before setting up a new phone system. Network Evaluation With the need assessment documented, you will next move to Local Area Network Assessment. When a VoIP system uses your LAN system, you have to check the current network to decide if a VoIP phone may cause any added stress on the network. The information which is revealed here is an essential step in the procedure. Internet Connectivity Just as carefully as your business needs and LAN network are assessed, your broadband connectivity requires assessing as well. As you will use the VoIP system to make phone calls, you need to ensure your internet has the required bandwidth to support the phone system since VoIP calling brings extra traffic. Installation, Support, and Constant Maintenance Now it is the decision time. However, who will do all the behind the scenes tasks? Your employees or the VoIP Business provider? a lot of business owners are contented in taking care of their phone system, from installing, maintaining and supporting a VoIP system in-house. Those who do not want the responsibility can register the services of a VoIP provider to undertake that role. Selection of System, End Points, and Voice Services With all the assessments made and the decisions about who handles your phone system completed, you will go to the VoIP phone selection. After you chose your phone system, you will have to decide on the VoIP phones you actually wish to use. Majority of service providers have a huge range to pick from. Lastly, you will have to select a service provider and the kind of voice services which you will include in your VoIP plan. Training and Onboarding VoIP phone with Your Employees With your VoIP phone set up and completely functioning, you can start to explore the features incorporated and get your employees familiar with them. Majority of features are user-friendly, and the web interface is easy to navigate. Before you can start using the VoIP phone system, there’s one last part which needs addressing. Is the provider offering training or onboarding for your VoIP phone or are you going to have to deliver these services? You need to ask your VoIP service provider about their training and onboarding process. With a new VoIP phone system in place, your employees will require help to quickly get to know the interface. There are four concerns which you will have to inquire about are: Online Support Training Account and Billing Setup Number Porting Online Support Majority of VoIP service providers provide online support, like a business’s knowledge base or an extended section of Frequently Asked Questions. There you can find how to and video guides which covers everything related to system and features. Training Generally, materials which are supplied include introductory manuals, materials and training guides, and at times virtual training for users and business administrators. Account and Billing Setup Usually, VoIP providers achieve this set up right away and offer online access to account details and billing. Number Porting Whenever a new user needs to transfer their current numbers over to a new phone system, it is known as ‘porting’. This is managed by the service provider. During that time, you will be supplied temporary phone numbers until the porting completes.  

