Most companies, from contact centers to start-ups, are either considering replacing their current phone service with a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone system or have already started doing so. Businesses that have already implemented these systems can speak to the various motivations behind the change.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss the best tips related to selecting the right VoIP provider.
7 Tips for Choosing the Right VoIP Provider
- Determine Costs Involved
The cost will play a significant role in helping you choose the best provider.
Installing a VoIP system should be free of charge, or extremely inexpensive because it connects over the internet. You may only be able to anticipate paying an account activation charge at most. On your account, though, this would just be a one-time expense, without any significant maintenance costs or requirements.
Basic features include toll-free minutes, call forwarding, caller ID, call waiting, call recording, call per user, auto attendant, and unlimited outgoing calling. You should be able to choose between paying annually and monthly for your PBX, allowing you to have flexibility depending on volumes and requirements.
- Define Call Volume Requirements
You must understand the nature of your own company before you can even consider selecting a VoIP provider. Do you usually answer outgoing or incoming calls? How many workers are answering or placing calls at once for you? What is the duration of those calls? Your selection of provider and plan will be influenced by your responses to these questions.
- International or Local Calling?
Do you typically make local or international calls? This will affect the VoIP plan that you select. VoIP is typically a very cheap long-distance calling option, and if your line has enough bandwidth, you should be able to get high-quality calls as well.
Make sure the VoIP plan you are thinking about includes the countries you anticipate making the most calls from when you are considering using it for international calling.
- Make Sure Third-Party Integrations are Possible
One of the best things about VoIP is its ability to integrate your telephone system with other services, increasing employee productivity and enhancing end users’ experiences.
Customer service isn’t limited to phone conversations; you may also interact with clients via live chat, SMS, email, and other platforms. The efficiency of your business can be substantially increased by having the capacity to send texts, conduct conference calls, listen to related voicemails, and monitor other messages from a single system.
Expect the following integrations:
CRM – A lot of VoIP services can interface with your CRM program, allowing you to track important call-related statistics. Because the platform may link your agent to the incoming caller’s profile and occasionally even immediately create a new support ticket with details about that call, this integration can also improve the customer experience.
SMS and fax – Most VoIP platforms come with built-in SMS and fax functionality. However, your product should link with an outside SMS and fax platform if they don’t have that feature.
Email software – You may take advantage of email and call management by integrating your email tool with your VoIP system. When your VoIP tool and Microsoft Outlook are integrated, for example, you can get audio files directly into your email from your VoIP tool.
Cloud storage integrations – To ensure the security of your phone recordings, a VoIP product should be able to effortlessly link with cloud storage services like Dropbox or Google Cloud. In this manner, you can continue to be shielded from things like fraud and legal action.
Make sure your tool has these integrations or any other integrations you require before choosing your VoIP platform. Additionally, search for VoIP programs that have third-party API interfaces so you may modify your tool as required.
- Call Management Software
Any contact center’s core is its call management software. In addition to managing their teams, team leaders can see free/busy and call length data, forecast call volumes, route calls to the appropriate agents, and understand the overall productivity of the contact center.
Some VoIP providers offer cloud-based contact center management software that lets you control your call flows dynamically and keep an eye on the center’s performance in real-time. Cloud call routing management tools can be a smart choice for you if you’re looking for an upgrade or if you don’t currently have contact center software in place.
Verify that any installed software is compatible with the VoIP system if you have any installed applications. Ask each VoIP provider you are thinking about working with if you can transfer your current hardware and/or software when you sign up for their VoIP service.
- Customer Service
You rely on your VoIP system to provide your clients with high-quality service. As a result, you need to be certain that, if your demands change or something goes wrong, your VoIP provider will offer you excellent customer care. Seek a service provider who offers live chat and remote assistance around the clock.
Here are some other elements to consider while evaluating a VoIP provider’s customer support program:
Simplicity – Users should try to minimize the amount of time they spend on hold during calls in addition to transferring calls to several agents.
Live Representatives – Since they are always ready to discuss problems with you, a live representative is the best kind of support you can find. It will be simpler for both parties to elucidate and clarify when necessary if you’re chatting with someone.
Options for Self-Service – You will be able to do more with a strong customer care offering than just speak with a professional via chat. Online portals, FAQs, video tutorials, and/or other web-based options fall under this category.
- VoIP Uptime
The percentage of time that your VoIP service is online and operational is referred to as uptime. No supplier can provide a 100% uptime rate. Unexpected outages are inevitable with VoIP because it operates via the Internet, but most suppliers can guarantee an uptime of roughly 99.9%.
Although that seems like a good number, the number of digits following that decimal will imply a considerable variation in uptime, as we have previously mentioned. For instance, an annual 5.26 minutes of unscheduled downtime corresponds to 99.999% uptime and an annual 52.56 minutes to 99.99% uptime.
It’s crucial to find out exactly what percentage of uptime your supplier can guarantee, down to the last decimal place, because there’s a big variation between those figures. You can face additional downtime on top of the uptime percentage if it excludes maintenance and upgrade periods.
It’s also crucial to find out from your VoIP provider when their services are normally unavailable, be it on the weekends or after hours. That might have a profound impact on your clients.
Conclusion
Choosing the best VoIP provider requires careful consideration of factors like pricing, features, call management software, uptime, and customer service. By prioritizing your needs and conducting thorough research, you can ensure seamless communication that boosts productivity and supports your business goals.
Ready to revolutionize your communication system with the perfect VoIP provider? Let’s upgrade together! Reach out to us at Value Shore to discover how our tailored VoIP solutions can transform your business. Don’t settle for ordinary communication – let’s elevate it to extraordinary!
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