Introduction
Your telephony system is the beating heart of your company. It’s the lifeline that keeps you in touch with customers and the golden thread that links employees, suppliers and partners. Unless you are in IT, you probably don’t spend that much time thinking about what your phone system does and doesn’t do. You’ve made your peace with the current system. You know how to transfer calls to different departments and can just about access your voicemail. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, right? But aren’t you worried that you’re missing out on something more? New telephony systems are released all the time with additional benefits and features that you might not even be aware of. You might even be guilty of tuning out some of the problems that are inherent with your current system. Indulge us for a minute. Read through these four signs that you might need a modern telephony system and, if it rings any bells, pick up that out-of-date handset and give us a call.
Your telephony system can’t be scaled up easily
When you are on a mission for growth you want to eliminate any chains that hold you back. Modern businesses need to be agile to compete and don’t need restrictive phone systems holding them back. Ask yourself, how easy is it to set up a new extension when someone joins the company. You already jump through all sorts of regulatory hoops with HMRC and pensions providers to bring someone new onboard. You don’t need hassle from your phone provider too. Some systems place restrictions on the number of new extensions you can add and make it hard to implement. Modern telephony solutions that work over the internet make adding new employees easier than adding a new person to your Netflix subscription.
There isn’t enough flexibility in your system
Flexibility is key in the modern workplace. Employers have a responsibility to provide flexible working conditions for their staff. Many businesses have embraced remote working and encourage staff to stay home as a way of boosting productivity and efficiency. If you have a lot of field sales agents, employees that travel frequently or remote workers then your telephony system can’t be tied to one physical location. Cloud-based phone systems allow your employees to communicate effectively, even when they are out of the office. They can stay connected even when they are on the road to business meetings or working from home to look after their kids. It’s seamless. What’s more, if your premises are damaged in a fire or some other kind of disaster and you need to temporarily relocate, a modern system can accommodate this without any of the hassle or additional costs.
Your calls are patchy or unclear
Does your phone system make it sound like you are calling from inside a very deep, very long tunnel? Poor phone call quality can occur with older ISDN and Internet-enabled systems and can be for a variety of reasons. Some major problems include poor network configuration, slow internet speeds and inadequate hardware like routers. It isn’t always easy to figure out why your phone calls are coming through clearly, but an experienced telephony consultant will be able to diagnose your issue and help identify a solution that suits your firm.
You can’t get instant support
What do you do if something goes wrong with your phone system? Have you got to wait for the provider to send out an engineer? Maybe you get your staff to pop down and turn the physical hardware on and off again? Modern telephony systems don’t require a lot of on-site equipment. Everything is hosted and managed in the cloud. This means that if something goes wrong, all you need to do is call your provider and they can carry out the necessary fix or maintenance remotely. Sometimes they can get problems fixed in just a few minutes.