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hosted voip pbx

Hosted VOIP PBX – Avoiding the Use of Huge Physical Phone Equipment

Selecting a hosted VoIP solution for your business can remove a lot of burdens if you are stuck with the traditional phone system. It can be tough to break old habits, and one such habit is using traditional phones because they have been around for decades and you cannot imagine your business working without them. However, you are missing out on a lot, because the VoIP technology can take away the majority of the telephone equipment problems which you have been enduring for too long. A few of those issues are ones you have merely tolerated. It is also a fact that when you use a piece of equipment for so long the liabilities can start to become invisible. Nonetheless, as the competition in the business world is increasing, you may probably start to notice those problems more evidently. Let’s discuss the burdens which you have faced with massive and huge communications equipment and how VoIP technology can resolve this problem for once and all. The burden of Maintaining an On-premise Hosted VOIP PBX Server If you use the traditional telephones, then you probably also have CRM software where all caller information is stored through an on-premise server. Having to Maintain your own server can be a huge financial risk. If something were to go wrong with your server then you would be responsible for getting it fixed in an appropriate manner. But, if you lag then it could result in excessive downtime. With extra repair time also you will lose hundreds or maybe thousands of pounds. Hosted VOIP PBX that operate through the cloud allows you to drop the responsibility of maintaining your own server. Your VoIP service provider allows you to store all your call data through an offsite cloud server.in case if you travel a lot or work then you can search for any information that you might need anywhere that has internet. During disasters, you can retrieve your telephone system in another location instantly. The burden of Maintaining the telephone Equipment Landline telephones have not transformed a lot in appearance from the way they decades ago. Even though these have touch-tone buttons or different digital touch-ups these phones still take up a lot of room on a desk.  Even though the world is becoming more wireless each day, yet these phones are still not wireless. Every physical phone still needs a cord to be attached to the receiver and needs several bundles of wires for plug-ins. This means having to hire technicians to connect the telephones properly, also needing time for training. Then there the big responsibility of maintenance which can happen more often than you know. Recently, you might have had to switch your phone at least once a year and maintain is several times yearly. As a business develops more deterioration is inevitable on those phones. Though cost is a huge aspect in maintaining phone equipment. Constantly substituting those phones can start to eat your profits substantially. VoIP phone systems operate through an existing internet connection, so you can remove the physical phones finally. Going Wireless Finally All the infinite wires and cables can become maddening after some time. Having to spend additional connecting a million devices throughout the business can become almost unbearable to manage. Yet, wireless technology is making this outdated slowly. VoIP phone technology is at the forefront to help eliminate the muddled wire and cable maze. A majority of VoIP service providers offer you wireless headphones which allow your employees to use the phone whilst moving around. It doesn’t bound them to be knotted to a desk and hold a corded phone receiver for hours at a time. The days of stressed employees hunched over a cumbersome phone can become history. Competitive Advantage of Hosted VoIP PBX Given the pace of technological advancements, every small business worry that their investment in the infrastructure and technology will be rendered outdated is just a short amount of time. This worry is reinforced by the past investments which they made in old phone systems since the parts or replacement phones become more and more costly and difficult to find. This makes having a traditional phone system extremely costly. With the hosted PBX, the burden to maintain a phone system has shifted completely to the VoIP service provider. they are always the phone technology and related features on the cutting edge and certifying the newest VoIP phone system on their platform. As time passes, businesses are introduced to new capabilities and features. As their phones age and become damaged then they can be easily replaced with a newer model which will work with any old phone which they continue to use. Many small businesses still are scared of VoIP technology since they lack the proper information. However, the small businesses switching to Hosted VoIP get the enterprise-level features, low cost of purchase, monthly cost savings, avoid obsolescence and flexibility in deployment. They can use these features to enhance their communications both internally and externally. All of this delivers a competitive benefit to their business, which can help them flourish and succeed in today’s market climate. Whether your business is small or large with VoIP you become the competition. You can get the attention of your target audience. You can earn your customers satisfaction and loyalty. Hence, you can get a competitive edge over the competition. Every small business deserves the same competitive advantage as its huge counterparts. If you own a small business, then you do your research for hosted VoIP providers and gain this benefit over your competition.

