9 Best Features of VoIP Phone System

The Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone system is an easy-to-use, affordable, and effective cloud-based phone service. This game-changing solution is more flexible and less expensive than a traditional landline phone system. According to the Federal Communications Commission, VoIP-based phone systems route phone calls via a business’ wired or WiFi internet connection, instead of through conventional phone lines.  VoIP is mostly for small businesses. The Business News Daily reported that more than one-third of all organizations were employing a VoIP phone system and most of them have fewer than fifty (50) employees. Are you looking for a rich VoIP phone system with attractive features? Keep reading this article. We will gain an insight into some best features of the VoIP phone system.

1. Auto Attendant

An Auto Attendant is an automated answering service that reduces dependency on manual staff. The automated voice menus can assist customers in directing themselves to the appropriate extension numbers or departments. The Auto Attendant helps businesses to provide excellent customer support as it responds to customers’ calls immediately. Organizations don’t need to invest in a front desk for their office to take care of incoming calls. This service provides better workflow, smart routing, scalability, improved trust, customer experience, and customization for every call.

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2. Video Call Conference

In many circumstances, enterprises need their workforce to communicate with clients, customers, partners, and stakeholders who are at different places. The video call conference is a powerful feature that seamlessly connects employees or team members in real-time to set up video meetings, collaborate with instant messaging, share your screen, and so forth. Zoom is considered an excellent choice for accessing this feature. A video call conference is a vital VoIP phone feature that can eliminate physical distance, increase availability, save on travel money, improve productivity and attendance, and provide a reliable platform for online meetings and interviews.

3. Remote Business Management with VoIP

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and social distancing rules, managing businesses remotely has become the norm of the day. Another common issue is centralized efforts and managing internal and external communications from a single console. Moreover, non-VoIP solutions are relatively more expensive than VoIP phone systems. VoIP services like RingCentral can provide effective and feasible communications via email, telephone, cloud, and video conferencing. VoIP supports long-distance calls that are inevitable for managing businesses remotely. Long-distancing calls are either free or very affordable with VoIP (e.g., peer-to-peer services like Skype). Organizations can also use VoIP phones (e.g., Polycom VVX 601, Cisco 7841, and Ooma DP1-T) that work with data packages and offer the best-quality communication. Working from home, employees will be happy and they only need to come to the office when necessary. Nowadays, organizations are offering either part-time or full-time remote jobs to their workforce.

4. Call Management Services

With VoIP, you can route, hold, prioritize, and block incoming calls. The seamless call management features allow you to minimize the waiting time of your customers. You can also set call queues to facilitate customers. Call queues prevent tedious call waiting on hold. Customers will receive a call back when it’s their turn in the queue. The advanced call routing feature of the VoIP phone system can direct all incoming calls. You can categorize all calls based on the customer’s specific department, agent performance, and so forth. The parking call feature allows you to park the call when the call attendee isn’t available. This feature enables other employees on the same team to hit the shared parking option on his desk phone to pick up a call from any other phone available in the office. Businesses often receive pesky anonymous calls that are rather sometimes troublemaking. Customer service should not waste time attending spam calls. The anonymous call disconnecting feature allows you to disconnect pointless calls. Conference Bridge is another call management feature that can help you to add multiple employees to a single call at the same time. In this way, you can work collaboratively with multiple people simultaneously, enabling you to save effort and time.

5. VoIP Caller ID

VoIP Caller Identification (VoIP Caller ID) is a caller ID application for VoIP phones like in Vonage that works the same way as the caller ID on a conventional telephone line. However, this feature on phones gives you more flexibility and enhanced features. VoIP Caller ID uses advanced call routing to give you not only the caller ID of the person who is calling but also the reason for his call. For example, when you receive a call, you see a message like “Buying spare parts: confirm your order.”

6. VoIP Security and Call Encryption

Security of VoIP is one of the biggest concerns the IT industry faces today. Is the VoIP phone system secure? This question is very common for IT leaders. Security of VoIP is one of the biggest concerns the IT industry facing today. Free or lower costs VoIP phone systems can open the floodgates of cyber-attacks. The top risks incorporate Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, caller ID spoofing, and call interception. Reputable VoIP phone systems provide robust security with encrypted calls that cannot be intercepted by threat actors. Below is the list of some security features that VoIP phone system offers over traditional phone systems.

• Strong voicemail features with E-mail delivery.
• Prevent eavesdropping through call encryption
• Strict enforcement of toll-free calls
• Real-time monitoring of calling plan usage

The best VoIP service providers use Session Border Controllers (SBCs) for good performance and optimal security. SBCs act as firewalls that maintain logical call routing and performance. Moreover, top VoIP phone systems also receive regular updates and security patches to keep cyber pests away from VoIP networks. The call is encrypted through Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP) and Transport Layer Security (TLS). VoIP protocols also establish robust security for every call. Before choosing your VoIP phone system, make sure it is compliant with regulatory standards such as HIPAA, ISO/IEC 20071, PCI, and SOC 2.

7. VoIP Integration

VoIP integration enables your VoIP phone system to integrate other third-party business tools. Integration with helpdesk software and the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform is very common. The integration allows you to automatically sync all the information between CRM and VoIP phone systems. Furthermore, this feature allows you to automatically save the details of customers and calls into the CRM platform. This information may include the customer’s name and phone number, customer complaints, and requests. The following list demonstrates some other benefits of integration between CRM and VoIP phone systems.

• Streamline the entire sale process
• Make a call directly from the CRM
• Low operating cost
• Leverage automation and SMS
• Enhance customer relationships
• Record call analytics
• Streamline post-call actions

Before choosing your VoIP phone system, you must ensure that either there is a built-in CRM facility or you can integrate CRM later on.

8. Conference Bridge

Do not mix up the Conference Call with Conference Bridge. The former requires the host to conduct a meeting. The host manually dials participants and adds them to the call. On the other hand, Conference Bridge enables participants to dial directly into the group call instead of relying on the host. Conference Bridge is mostly helpful for remote teams who want to work collaboratively. With this feature, dozens or even hundreds of users (employees) can hold audio meetings through smartphones. Participants use a shared line to answer and connect multiple incoming calls in a virtual meeting room that has been organized via a central telephone number. Some VoIP phone systems offer this feature as a built-in but with limited functionality. For instance, a limited number of users can participate in the meeting. Below is the list of some benefits:

• Save budgets
• Save time
• Offers audio chat without needing a webcam
• The simple and user-friendly feature
• Provides remote connectivity with multiple people

9. SMS Text Messaging

Although it sounds very simple feature, yet it is extremely important from a business perspective. Many customers prefer to communicate via text messages as it is simple, fast, and cost-effective. Results can be analyzed very quickly. According to a Twilio survey, 8 out of 10 customers want to communicate with businesses using SMS messaging rather than emails or phone calls. VoIP SMS messaging service works with a text-enabled virtual phone number that is assigned to the user, not to the device. Some VoIP phones offer this feature free of cost. However, some VoIP providers charge monthly payments for SMS text messaging.

Conclusion

VoIP phone is a software- or hardware-based telephone system that is designed to utilize VoIP technology to send and receive phone calls over the IP network. The hardware-based phone is similar to the hard-wired telephone while the software-based VoIP phone is a virtual phone software client installed on a user’s mobile device. VoIP phone systems need VoIP protocols to perform voice communication and ensure VoIP security. The VoIP phone system must incorporate some essential features that include auto attendant, video call conference, remote business management with VoIP, call management services, VoIP caller ID, VoIP security and call encryption, VoIP integration, conference bridge, and SMS text messaging.