Automated Attendant
An automated attendant provides helpful intros and options relating to a specific department or account. For example, a customer service representative can use an automated attendant to greet callers and then route them to an operator. An automated attendant software program is already installed on your computer when you use virtual phone system software. You’ll have to choose a language to use when you create the script. If your company offers free phone calls, you’ll need to change the settings on the VOIP server at your company to work with the auto attendant.
Call Forwarding
(Call Divert) A call forwarding feature, is a great business phone feature for a number of reasons. Not only does it prevent your voicemail from getting filled up, it also allows you to reach the person you're calling, but not have the call forwarded through you.
Call Hold & Transfer
Have you ever been on the phone and thought you’d like to get back to someone while you’re talking? If so, you’ll be happy to know that most VoIP services have a hold button, so you can put a call on hold while you return to the call you’re on. You can also transfer the call over to somebody else by selecting the other party’s number through the dial pad and then speaking it into the phone.
Presence Detection
One of the most useful features when it comes to making VoIP calls is called presence detection. With presence detection, you can specify what your phone will do whenever you pick it up to avoid disturbing callers. For instance, you can have your phone silence all other notifications or ring in a distinctive pattern when you pick it up for a call.
Echo Cancellation
Most VoIP services feature echo cancellation. This means that after you make a call, it can virtually eliminate echoes. Heck, if the echo is truly annoying, you can always put the call on hold and transfer it to somebody else who wants to talk to you.
Call Recording
In today’s age, there is more demand for your time than ever. Business calls are a great time investment, but keeping track of all those calls is sometimes a pain for IT managers.
But with Call Recording, you can now save that time while preserving the quality of all your business calls.
For example, let’s say a customer that you’ve been trying to reassure, is being very difficult or has stopped paying his bills altogether. Rather than take a risk and risk losing the customer to your competition, you can now record the phone call and play back the conversation to remember exactly what happened.
You can now create a playlist that contains the appropriate conversations, labels the conversations and then comes in handy anytime a similar problem occurs.
Call Recording is especially useful for service providers who provide call center solutions. This technology can prove to be extremely useful as you can now record calls and learn their characteristics, identify communication patterns that lead to accurate customer service.
Caller ID
And ID Block When you’re busy on the phone, your first feature should be Caller ID. As soon as a person calls in, the system will ring the device and show their name on it.This is especially useful for salespeople, who are always on the phone and have their cell phones within reach.
Next, there’s ID block. This allows you to block incoming calls from certain people and is especially useful if you work in the business industry. You may not always like it when a business receives a call from a person at home.
Vendors and partners will not have access to your ID block list.
Answering Machine Also known as voicemail, this feature is an ideal feature for busy people who don’t have time to chat before going back to work. You can also use it to call people after hours or from a business phone number.
You can select different messages for different callers, just like you would choose a customized greeting for any other phone call.
Call Forwarding The call-forwarding function allows you to forward incoming calls to a different extension. You can also select which types of calls you wish to forward these calls to, so you can set up a business line and forward all business calls from your home personally. You can also forward calls to yourself (just in case you forgot to change your work number before leaving the office).
Call Screening
Call screening allows you to screen calls in such a way that only a selected phone number is answered or a selected name is on the other end of the phone.
This is useful when dealing with sensitive calls or unwanted calls. Let’s say you receive a call from a client and you don’t know if it’s going to be a good one, you can just program your phone to ignore it, or redirect your call to your boss’s phone.
== Call Recording
With call recording, you can record calls for several purposes. This is a simple yet very useful feature that will allow you to keep a conversation you may need to refer to later. You can even record a call if you feel the need not to pick up the phone for privacy reasons.
==Call Alerts
This feature is used by businesses and individuals for multiple uses. If you find yourself on a conference call, you can alert all others that it’s going to be 30 seconds, or you can use this to alert someone that they have one minute to respond.
==Voice Calling
It’s good to know who’s calling in case you don’t have your headset plugged in. This feature allows you to listen in to the call.
Call Flip
Some VoIP phone providers offer a custom voicemail service for your contacts and manager. Any call you receive will automatically be sent to your voicemail, and you are able to listen and then send a new voicemail back to your caller.
