An Exhaustive Guide to VoIP Phone Service

Over the past couple of years, customer-facing businesses that solely relied upon the traditional call centre setup faced business discontinuity. This is where the need for a remote infrastructural shift arose, with cloud phone services as part of a remote work solution. 

This shift to the cloud happened mainly because of high-quality & high-speed internet connections even in remote locations. And one of the biggest ways in which businesses are adapting their communication infra is via VoIP.

The global VoIP Services Market is Poised to Surge from USD 83 Billion in 2015 to USD 140 Billion by 2021 – MarketResearchStore.Com

In this blog, we will be discussing –

• What is VoIP phone service
• How does VoIP work?
• Why should you use VoIP phone service?
• Do you need to buy a new number to set up a VoIP Phone Service?
• How to set up a VoIP phone system

What is VoIP phone service?

A VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone service allows businesses to make and receive customer calls over the internet via data. It is a cost-effective alternative to regular telecom calls for businesses.

How does VoIP work?

In VoIP, the voice signals travel in the form of data packets. The voice from the caller’s end is converted into data signals and then travels in the form of data packets over the internet until it reaches the receiver’s end. This is where the data packets are converted back to voice signals, and the receiver hears the caller’s voice.

Why should you use VoIP phone service?

Cost-Effective:

VoIP phone service provides the best features at the best price. For example, through a regular on-prem or cloud phone system, the cost of calls vary from 35p/min to 40p/min. However, using a VoIP phone system, businesses can reduce overall costs by at least 30%. Additionally, VoIP opens opportunities for businesses that other types of communication systems simply can’t offer, irrespective of the cost. One such example is it gives more flexibility in terms of multitasking i.e. sending docs, images while simultaneously engaging in a conversation.

Device agnostic:

With VoIP, users can use existing hardware to make and receive calls – there’s no need to buy new equipment. Mobile phones, desk phones, desktops, etc. can be used. This makes it easy for agents to be flexible and receive or make calls even outside working hours when the need arises.

Remote ready:

Remote work is becoming the norm, especially for customer-facing teams. With VoIP, employees can receive or make calls from any remote location. In addition, since the software is cloud-based, it involves minimal set-up for teams; agents can get started with the tool at ease and also from any device of their choice.

Voice quality:

The quality of calls is undoubtedly better with VoIP as compared to on-prem or hosted PBX phone systems. All you require is good bandwidth and a stable internet connection. For example, on average, a call requires a minimum of 100kbps uplink/downlink of bandwidth for it to work seamlessly. However, it’s better to have cloud telephony as a back up in areas known for relatively unreliable web connectivity.

Analytics:

With VoIP, business owners can analyse their customer-facing activities and also extract key metrics to tweak their engagement on the go. In addition, all customer conversations are recorded and kept track of automatically. You can also integrate the solution with your CRM or helpdesk software to add call data to the customer data being generated in one place. As a result, VoIP service ensures no customer calls go unanswered and keeps track of your agent’s productivity.

Personalisation:

With VoIP, you can personalise communication with your customers by having one common customer-facing number across all collaterals. That way, every time a customer calls, they can be put through multi-level IVRs (common or local language.). Additionally, our sticky-agent feature allows customers on follow-up calls to get connected to the same agent they have been in touch with, in the past. This level of personalisation makes it convenient and less frustrating for customers.

Do you need to buy a new number to set up a VoIP Phone Service?

For an established business, retaining their old number seems to be the key when switching to a VoIP phone system. However, any business or personal number can be switched to any service provider with no added cost. By retaining the number, businesses don’t have to lose their pre-established client base.

How to set up VoIP phone system

Over to you

With VoIP, you not only ease the work for your agents, but also improve efficiency for your business in terms of budget, reliability, and gaining a 360-degree view of the customer-facing activities. We’ve been enabling efficient communication for businesses of all sizes for more than a decade now – reach out to us if you’d like to find out more about our VoIP phone service.

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