Olivia Maier
We want to make sure that the phone system you have, or the phone system you are looking at adopting, is truly the right fit for your business. This may seem hard to determine, especially if you are comparing more than a few different systems. That’s why we’ve come up with an easy to follow checklist that will make sure that your business is fully equipped with the right business phone system.
We’re going to start by going into the basics of business phone systems, as well as the different types of phone systems available today. From there, we’re going to give you a features checklist that will help you compare a variety of business phone system providers. The features checklist will go over the following categories of a business phone system.
We’ll even show you how to use the checklist as we compare some of the best business phone systems, including:
If that sounds good to you, then we are excited for you to read and become an expert on business phone systems, and to have the tools to make informed comparisons between providers.
A business phone system is a telephone system that is set up to allow multiple lines on the same business phone number. The phrase “business phone system” is a broad term that can describe many different types of phone systems.
Communication is important in the business world, and while email and other instant messaging options exist, having a business phone line is here to stay. The telephone remains an important tool, and is necessary to include in your multi-channel communication strategy.
When you think about modern phone systems, you probably think of cloud based phones. These phone systems are able to live in the cloud, meaning your business isn’t tied down to expensive servers and software. These phones are also internet based phone systems, which means that your calls are being transmitted over the internet instead of relying on old fashioned telephone cables. This can help you access a high quality, crystal clear form of voice communication.
When you take advantage of a cloud phone system, you are taking advantage of the latest phone technology and giving yourself access to a wide variety of features and functionalities. These systems can offer extremely affordable options for your team, especially when compared to traditional systems.
The best part about using a hosted VoIP system? You can enjoy taking advantage of next generation features that have been typically reserved for large enterprises, no matter the size or style of your team.
Today we will be focusing specifically on cloud based business phone systems, because we are true believers that this technology is the ONLY way that businesses should be conducting phone communication in 2022.
We will be discussing all of our favorite features that your team shouldn’t be living without. This checklist will also give you a brief description of each feature, so you will know exactly why we think its an essential to keep in mind as you consider different providers.
The basics: Make sure that your business phone system doesn’t just come with fancy bells and whistles. You need to make sure that you have all of the essential features that make a business phone system operable, and functional.
Multiple lines:
Any business phone system should be able to handle multiple lines on the same business phone number.
Call forwarding to multiple sources:
Your business phone number should be accessible from a wide variety of device types, and it is important that your live calls can be forwarded across devices.
Conference call facilities:
Make sure that your team can collaborate and effectively handle calls when multiple parties should be present.
Ensure a positive experience: We want to make sure that you have your customer phone experience in mind as you consider different features. These are a few little touches that will help the other end of the call go as smoothly as possible.
Welcome messages:
Make sure that every interaction starts off with a customized greeting to keep your business communication feeling personal.
Text messaging:
Let your clients reach you, however it is most convenient for them! Make sure to take advantage of business SMS communication.
Voice based IVR:
Skip the old fashioned menu options, and instead route your callers accurately based on what they are saying in real time.
Keep track of caller information: When it comes to your business phone system, you should ensure that caller data and information is easily accessible to your team, while always staying securely stored. Stay on top of your valuable information with the following features:
Call tagging:
Add customizable tags to your call log, so you can easily search through, sort, and aggregate information. This way you can easily access summaries or descriptions of completed calls.
Voicemail transcriptions:
Sometimes audio files aren’t convenient, and simply reading information would be easier. With automatic voicemail transcriptions, you can read voicemail messages at your convenience.
Shared address book:
You and your colleagues should always have one shared address book, to help prevent confusion across users. The best address books will come with contact synchronization capabilities.
Encrypted calls
Make sure that your callers and your team can rely on securely stored data and information. This can give everyone involved an additional peace of mind, while enhancing your ability to organize important information.
Improving your scalability: Your business phone system should be able to grow with your team. This means that it can be adopted whether you are growing your team size, locations, product offerings, and more!
Pay per user:
The best cloud business phone systems will offer payment plans that allow you to pay per user, per month. That way you are able to easily change the size of your team without having to worry about massive increases in phone communication expenses.
International phone numbers:
Whether you are expanding internationally, or simply want a local number in a variety of locations, you should consider virtual international phone numbers. There is no need to be PHYSICALLY in a location to take advantage of a local area code, and this will make your business more accessible to customers in that area.
Flexible devices:
Your team may already be using hardware phones, or be providing work computers to your team. However your team likes to operate, the best and most scalable phone systems will be accessible from a variety of device types. Especially look for mobile apps, desktop apps, web browsers, and hardware phone capabilities.
We’re going to apply our checklist to a few of the TOP business phone systems that are taking advantage of cloud technology.
We will discussing how each provider is able to help you as you search for features in the four categories we discussed early, which are:
While some business phone systems will be able to offer multiple features that were listed under each category, we are pointing out the features that each system is especially known for, or places more emphasis on. If you are looking to compare the checklist to any of these providers for a one to one comparison, we recommend going to their “Features” page to see a comprehensive list of what each provider offers!
We hope that you can take advantage of our complete business phone system features checklist as you search for your new phone system. As we said, we recommend looking at cloud based systems as they are able to offer some of the most robust systems at some of the most accessible price ranges.
With this checklist in hand, you will be able to easily search through long lists of features to ensure that the tools your business needs will be within the provider you are looking at. You may even find some new and exciting features that fit within each of the categories we mentioned. Remember, our checklist is a great starting point, but you can always search for more features that will fit your needs best!
If you are looking to get started with a business phone system that can give you access to ALL of the features mentioned on our checklist, then test out Yodel today! You can get started with a free trial, as well as receive personalized advice through one of our demo calls.