This takes away the headache of memorizing voicemails and making sure you have the most up to date information available. You will no longer constantly be hunting around for the most current info available.
Take advantage of this feature and get all the information at your fingertips. You will also be able to track important calls by using the facility called Call Flipboard. Call Flipboard will save all important voicemails as you move through your day while allowing you to listen to them whenever desired.
Using Call Flipboard is easy. Simply set up unlimited voicemail messages and your recipients. Then, copy the voicemail message for your previous visitors.
After that, visit your voicemail to listen to all the messages that are saved. When you are done, reply back by sending a new voicemail to the caller. The new voicemail will be added to the existing message. If you use cell phone technology, you can even send the message to your cell phone.
Voicemail
This is the most important business feature for most people. Many even take it for granted that voicemail exists, even though it’s a critical tool for the majority of business telephony. It’s one of the most overlooked features for business-minded users.
According to a recent survey by Epoc Communications’ Wireless Crisis Center, only 5% of wireless users polled use both their cellular and VoIP phones for VoIP calls. The survey was taken in-between July 1 and August 31, 2005 among VoIP users using wireless phones. I’ve got to wonder about this, considering a number of advantages for cell phones for VoIP purposes which aren’t automatically eliminated by using a cell phone. Here are my top 13 must-have business phone features that separate mobile phones from landline phones:
- Voicemail
- One-Touch Conference
- Customized Ringing Ringtones
- Multiple Extensions with Individual Ringing
- Multiple Routing
- Black List (No Annoying Callers)
- Vibrate and Ring (Enterprise)
- Multiple Users
- Call Transfer
- Read Receipts
Business Tool Integration
The rise of VoIP technology has driven businesses to digital solutions, and more and more companies are moving their phone calls to the Internet. Business users, like you, can now make calls over the public internet using a softphone such as Google Voice, and there are countless businesses setting up their own VoIP phone system.
With more companies migrating to VoIP, it can be overwhelming to determine exactly what features you need. We’ve designed a list of the top 13 features that boost business in a VoIP phone.
Make contact center calls or transfers using a softphone
Your options for making contact center or call center calls with a VoIP phone can include using a SIP client such as Polycom’s FreeSwitch, or a softphone such as RingCentral’s free Business Center. Both of these solutions make it easy for employees to make calls to any phone number, from any mobile or landline anywhere in the world. Employees make place phone calls from any desktop, from a phone on the road, or from any internet enabled device on the entire phone system.
Business class call quality
Conference Bridge
With Knowhow made your business smarter.
A conference bridge is a phone feature that lets multiple users chat with each other at once. A small group of users may only require a standard handset and button set; but on larger occasions, featuring more than two people might require a different handset type.
Conference bridges come in different shapes, designs, sizes, and configurations and are available for the traditional handset, mobile phones and VoIP phones. They are configured using a series of tools and settings.
With Knowhow, you can make a conference bridge for a small gathering of users, like a small group of co-workers, or you can make a conference bridge with up to 12 users.
Features
In some of the unified communications platforms such as Salesforce® and Microsoft® Office Communications Server, a conference bridge is already built in. This means that users receive a handset and a button and that the call flows directly from the first user to the next one and so on until everyone has picked up. But depending on the size of your business or the number of people you want to include in the conference, you’ll usually need a different handset type.
Options
There are four different options for conference bridges:
Handset with Built-in Conference Bridge
Video Conferencing
A recent report from NATS Technologies found that 75% of business phone lines will be replaced with VoIP calls by 2015.
Business phone services will be delivered over the internet just as personal mobile call services are now! You will be talking to your customers from the comfort of your home or office and not from a dusty old-fashioned office phone.
Vocon is a great application where you can video conference with up to five participants online via video stream. It is high quality and unlike the phone, you'll be conducting a video conference with someone who's not at their desk and this can cut your phone expenses dramatically.
Salesforce has done a great job with their Vocon application.
It uses real-time bandwidth throttling to manage stream quality which is very important during your video conference.
Speaking of video quality, Salesforce uses H.264 compression to allow for high quality video, but with a manageable file size.
Built-in screen sharing or even screen-to-call is available as well.
When you're done with your meeting, click a button and the video conference ends – so no need to press "End" yourself!
