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Benefits of a virtual phone system

7th July 2020

A virtual phone system is an affordable internet-based alternative to traditional phone lines. No need for an office line or hardware, these systems can sync straight up to your mobile or desktop. Also known as VoIP systems, they pass your call over the internet rather than phone lines. A Virtual Phone System can work anywhere, not only at your desk. Calls can be instantly routed to your mobile phone or to your smartphone app, wherever you have a mobile phone or internet signal.

Benefits

1. No Landlines needed

Run a phone system without landlines. Staff can call each other internally through the system without exposing their personal numbers.

2. Automatic call recording

Automatically record inbound and outbound calls for training and quality purposes.

3. Listen on live calls

Listen in on active calls and talk to your staff without the client being able to hear you. Great for training new staff.

4. Cost Savings

Call charges with Virtual Phone Systems are generally much cheaper than traditionally based carriers on local, mobile and international calls, making it more cost-effective to maintain a reliable business phone system.

Whenever you have an internet connection, you have access to the rates you have agreed, which helps avoid overseas roaming charges if you business is located in another country.

Your number is hosted in the cloud and so there is no need for expensive line rentals, as well as all the maintenance on the system, is handled by your provider and there are fewer setup costs.

5. Productivity On The Move

A Virtual Phone System can work anywhere, not only at your desk. Calls can be instantly routed to your mobile phone or to your smartphone app, wherever you have a mobile phone or internet signal.

6. Professional

Small business and startup companies are very dynamic, constantly changing to the challenges being thrown at them. Virtual phone numbers move with you, giving the impression the company is more stable and larger than it actually is.

7. Smartphone application

Virtual phone systems allow you to make and receive calls from your smartphone. Calls will show up as your virtual office phone number and not your mobile number. All can be easily managed from the free virtual landline app.

8. fast to set up

Some phone systems require a lot of lead time to set up. For example, a dedicated VOIP system on your premise may require multiple visits by an installation crew and training sessions to learn a complex system. A cloud system can be set up in working in under 5 minutes, making it much more plug and play.

9. Choose your number

Need a local number but based elsewhere or even overseas? A virtual phone system enables you for example to have a London telephone number but be physically anywhere in the world. Often phone numbers provided by business incubation units or serviced offices belong to them, so if you move in the future you run the risk of losing the phone number you have built your business around. Choosing a virtual or hosted number solution gives you flexibility for the future.

10. Never miss a call

You can choose to have your calls diverted to your desk phone, mobile phone, PC or a tablet device as when required. You can set it up to divert to you on the other lines and devices if you do not pick up on the first. Even have them all ringing at the same time if you want to be sure not to miss that important sales call.

11. Easily redirect calls

Call screening keeps you from being bombarded with calls when you are out of the office. Simply answer the phone and choose one of the screening prompts: answer the call, send the caller to voicemail, or hear the caller’s phone number. This feature allows you to avoid the pressure of a lengthy conversation when you don't have the time.

If you do receive an important phone call, you can directly connect the caller to one of your employees and take care of business right away.

When you can't answer, callers will be notified and they will be given alternate ways of contacting your business. This feature is useful for specified times each day, like a lunch hour, or for longer time periods, such as a vacation or holiday break.

What we think...

'I just had one setup a week ago which took less than an hour to setup, costs me about £40 per month to run (I'd expect a branch to cost £50-80pm), and can scale to any sized business. The key benefits to our business are the incoming and outgoing calls from our business number whilst using mobiles, internal extensions, automatic call recording and listening in on active calls which is great or training new staff.' Mark McCorrie, Founder & Director of Made Snappy

We use a 3CX phone system, set up by Reformed IT tech company remotely in under an hour.