Getting the necessary telecommunication service isn’t always easy for a business. Although Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) spend a larger amount of money on communications today then ever before, their telecommunication solutions are fragmented and sometimes don’t fit their requirements.
Even worse, small businesses have to deal with poor customer service, a lack of accountability and complicated billing. In today’s innovative world of converged solutions, Voice over IP technology can help.
There are a myriad of offerings now claiming the benefits of a converged solution. Businesses may find it difficult to distinguish between the many solutions, and understand the real business benefits.
VoIP can be used to bring about cost savings in voice carriage and in convergence of Internet and VPN over a single connection, and also productivity gains for employees with innovative features in today’s IP PBX systems.
Listed below are 10 hot tips to help you choose the right VoIP solution for your business. These tips are brought to you by Blitz Telecom, provider of SME VoIP solution TruvoiceTM an end-to-end VoIP carriage and IP PBX system designed for today’s Australian SME businesses.
1. Know your usage. Communicate this by having access to at least three months of your previous bills for both voice and data.
2. Do the maths. Understand the cost savings; such as savings on business line rentals, call rates and free calls between head office and remote locations.
3. Identify cost savings in employee productivity gains. Consider how a solution will help make your employees more effective and efficient.
4. Know the market. Arm yourself with as much product knowledge as possible to ensure you are getting the best solution for your individual needs.
5. Integrate your systems. Integrate voice applications to standard desktop operating environments to improve productivity and optimise cost saving benefits.
6. Ensure you can keep existing phone numbers—there should be a big resistance to having new numbers.
7. Ensure you’re getting quality, reliability, toll quality, business grade VoIP. Ensure this is backed by service level agreements and/or guarantees.
8. Flexibility. Your requirements will change in time so make sure you have a system that supports your future needs.
9. Responsiveness. Ensure your supplier and/or solution can react to any changes quickly.
10. Seek support from suppliers to undertake training in voice and data solutions for your staff.