SMS Text Messaging
SMS text messaging allows you to communicate instantly with your friends and family. You’ll want to check the availability of your service provider before deciding to purchase a telephony service that includes SMS text messaging.
Calls at a Glance
Preview your VoIP phone’s call history and the contacts that will be on your calls. Phonebook Contacts:Sync your phonebook to your VoIP phone’s contact list.
Dialed or Saved: See all calls you’ve made or received from a specific number.
Saved Contacts:Use a number’s profile to view its details, such as birthday, nickname, number, and password.
Group Call:Discover the perfect speed dial number to use when calling your closest friends!
Forwarding: Forward one last call to the voicemail of a contact.
Keyboard Shortcuts: Use your favorite applications for sending messages, such as Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, and more.
SMS Texting: Send a text message to your friends using the mobile application on your VoIP phone.
Toggle Your Call: Pick up or mute the ringer or vibration (if you’ve enabled it), and disconnect or dial a call.
Hot Desking
How to make best use of virtual office when it’s needed to increase productivity
Hot Desking is about moving employees frequently between venues to best allocate them to their respective teams. It gives employees an opportunity to work from the office, and it can be an effective way to increase productivity and instantly boost morale.
Hot Desking has its origins in the tech sector, where multi-tenant or colocation space is a common business model. This type of space is most common in shared offices, such as Tech Hubs, where companies share a building with a series of workstations set up in a variety of company colours.
When considered purely from a gamification point of view, hot desking isn’t all that different from the concept of taking yourself to work as a meta-game. When you take away the physical pre-requisite, and remove the tangible benefits of actually going to work, the office meta-game is as portable and receptive to virtualisation as any piece of technology.
The key here is to make the virtual office a place where people really feel engaged with the needs of the team. At its core, hot desking isn’t just about the enabled team-building activities, but the increased productivity each individual can provide.
How to Choose & Set Up VoIP Features
When you choose a business VoIP phone, you have several options for setting up communication features. Depending on the size of your business and what type of phone and VoIP plan you choose, you may have several choices for specific features.
When it comes to business VoIP, having the right communications features should be a priority.
Here’s a list of the most important features and how to set them up on your phone:
Remote access: one of your first priorities should be to set up a business VoIP phone for remote access. You can use this feature to access your VoIP phone from any computer with an internet connection. Before you can use this feature, you must complete the initial configuration steps and set up your communications configuration.
One of your first priorities should be to set up a business VoIP phone for remote access. You can use this feature to access your VoIP phone from any computer with an internet connection. Before you can use this feature, you must complete the initial configuration steps and set up your communications configuration. Call pickup: this feature allows you to pick up a call from a specific number. Before you can use this feature, you must complete the initial configuration steps and set up your communications configuration.
VoIP Business Phone System Providers
VoIP stands for voice over internet protocol. It’s a technology that lets you make free calls over the internet, without the need for expensive landline and cellphone charges. Here’s a look at some of the best ways to use VoIP for business:
Use a SIP Phone System
One of the most immediate benefits of a VoIP system is the flexibility it offers. VoIP allows you to run your entire company phone system over the internet. And depending on the system you select, you can use landlines, corded or cordless phones, and mobile devices.
Furthermore, VoIP usually includes a lot of extensions and features such as voicemail, call waiting, and caller ID systems. This makes it easy for you to deploy a cost-effective phone system.
Use a VOIP Phone System from a MVNO
Another way to take advantage of all of the functions VoIP can provide for your business is to install a VOIP phone system with a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). An MVNO is a company that resells network plans from other providers’ networks.
Many of the MVNOs provide VoIP phone systems for businesses, which means you can pay only for what you need and save money. With several of these companies, you can change your number from one of their numbers to your number and plan almost instantly.
What are the Top 13 VoIP Phone Features for Business?
The Office Phone vs. the Cellular Phone
Shoot-’em-up action movies have given the public a wrong impression: if you’re in a scenario where someone is pointing a gun at you, most people wouldn’t be able to pick up a cellular phone and call 911. For typical office phone functionality, the office phone has the advantage over the cellular phone.
