The phone system is an important part of any modern business. It keeps the office connected, provides a means for people to contact the company, and allows the staff to make sales to outside parties. A good phone system can help a company to thrive, and a bad one can drive away customers. There are several notable signs that help to indicate that it’s time for your company to invest in a new business phone system.
Size Constraints
Your company is growing rapidly in size. New business phone systems offer a remarkable degree of scalability for small and mid-sized businesses. You can add new phone lines with ease, remove them as needed, and switch the phone number to a different office if an employee changes location. This process tends to be much more expensive and time consuming for older systems.
Network Congestion
Your phone network is suffering from network congestion. Modern business phones are generally able to handle a huge number of incoming and outgoing calls at the same time. You may lose business from customers if their calls are occasionally dropped or unable to get through to your company.
Incompatible Hardware
Your business phone is incompatible with modern technology. This can be particularly bad since you won’t be able to use the latest IT equipment and software until you upgrade the system. The problem will also generally get worse as time progresses and the phone becomes more out-of-date.
Operational Costs
Your monthly phone bill is much higher than you would prefer it to be. VoIP phone systems (one of the most popular business phone systems available) tend to be far cheaper than their traditional counterparts. They also require notably less infrastructure to function, lowing the initial set-up cost of the system.
Extended Wait Times
Your customers are experiencing long wait times. New business phone systems have the auto-attendant feature which gives the caller a phone menu and list of extensions they can dial. They no longer have to wait for an operator to connect them to the department or person they are trying to reach.
Maintenance Issues
Your IT department is spending too much time maintaining the current phone system. Modern business phones keep their hardware at a separate location from the business that uses them. The hosting company deals with all the maintenance and repairs, helping to free up your technical staff for other needed work.
New Branches
You are opening a new branch in a different city. Older phones have occasionally had difficulty managing multiple locations, but modern phones can deal with a new office as easily as if it were based on site. You can also have virtual phone numbers for each location that your customers can dial to contact your company.
Special Features
You do not have access to advanced features with your current phone system. New business phones offer services like videoconferencing, voicemail transcription, outlook integration, anonymous caller rejection, and data encryption. If you believe that your business could benefit from one or more of these special features, it may be worth it to upgrade the system.