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save money with voip

How VoIP Saves Your Business Money

VoIP technology unlike traditional phone services works by transmitting the audio over the internet. If you have ever used WhatsApp, Viber or Skype for making calls then you are aware of how convenient and easy it is. Best of all through the VoIP phone system you can talk to anybody anywhere in the world without having to worry about piling up your phone bill. That is how VoIP works. How Could VoIP Software Save a Company Money? By simply replacing the traditional phone system, VoIP phone technology can save your money and it can increase your productivity and profits. Lower Cost of Installation Installing a traditional telephone system can be expensive and time-consuming. For the majority of start-ups and small businesses, the upfront cost of all the hardware and installation can be affordable. Upgrading a traditional telephone system to meet your business needs adds to the initial cost since you will have to buy additional hardware and pay for the installation as well. Also, you will need to pay to manually redirect your phone number in case you move your office to a newer location. On the contrary, a VoIP phone system for business is affordable and easier to install. The complete phone system lives in a cloud, hence there is no need to buy expensive hardware and there is no complex installation involved. You just must select a subscription plan which best meets your business requirements and your budget. Then your VoIP service provider will have your VoIP system set up and running in your office space in no time. At your end, a single piece of software along with a basic headset is all you need to get started. If you are moving, your office to a newer location then you don’t need to worry. Because your VoIP phone number represents your account not your location. Hence, wherever you go your phone number travels with you. You will just need an IP connection in your new office and you are good to go. Improved Functionality and Mobility Without high Costs The majority of businesses nowadays operate 24/7. You need to do the same if you wish to stay ahead of the competition. With a legacy phone system, this would mean having employees constantly sitting by phone to answer customer calls. Another disadvantage of these phone systems is that they can’t be integrated with other tools. In you need fax then with the traditional phone system, you will have to install a separate line dedicated to send and receive faxes. And if you want features like voicemail, video chat or conference then you should be ready to pay extra cost for each feature. VoIP technology takes away all these redundant resources. The majority of VoIP service providers offer a collection of advanced features like custom greeting, call routing, virtual fax, auto-attendant, virtual extension, music on hold and numerous others as part of the subscription plan at no extra cost. Additionally, when it comes to saving your money, these features can also help a small business appear more professional, this plays an important role in allaying potential customers’ fear and getting their trust. All these advanced VoIP features allow you to plan conference calls while on the go. Other participants can also join in from anywhere around the globe using their smartphones. This takes away the necessity of scheduling conference calls beforehand so that participants from different locations could arrange access to video conference services. Affordable Local and International Calls VoIP technology allows you to collaborate with global suppliers, branches and buyers from all around the world. This is not just a privilege for giant corporations. Nowadays, even small and medium-sized businesses are operating internationally. Communication is an integral part of functioning efficiently in this new business however with a traditional phone line your monthly phone bill can start to get scary real soon. Since VoIP phone connects calls through internet there are no international or local phone charges to consider. With VoIP, you can talk to your suppliers, customers and employees who are scattered in remote locations around the globe without having to worry about the cost of making unlimited international phone calls. Lower Maintenance Costs Since VoIP phone systems are cloud-based, they do not rely on much hardware. This means that you don’t need to deal with hardware malfunctions, crashes or any other technical issues which can result in lost revenue. There is a problem only on rare occasions, and even in those rare moments, your VoIP provider will get the issued sorted out immediately at their end. You will not need to wait for a technician to come to your office, spend time in locating the issue and even more time in trying to fix it. Another issue that has become increasingly common over the past few years is that since traditional phone systems are getting phased out, spare parts are becoming harder to find. The technicians who can repair and maintain these systems are equally hard to find and the few who can repair charge a lot for their services. Paying such high costs to run an antique system just doesn’t make any financial sense. Upgrade Anytime VoIP phone system provides you the convenience of starting out with a basic plan when you begin and upgrade as your business grows without any additional cost for installation or extra hardware. Whether you want to add a new feature of a new phone number, VoIP makes this easy without having to make key changes to the complete phone system. As a start-up and right through the growth stage and beyond you won’t ever overpay for features and services that you don’t even need. You will not be charged for unused features, additional capacity or extra lines if you are not using it. VoIP service providers also update your entire phone system frequently to keep up with the ongoing technological developments, so your communication system is top of the line always. VoIP can also Help You Make More Money Once you have installed the VoIP phone system you have saved on the on-time cost of installation, the ongoing cost of maintenance and the cost of local and international phone calls. In addition, you get an entire a whole suite of advanced features without having to pay high rates. Besides these significant savings, VoIP system also enhances employee efficiency, which leads to higher outputs and higher profits. If you are thinking of switching to VoIP, then there are some best VoIP providers in the UK.