Access to Multiple Phone Lines
Most of us are no stranger to answering the phone and having a conversation. Let’s say you get a call and find yourself in a meeting with a guest or one of your colleagues is stuck in a meeting. Let’s face it, the caller can’t hold the phone any longer, and you’d want to get rid of calls at the fastest rate possible. For this reason, some offices have more than one phone line and some of those lines have auto redialing capabilities.
Auto Dial and Call Forwarding
Taking a call from another line isn’t a major concern, but when the caller hangs up, you might want to call back or forward the call to someone else. Although, most phones do offer this function, you might want to make sure that your office phone calls back and forwards the call automatically.
Question 1
What is VoIP?
It’s Voice over IP, or VOIP, which provides an easy, cost-effective, remote extension of your business.
Instead of using traditional phone lines, your business uses the Internet to send and receive phone calls, which helps reduce expenses, up to 90%, by using Internet phone services such as:
Internet phone – Video phone – Connected phone – Custom phone – Virtual line – Conference line
Not only is it easy to install and maintain, but it also gives you the advantage of sending and receiving voice calls from any computer on any network. Such features make this technology ideal for your business.
Do you need a new business phone service?
If you are in a contract for your current business phone service, let’s take a look at some of the more compelling reasons why you might want to switch to a VoIP based phone service. So what are the next big things you should know about a business phone service?
VoIP (Voice over internet protocol) is one of the biggest new buzz words in the phone world. And with VoIP these days, it is possible to have a company phone system that operates over the internet – with some amazing features.
No Dial Tone
The most obvious benefit of VoIP is that it usually eliminates the need for a dial tone. If you have ever had a phone line installed in your business before, you will know that the contract requires you to have several rings, each of which can be between 0-10 rings before the phone is answered. If your phone system connects to the internet so that it can have an uninterrupted connection, you could have entire days or even weeks without hanging up the phone. The good thing about this is that you will not have that awkward feeling when the phone keeps ringing. If you want, you could hang up the phone at the end of the call and return to your next call right where you left off.
No Long Outdated Technology
Question 2
VoIP services offer an affordable and reliable alternative to analog phone service. As well as the consumer rates, business customers can save large amounts of money using VoIP.
A VoIP phone service allows you to make unlimited calls for a fixed monthly fee. Instead of transferring expensive analog calls overseas over the internet, VoIP technology is used.
VoIP and the Internet make it possible to call any number, anywhere in the world at a very low cost using a quality internet connection.
There are no dial tones, you should hear the phone ringing or a busy signal or not being able to place a call at all.
VoIP is for any business, whether it’s a small business or an enterprise.
Companies enjoy the flexibility, control and security that VoIP provides, with the ability to integrate with other applications such as ERP and CRM.
Call detail records (CDR) provide a full auditable history of all calls.
Dedicated connectivity means no chance for errors. The phone doesn’t lose the connection during the call, which causes expensive missed calls.
VoIP services can help your business achieve various goals. For example, you can integrate call control with your internal business applications
What is your monthly budget for a phone system?
Depending on your answers to the above questions, you may have already cut costs by using your cell phone for your business voice needs.
However, you can save even more money – and effort – by using your cell phone for your business’s voice communications needs. And you’ll increase the value of your business even more by adding the additional feature of VoIP phone calls.
VoIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol, and it’s really just another way to make phone calls. Some businesses already make a telephone call when they want to use the Internet. However, with VoIP technology, a call can be made using your computer’s Internet connection. This makes it especially attractive for businesses who aren’t yet up and running on a traditional phone system, or businesses that need to save money on phone calls.
What are the advantages of VoIP phone calls for businesses?
So instead of a traditional telephone call, an Internet connection is used to place a call. This option allows you to avoid some of the extra costs associated with your phone system, including installation costs, equipment costs, setup costs, and maintenance costs.
Question 3
What got you into Telecommute?
I got into telecommuting in 2001 when I left a career in radio and started a full-time telecommuting career. I had little use for the commute then and the only alternative was sitting at my computer all day. Since I wasn’t a morning person, I tend to start my day later’it was usually around noon when I started working again. I was working in a fair amount of overdrive and having to go into the office to do it felt like a waste of time. Several years into that, the day came that I realized my commute was about an hour each way. You can imagine how fast that drove me right back to work.
