Outsourcing is becoming a popular trend for many businesses. It is the process of contracting out an internal business process to a third party company, agent or organization primarily to reduce costs. Call centers are one great example of outsourcing thus if you call the customer service of your local provider chances are it will be picked up overseas by Asian countries such as the Philippines, China and India.

However many business owners think that outsourcing is only for big companies with many resources to contract a third party organization. The truth is with today’s technology you can easily outsource any position that doesn’t require physical presence to accomplish the job like telesales, customer service, programming web development and many more. Many local and overseas professionals these days prefer to work from home than in an office, you can capitalize on this to hire industry professionals whilst hitting your goal of cost reduction.

There are many agencies and freelancers today that will screen and gauge an applicant for you so all you need to do is conduct an interview and instantly hire them. However like any other business solutions outsourcing may also have its downside and that is poor communication channel. If you hire an overseas staff chances are you won’t be able to monitor him or her the way you do in an office. This may lead to poor trust, ineffective work flow and your business may suffer. With that said it is also a must to look into various communication solutions to remove the distance boundary between you and your offshore staff.

One communication that you might want to look into is a cloud PBX office telephone system. It is the sole proprietary of VoIP these days that offer a cost effective solution for businesses combined with smart features that is ideal for outsourcing.  Since a cloud PBX office telephone system uses VoIP technology extensions or end points of the PBX can literally be located in any part of the world as long as it is connected to the internet and works as if all extensions are under one roof. This means that calls to your overseas staff will be absolutely free giving you the ability to monitor and call your staff anytime without burning your phone bill.

And since it is a PBX, calls can also be picked up and made remotely without any difference in quality and reliability. This means that your staff can pick sales or support calls from his or her home and even make outgoing calls to your customers. This will effectively assist your overseas employees perform day to day tasks easily without the hindrances of distance and lack of physical presence.

Customer service or support is an important aspect of any business. It often defines the level of service that a business provides and helps in creating a brand name. Furthermore a good support mechanism helps in generating sales via a viral word of mouth and referral. However having good representatives is not the only factor, it should be combined with a good and reliable office telephone system that will cater to all your requirements and improve the overall experience of your callers.

Must have office telephone features to improve customer support

Greeting message – Greeting message is a must have office telephone feature for any business. It can be considered as the window for your business and having a good and professional greeting will help in making your business seem big, professional and reliable. Additionally having such feature will remove the burden from your staff of having to greet callers again and again that may affect the overall service that they provide.

Menu system – An office telephone menu system is handy for businesses with multiple departments and numerous staff. A caller will greatly appreciate it if he is able to connect directly to the concerned department without being transferred back and forth. However, small businesses with a few employees may be better off with just an automatic attendant or perhaps a real attendant especially if the work loads are being shared among the staffs.

Call recording – Recording calls is a standard requirement for businesses who do heavy customer service. Not only that it will help you monitor your staff on how they perform but it will also give a sense of security and protection to your callers. However you need to bear in mind that prior to a call you need to inform your callers that the call may be recorded for quality or training purposes via an IVR otherwise you may get into legal problems.

Messages on hold – All business probably do their best to avoid putting a customer on hold or in a queue. However there may be times that no matter what you do it is unavoidable especially during busy times of the day. What you can then do is improve the on hold experience by entertaining your customers using music, trivia and the like. This will help keep their cool and lighten up when a representative picks up their call.

Toll free hotlines – Businesses with national operations must have a toll free hotline, not only that it will help improve national presence but will also help in providing quality service. Try to think like a customer, do you think you’ll be happy shouldering the cost of a support call?

The combination of a good representative and a good office telephone is only a part of a good overall service. The main goal is to meet your customers expectation.

Choosing the right IP phones for your cloud PBX office telephone system is very important. It will dictate the overall use of your system and also play its role in the call quality. The general rule of thumb is input, processing and output device should par each other’s quality otherwise optimum quality will not be achieved. With that said it is not advisable to just go with any IP phones model without considering the following elements discussed below.

Unlike regular handsets a cloud PBX office telephone runs using a firmware which a combination of persistent memory, program code and data stored in it. It acts pretty much like the operating system of a computer and without the proper version the phones may not work with certain providers. It is best that you discuss it first with your cloud PBX office telephone provider before purchasing an IP phone whether the installed firmware is compatible with their system and servers or if it can be upgraded to meet their requirements.

It is best to steer away from IP phones that are not freely upgradeable and requires a ROM replacement. So in the event that you wish to switch providers the proper firmware can be loaded easily.

Another consideration that you need to bear in mind is the audio codec that the unit supports. Audio codec is basically a computer program implementing an algorithm that compresses and decompresses digital audio data according to a given audio file format or streaming media audio format. The codec is responsible in converting analog signals to digital signals permitting it to be transmitted over VoIP technologies. Choose a unit that supports multiple codec for variable circumstances. However for VoIP uses the G729 is one of the most ideal because of its low bandwidth usage and optimum quality.

Apart from that the specific use is also important, be sure to take down notes how your staff intend to use the phones. For an instance a receptionist will need a model with large chunky buttons and good LCD display for easy access of features and call monitoring whilst a staff with is not often the phone may just need a regular desk phone with nothing fancy on it. This will help you give convenience to your staff and spend your business budget properly.