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VoIP Technology

10 VoIP Technology Trends in 2019

VoIP Phone systems are more than 20 years old and are getting more powerful day by day. All this has happened because VoIP provides businesses with unique mobility. Furthermore, VoIP developers are continuously improving technology. Therefore, in this article, we are going to discuss the new trends of VoIP which we will experience in 2019. 1.Adoption of United Communications as a service will increase Until a few years ago the corporate communication revolves around traditional telephony, email and Postal service. Large enterprises would invest in expensive outdated technology to take benefit from the call monitoring and automated attendance feature. Simultaneously there has long been a lack of integrated communication which has led to slow response times and stunted corporate growth. UCaaS is all about outsourcing the communication infrastructure to cloud phone system. Rather than paying for costlier in-house hardware businesses can have their systems managed by a third party. Users can also access their data, audio, and video communication through any internet connected device since everything is posted in the cloud. 2. 5G will enter the mainstream 5G technology is the fifth generation of mobile communications. This technology aims to bring ultrafast mobile internet into the mainstream while also reducing the cost. After detailed testing and development, in 2019 we are going to witness its first commercial deployment beginning with the first stage of 5G specifications which were released in March Mobile data has continuously been expensive for a lot of applications even though prices have decreased. 5G is expected to change that with speeds a quick as 10 GB/s along with lower latencies and enhanced network competency. But it is also going to need new hardware which surely slows the adoption rate until the option enters the mainstream. 3.Increased use of mobile unified communication Nowadays there is an app for everything the similarly hosted VoIP industry is also going to explore the high-end functionality of the app based virtual phone numbers. Now several VoIP providers offer the embedded app support system for advanced support. Moving forward, the launch of 5G has increased the functionality of the mobile app VoIP support system. Multiple and wide uses of the Mobile UC technology is going to be trending in the year 2019. Businesses are probably going to use the app based virtual numbers for doing business calls, conferencing and team meetings. A situation where 58% men of power in the UK, work under a remote location, the use of a 5G enabled mobile app supported virtual phone numbers will be a great solution to overcome the location constraint. 4. Artificial intelligence is going to transform customer experiences A decade ago artificial intelligence was considered science fiction. Now customers are accustomed to virtual assistants such as Apple’s Siri or amazon’s Alexa in their daily life. 2018 saw the unprecedented increase of Artificial Intelligence start-ups and the adoption of Technology across a wide range of industries. AI will also transform call centres in the coming years. It is already in making Call Centres more efficient by quickly answering common questions instead of having customers wait for someone to pick up the phone. Behind the scenes business progressively are adopting AI to predict customer behaviour and to provide valuable insights to businesses. In the year of 2019, we can expect that there will be acceptance of bots in the business environment to enhance exponentially. 5. A merger of VoIP and WebRTC In 2019 we are going to see the merger of two de-facto communication systems the VoIP and WebRTC. WebRTC which was considered an extension to VoIP is going to help in swapping peer-to-peer files and directly calling from the web browser. With this innovative merger, businesses will not need to download any extra plugins and widgets for performing actions. The mobile app for the virtual number will be able to do it directly. WebRTC was launched by Google in 2011. It has now become the future of VoIP technology and it has on a lot of potentials. There are a few areas such as instant calling from sites and live video support for the conference where was Technology struggles a bit. Nonetheless all this we will be able to achieve easily with the help of WebRTC. 6. In-app communications will be widespread Unified Communications can prioritise the integration of all communication services that a business uses. The goal is to enhance efficiency, reduce cost and maximise productivity. It is not that easy to achieve. The most effective UC system is extensively integrated with information such as instant messaging applications and contact numbers being immediately accessible via a centralised interface. The in-app communications already are in the commonplace. However, integrations continue to get better and more sophisticated with time. Developers are focusing hard to integrate services like audio and video communication into mobile along with real-time video, desktop apps, and cloud. For instance, far from being the standalone application, it used to be, Skype has become a core element of the entire Microsoft Office 365 environment. 7.VoIP Technology will join hands with the internet of things A report has been issued by the company Siemens which have cleared one factor that by the year 2020 there will be around 26 billion internet of things objects which will replace the mobile phones. VoIP enabled phone numbers will be able to get connected with other devices easily. Similarly, zettabytes internet connectivity of all these devices will perform the task at a supersonic speed which will leave no scope for errors. 8. Bid goodbye to the plain old telephone system In the wake of leading and latest cloud technology, a mobile app based, and the virtual Technology global businesses are going to bid goodbye to the traditional or Plain telephone system. A huge chunk of businesses has already started relying upon the fibre cabling over the traditional copper wire landline system. According to the latest reports, almost 42 million businesses will welcome the VoIP hosted PBX system with open arms. This number is almost two-fold extra compared to what it used to be four years ago. With the need for a local business phone number for global operations, the local POTS do not hold any ground. 9. Increased concerns about security Just like any other virtual product the VoIP technology is prone to virtual threats. Business is going to pay attention to the security of virtual numbers since they will be paying attention to the implementation of virtual phone numbers in real-time situations. Seeing this unwavering requirement to have a robust security system for VoIP solution different types of products are coming with authorised user login system as well as with secure cloud space. Additionally, there are products which offer spam filtering and malware protection for secure and safe usage. 10. Smarter VoIP assistants Furthermore, other than providing customer behaviour analysis artificial intelligence is also used for answering calls. Thanks to the advances in language processing the VoIP assistant like Alexa and Siri can provide better interpreting sources through simple command and allow people to interact directly with customers. For instance, sound bots can handle simple questions usually found in the FAQs while the customer service representatives can resolve more Complex issues. If implemented correctly then this has the potential to increase the resolution rates and decrease the time that is spent on basic tasks.Upgrade Business Phone System From VoIP Business.