I work from home as I write, am my own boss, and have little need for the commute; therefore, I haven’t been to the office in 10 years. I can’t recall what I did there once the computer came along.
Is advanced functionality like visual voicemail and video conferencing important to you?
Here’s a look at top 13 features that appeal to those looking for a VoIP phone for business use.
Number management
A phone system can handle your personal number, but not your business numbers. You can manage your voicemails and phone points online with a visual voicemail and call forwarding management system.
Response or platform apps
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications give you more flexibility. You can use apps for your mobile phone along with your VoIP service. These apps let you text or make calls from any platform.
Web-based address book
You can manage your contacts and callers on the Internet. However, the best feature is the ability to preview your contacts before you make a call.
Advanced call features
Call forwarding, call parking, transferring, and monitoring can be done online.
Visual voicemail
A set of boxes on your screen let you know who’s calling and when you’ve heard the message.
Speakerphone
Use your VoIP phone as a mobile speaker phone with Alexa integration. With the Echo Show, the phone lets you see your contact info, call list, and your calls, and you can also see your voicemail messages.
Multifunctional device
Question 4
VoIP features allow you to talk easily and without restriction in more than one room. Here are some of the Top VoIP features and their uses for businesses:
Callback
Callback allows the recipient of a call to virtually return the call to the callee through an IVR. For example, you can use callback to answer customer service calls or to put calls through to specific staff members in the case of a busy customer line.
Presentation
When someone calls, the system prompts them to set up a meeting with you. The caller will only be allowed to speak to you once, and you will be able to offer a short explanation of the meeting.
Presence
Presence helps you tell if your colleagues are currently busy with another call by providing you with a short audio message that lets you know who is available.
Assignments
Assignments provides you with a list of all the active calls in your organization and the indivduals on a call and allows you to accept, decline, or forward calls.
Scheduling
Scheduling allows you to schedule a call with an individual by providing everyone involved with specific times to suit their schedules.
Maintenance Discovery
Maintenance Discovery provides a summary of last-minute calls and allows you to send them to relevant personnel for completion.
Do you have access to a fast, reliable internet connection?
This is an essential question because good speeds guarantee good fit with VoIP.
VoIP is a technology that relies on high-speed, reliable internet connections to perform the multiple tasks required to make phone calls. The phone system is a serious processor hog, and it must be able to reach high throughput speeds.
Quality internet speeds have long been viewed as an extension of well-being and a cornerstone of a productive business in a competitive market. But access to these speeds can be lost as a result of downtime, poor-quality connections, or moving to rural locations.
Smartphones with 4G LTE networks can often handle most of the internet-based tasks needed to run office phone systems. Some smartphones can be used specifically as VoIP devices, and they are known as smartphones that have the capability to run off an alternative data connection.
The diagram below shows the five core services required for VoIP connectivity. All phones and smartphones are capable of performing these tasks. But the high-speed requirements must be met consistently, and the internet connection must be available at all times.
In order to ensure that your phone system is available at all times, you must keep your phone and/or the network hardware serviced and maintained at all times.
All phone systems that connect to the internet to make calls must be able to send, transfer and receive data reliably and accept changes in the network connectivity without experiencing interruptions.
Bottom Line
The just-released IPSec VoIP phone with full-duplex capabilities provides the highest security possible and is equipped with an intuitive web-based management console. It can be paired with virtually any SIP-capable VoIP service including not only traditional landlines but also VoIP services such as Skype, Vonage, and Mbone.
With full-duplex VoIP calling, this phone utilizes one of the most secure features of VoIP – end-to-end encryption to protect both sides of the call against eavesdroppers.
High-fidelity 300-005499 VoIP phone is an excellent choice for small offices on a budget that require higher security over traditional landline phones.
Can You Talk and Listen at the Same Time?
With a traditional VoIP phone, your callers hear only background noise and hear you only when they pick up the phone. But on a high-fidelity EHS 300-005499 VoIP phone, you can keep both ends of the conversation on the same phone call. The Top 13 VoIP Phone Features for Business IP300-005499 high-fidelity VoIP phone with full-duplex capabilities provides one of the highest levels of security possible and is equipped with a high-fidelity speaker and microphone to enable you to listen and talk to your callers at the same time.
Can You Hack into My Phone?