It’s Time You Gave VoIP Another Look

As we continue to adapt to a post-coronavirus world, one of the biggest issues facing businesses is their ability to communicate with their customers and team. As social distancing has reduced face-to-face interactions, many businesses are turning to digital solutions like VoIP to communicate effectively.  

Communication in a Post-Coronavirus World

If your business or organization has had to adopt a contactless business model, chances are it wasn't without a hitch, and you're not alone. Technical and operational challenges weren’t uncommon during the first days of social distancing and the increased reliance on communication tools, such as websites, social media, email, and of course, the phone. 

Since these systems were offered under-developed, many businesses were unprepared and hoped to 'get by' until things returned to the way they were in the pre-coronavirus world. The result of the additional stress on these once under-utilized systems often caused significant communication issues. 

Businesses faced issues with login credentials, devices not working as expected, and a wealth of other issues affecting their team's ability to be productive and for customers to be served. On top of that, it’s incredible how much we all took for granted just being in close proximity with each other! While such growing pains are expected, what wasn't expected or acceptable was the depth and breadth of the problems, which caught businesses unawares.

Due to the influx of new customers calling businesses instead of walking in, many customers received busy signals and disconnects. No voicemail was able to be left (because the inboxes were full or not configured), leaving customers in the dark as to the status of your business. It shouldn't take days for a call to be returned, never mind go unanswered. Yet this is the situation many customers found themselves in while waiting for answers from businesses that were overwhelmed.

As you can imagine, your business' lack of communication only increased your clients' level of stress as they could not receive any answer to their questions.

To make matters worse, despite being the only other available form of communication, emails were often left unanswered for hours (or days). As a result, there was no way for clients to know if their messages were even received, let alone read.  

Your Clients Shouldn’t Have to Solve Your Communication Problems

In times of uncertainty, communication is the key to success. However, it’s not your customer’s job to find a way to communicate with you. Your business must find a way to be accessible, or your customers will look for their answers elsewhere. The reality is organizations unable to communicate with their customers will most likely be unsuccessful in their attempts to operate in the post-coronavirus work environment. 

While there will be some issues when a paradigm shift occurs; technology, when implemented correctly, can significantly reduce the number of them, addressing any shortcomings that may arise. In this instance, when the issue is finding an effective communication solution, VoIP may be the answer.

How VoIP Can Help Your Organization

VoIP isn’t just for corporations; any business, regardless of size, can benefit from the type of efficiencies a VoIP solution brings with it. If we take a moment to examine the features of VoIP, we can see how much of a difference a VoIP solution provides your business, including:

• Delivering voicemail to your email inbox via sound files
• Built-in video conferencing allows you to set up audio and video conferences in seconds
• Organizational instant messaging allows employees to communicate together via secure text chat without relying on third-party messaging systems.
• Call recording, queue monitoring, and advanced agent and salesperson reporting can quickly increase your customer service.
• You can take your office extension with you anywhere by forwarding calls to your smartphone and efficiently transferring to colleagues (perfect for your remote workforce).
• Softphones can replace desktop phones with headsets, allowing employees to work anywhere.
• You can easily add more extensions onto your existing network switches via the web-based dashboard.

With VoIP, your phone number can work with any internet connection anywhere. This means your team can answer, transfer, and even conference calls regardless of their location, just like you could when you worked at the office.

As you can see, VoIP can be an integral part of the communication solutions bridging the gap between your team (in-office and remote alike) and your clients. Consider investing in your webpage, social media, and productivity suites such as Google Workspace and Office 365 to develop a true turnkey solution.

Contact Oneonta’s VoIP Professionals

Despite the pressure and the necessity for businesses to be successful and adaptable, no one can expect organizations to be familiar with all the available tools. Fortunately, with the right partner, your organization won’t have to be.

Are you interested in making the VoIP switch? More and more Upstate New York businesses are cutting the analog lines and going digital. We at Directive can show you how easy it is. Give us a call today at 607.433.2200, and we will discuss with you a VoIP plan specially tailored for your business needs.