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3 Great Strategies for Call Centre Improvement

3 Great Strategies for Call Centre Improvement

Call Centres continuously face new challenges while trying to improve their agent efficiency and enhance customer satisfaction. Having improved agent efficiency and increasing customer satisfaction can feel like conflicting goals. However, by utilising the call centre improvement strategies like improving the technology used, reducing agent workload and improving representatives’ skills, the Call Centres can resolve problems more quickly and can handle huge call volume while satisfying their customers. In this article we are going to discuss how these strategies can be implemented and how it can help the call centres. Improve the agent skills Sometimes speaking with a live agent is the last option for a customer when every other communication channel does not work. But once a customer reaches an agent then they shouldn’t have to utilise another channel. Training is very critical to make sure that agents understand the services and products that they offer, the policies and procedures along with having efficient and appropriate communication skills. The training needs to engage agents and represent in an effective form, so the information is observed and well understood. In addition, live call monitoring must be used which can monitor whether an agent can perform their tasks properly, use the systems in an effective manner and offer outstanding customer support. The voice and screen recording along with customer satisfaction score can also be used to analyse an agent’s performance. In the meantime, a strong feedback procedure is also required to communicate to agents in terms of what they need to improve. Improving Technology being used A well-implemented Technology can improve Call Centre efficiency and agent utilisation that also can improve customer service. While the number of technological solutions and providers can be overwhelming in the market. There are some basic Call Centre improvement strategies which can be particularly effective. Workforce management software: A Workforce management software can analyse historical information and can use particular parameters to project staffing requirements to handle the workload going forward. For Call Centres with more than 50 agents, the workforce management shows financial results because of improved staffing and agent utilisation. Text and speech Analytics software: A text and speech analytics software can analyse the written and spoken introductions to make sure that the agents stick to actual policy and procedures. The software can also extract a sample of calls where the callers used a certain keyword or show a certain emotion so that additional analysis can be done to determine the reason for these kinds of Communications. Contact routing software: A contact routing software also known as automatic contact distribution assigns particular contact to some specific agents in an automated manner irrespective of channel. This software can also improve agent utilisation because the work is moved to appropriately skilled agents rather than moving agents to different kinds of contacts. Knowledge management software: This type of software provides a single source of information which is accessible easily to call centre agents. Historically agents have had to go to several locations both on paper and electronically to find information in order to answer customers queries. An effective knowledge management system provides user-friendly search capabilities and supporting processes to ensure that the information in the system is accurate and current. Reduce the workload This strategy is not effective unless the call centre remains customer focused. Providing diverse methods of self-service allows customers to solve their issues through the channel that they prefer. For instance, the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) allows customers to self-serve when they have very simple questions like balance inquiry. With a little fine tuning of speech recognition, the IVR can cater to a wide array of customer requirements. A customer friendly IVR needs to have a restricted layer of menus and clear terminology. The mobile apps and web self-service have developed greatly over the past few years and they provide callers a personalised service experience. The mobile app needs to have simple navigation, a UI and search tools which are responsive across different types of devices. When the customer self-service is not a choice it becomes important for Call Centres to use Business Call Recording which is a major driver for customer satisfaction. This strategy can reduce the number of customers calling several times to resolve their problem. And, it also addresses the root cause of customer complaint. Therefore, the customer will not have to reach out about the same problem in the future. Using these basic and great three strategies call centres can actually improve the efficiency of their agents and can also enhance customer support.  

