Made the decision to abandon your traditional landline and upgrade to a more advanced, feature-rich, VoIP solution for your business, but don’t know what to do next? We at America’s Phone Guys have come up with some things to keep in mind to make your transition a smooth one.
Port Numbers
As a business, your phone number is part of your identity. Fortunately, with VoIP, you don’t have to change it. You can easily keep your existing phone number through what’s referred to as number porting. Simply contact the company you’ve chosen as your new provider and let them know you want to port your business number to them. This process can take anywhere from several days to a few weeks, so begin the process early on that way you aren’t waiting for anything. Once your number has been ported you’ll be able to close your account with your previous carrier.
Setup Your Auto-Attendant
If you don’t have an office manager or receptionist to manage incoming calls, you’ll want to customize your auto-attendant. This feature allows businesses to effectively manage and/or route calls. In addition to directing calls, you can set your auto-attendant up with specific recordings including your hours of operation, holiday greetings, and any other special announcements.
Customize Your VoIP Features
VoIP is jam-packed with useful business features to help improve productivity and efficiency. In addition to auto-attendant, you can set up call forwarding, voicemail to email, and Music on Hold — which allows you to select what your clients and customers hear while they wait for someone to pick up the phone. Find Me/Follow Me is another useful feature. It ensures you never miss a call by routing your incoming calls to a list of devices that ring sequentially or all at once.
Quality of Service
QoS or Quality of Service is important in your VoIP service. It helps ensure your voice calls are high-quality and are top priority. Things to consider with QoS are jitter, latency, and packet loss.
Train Employees
Your employees need to become familiar with your new VoIP system, so have them properly trained on it. Make sure everyone knows how to use the phones, set up their accounts, and test the features they’ll be using most. Also, consider employees who travel. They’ll need to be trained on the mobility features that make it possible for them to stay connected.
Test the VoIP System
We recommend you not disconnect your old system until you’ve properly tested your VoIP service with real-world scenarios. Ensure every feature and device is connected and working, including remote devices, and features you’ll use rarely. You’re going to want to catch problems now before they become big issues later.
Get Feedback from Employees
Talk with your employees. Ask them if everything is working as expected and if they need any new features or more training.
Report and Analyze
Most services allow you to monitor call data including performance, quality, traffic patterns, and more providing you with what you can improve on or change.
As you can see switching to VoIP isn’t complicated. You just need a thorough plan and to execute it so your business will have a smooth transition. If you’re considering cutting ties with your traditional landline, we can help. Contact America’s Phone Guys, we serve the greater Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA areas.
So You’ve Made the Switch To VoIP – What Should You Do Next? in Portland OR - Vancouver WA - Oregon Coast
SERVING CLIENTS IN NW OREGON AND SW WASHINGTON