It also pays if you look into accessory options such as headsets, mounting racks and programmable button expansion panels as needed.

More than 1 billion mobile phones are in use today, either for personal use or for business the technology is indeed revolutionary as it helped us reached our loved ones, friends, business partners and associates easily with just a press of a button or a touch of a screen. The key to its success is the wireless technology that allows us to make a call or send a SMS in just about any place.

Today mobile phones continue to evolve thus calling it smart phones because of its ability to connect wirelessly to the internet and perform multiple tasks apart from the basic communication streams. Smart phones became one of the most sought after gadgets for just about anyone. However did you know that you can further step up the use of your smart phones and integrate it with your cloud PBX office telephone system?

You can maximize both technologies by rolling into one channel. Basically all smart phones with the ability to connect wirelessly in the internet either via Wi-Fi or 3g is able to connect to your cloud PBX office telephone system. Apart from the internet connection an application is also needed to connect to your office telephone system. The application will serve as the SIP gateway that will establish for data transfer between your mobile and service provider’s network. Various mobile phones may have a specific application for VoIP which can easily be downloaded in your carrier’s store or your VoIP service provider’s website. Choosing the application to run your VoIP is also important, keep in mind that since it will be used for your business it is advisable to choose an application will receive calls even on standby mode.

As for call quality, if you are able to get the full reception of your 3g service then you can expect business grade calls every time. For Wi-Fi users, quality will not be a problem as long as you are not in the range threshold of your internet router.

Additionally a mobile PBX can also be set to be taken anywhere, for an instance you are unable to get a decent 3G reception or go to a Wi-Fi zone the system can be custom programmed to automatically divert the call to your cellular number directly so you wouldn’t miss that important call. All of these can be done automatically so you need not worry about pressing any override code and such to activate the diversion.

Tablets and other OS based handhelds can also be used to run such application, thus the technology is not limited to an IP phone, a computer or a mobile.

Choosing a phone system is indeed a crucial step for any business but choosing a dial plan is even more crucial. It is a constant battle between cap call plans and pay call plans. The two are the most prevalent plans in the market today and choosing which is better for you is very important since it will dictate a big portion of your savings.

What are cap calls?

It is a plan that is designed to offer office telephone users a certain amount of minutes for a certain amount. On average these plans cost around $50 to $70 depending on the provider. The cap is usually higher than what you can use and often times you will barely touch to edge of the limit. There are many office telephone providers that offer this pricing structure. It is best that you narrow it down first and find the best possible deals with call quality in consideration.

What are pay calls?

This pricing structure is pretty much self explanatory and the most basic pricing model available in the market. This pricing model will effectively charge you only on the calls that you make regardless of the volume.  Many traditional telecommunications provider and VoIP provider offer this kind of pricing model; the key is finding the lowest possible rate without affecting the call quality.

Which is better?

At first many will think that cap calls are better because you will only have to pay a fix amount and never overshoot it but in reality pay calls are better in a price point of view. Cap calls are often tied up to one line and one handset. If you need 5 extensions it means you have to pay 5 times the specified amount and since it is only tied to one line and handset you can never maximize. One line and one handset means one call at a time and since it is a fixed amount you will still need to pay for it whether you use it or not or whether your business is closed for holidays and such.

Most businesses are better by paying for the actual calls that they make instead of the latter. Why? Because this will effectively remove any fixed monthly fee. So f your re calls total to $10 then you only need to pay for $10. The latter is indeed catchy but if you will do the math you’ll be amazed how much money you can save.

Ring group is one powerful must have feature for an office telephone system especially if a business involves telephone marketing, sales and heavy customer service. This will effectively improve your callers experience and give your business the competitive edge against your competitors.

What is ring group?

Ring group or hunt group is an office telephone feature that helps improve your callers’ experience. The feature places your phones in a series or in pattern which rings the phones accordingly. For an instance you are running a shuttle service with 5 representatives. Your phones can be set up to ring the first 1 then on the next up to the last handset until the call is picked up. You can either put your office telephone voice mail in the last position or ring the first phone again and so on until it is picked up.

You can also have it set up in a queue format wherein calls are in a waiting state and then be transferred to the free extension. There are various ways of deploying the feature, be sure to discuss I with your service provider and structure a pattern that will be beneficial for your business.

Clever uses

You can have multiple ring groups in place for the different departments of your business. For an instance you can have one series for sales, one for support and another for your IT department.  You can also integrate with a custom IVR for up sell opportunities, company news, or trivia to inform and entertain your callers whilst waiting on queue.

Benefits of ring group

The primary benefit of the feature as mentioned above is the improvement of your callers’ experience. The ring pattern will ensure the call is picked up in an instant without to having to be transferred back and forth. Another benefit is the maximization of staff time; this will ensure that your staff will be on the phone when they need to be and avoid missed calls and such.

Last but not the least is the convenience that the feature brings, your attendant no longer need to transfer or direct the calls to a free representative because the system will do it automatically 24 hours a day 7 days a week without fail.

The feature can be used both for traditional phone systems and VoIP phone systems. Both can be programmed the way you want it to be or the way your business will benefit the most. The latter phone system type may have a slight advantage because every knots and crannies can be custom programmed but generally it will work very well with either of the two.