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Virtual telephone number

How Virtual Telephone Numbers Can Help Your Business?

A lot of Virtual Telephone Numbers providers promote virtual telephone numbers as a part of their feature platform. Whilst we all are familiar with telephone numbers and the way they work. Some might not have an idea what actually a virtual phone number is? Virtual Telephone Numbers Virtual telephone numbers are just like regular telephone numbers which are not connected to any phone line or device. Formerly, a telephone number was provision to work through a dedicated line and that phone line was connected physically to the telephone company to the destination by wires. Any incoming calls to that number could be sent only to that particular destination. Furthermore, in the case of business phone numbers, the business would have a telephone hardware system in the workplace to configure call routing rules, voicemail, and extensions etc. Virtual phone numbers for business remove the physical limitations which were formerly tied down with telephone numbers and it allows businesses to have better flexibility and control in the way they receive calls. When virtual phone numbers are used with a cloud phone system they can be purchased directly from the service provider and can be managed through the admin portal. Virtual phone numbers for business also allows you to set the destination of the number and then modify it in real-time without waiting for the provider to get around the task. What can businesses do with virtual phone numbers? With Virtual phone numbers for business, you can unite support or sales departments that are scattered over different states or cities. If your business has multiple office branches, then a virtual phone number can seamlessly unite your scattered workforce. Rather than the incoming calls ringing telephone in just one office, a virtual phone number can have the incoming call ring phones across separate officers. How? If you have a sales representative in different cities, then you can make the destination of the virtual phone number be a call queue or a ring group. All the incoming calls to that virtual phone number will then ring all your representatives’ phones, who are in the group or queue at the same time or successively. Depending on the ring strategy which you choose or setup, any representative can then answer the call regardless of the location they are in. Employ a local phone number where you have a lot of clients If your business has a lot of customers located in different states or cities, then you can let them call you by just by dialling a local phone number. Virtual phone numbers for business can help you in establishing a presence in that area where you are not located whilst also decreasing the cost of all your incoming calls. You just have to buy the virtual phone number from your service provider and set the destination to the phones in your offices, even if your workplace is not in the area which is serviced by the numbers area code. Enjoy Geographic flexibility and remote working You can use virtual phone numbers for geography flexibility and remote working. Virtual numbers can be useful if you want to be reachable on your cell phone while you are away from the office. However, if you do not want to reveal your personal number to the whole company, through a virtual phone number you can set your destination to your cell phone then all of the employees can reach you just by dialling that virtual phone number. Evaluate the performance of marketing, advertising or sales campaign If you are running sales and Advertising campaigns, then it is important that you evaluate all the overall success and health of these efforts. Instead of funnelling all the calls through the main line of your business, you can allocate a different virtual number to every campaign which you are running. This way you will know whenever a call is coming for a particular campaign just by the phone number they have dialled. For the future, when the campaign is over you can download and review all your businesses reports of past calls to know the exact number of calls that have come through to a specific virtual phone number, it could be one of the data points that will help you in evaluating the success of your efforts. Increase the reach of your business with the help of a virtual phone number From uniting your distributed workforce to providing new ways for your business to answer incoming calls a virtual phone number can allow your business to meet the requirements of your employees while remaining available to customers.

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