As technology advances, small business owners don’t want to be viewed by their clientele as not keeping up with the times, and a quick look at your phone bill might be the tip-off. Long gone are the days of fax machines, rolodexes and printed promotional materials. Business environments are ever-changing as we now work in open communal spaces versus the oversized Mad Men offices of the last century. And with that all those changes, our business phone systems may need to evolve as well. In fact, telecom companies are projecting that within the next 10 years, traditional landlines may go the way of the dinosaur.
If you are looking for ways to shave your company’s expenses, one of the first things to consider is your business phone system. Here are four ways to start that proverbial ball rolling.
1. Evaluate Call Volume
A successful enterprise should be aware and expect that the number of both incoming and outgoing phone calls will increase in volume over time, but most small businesses end up over-paying for “Unlimited” calling plans. Pull up your call log and evaluate your call usage. Ask yourself if your current business phone system is satisfactorily equipped to efficiently and economically handle your current call volume, and if you’re paying for unused minutes?
It’s also wise to verify any potential congestion within your network and to double-check that you have sufficient capacity on your local services (such as local T1 or analog T1s). If it appears that your system is challenged in keeping up with your communications demands, you will need to start searching for a new business phone system.
2. Switch to VoIP
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is the way of the future in terms of both business and personal communications. The opportunity to make voice calls via an Internet network quickly adds up to significant savings in terms of hardware, installation, long-distance phone, and monthly billings. If your current business phone system is not supportive of VoIP telephony, you are missing out on an opportunity to integrate seamlessly with the Internet at a fraction of the cost you’re current paying with yourPOT(plain old telephone) system.
3. Get One-Price-All-Users
With Telzio, you’ll be pleasantly surprised that you only have to pay one monthly fee for all users. Most VoIP providers charge a per user fee of $20-40/month, which can usually be lowered by signing a 2-3 year contract. Telzio only has month-to-month plans and gives you unlimited users on all plans.
4. Eliminate Unnecessary Lines
Too many companies are in the dark about what they’re actually paying for when they review their phone bills. Many have only one main phone number they share with customers that ring all employees. When they add a new employee, their phone company adds another direct line to their account instead of just adding the new employee to the main line.
Whether your business already has satellite offices or if you are planning to expand in the near future, it’s important that your business phone system is supportive of multiple locations. Adding and managing phone line extensions to remote locations should not be an overwhelming, tedious, or costly line item. If your current phone system is not able to treat the management of these extensions as easily as if they were on-site, you should definitely consider updating to VoIP.
Going Forward
Companies are saving money by upgrading their business phone system service to VoIP technology, resulting in increased efficiencies with new technology. You can also decrease costs by ridding yourself of unnecessary and outdated hardware, in addition to old service plans that still tack on unnecessary add-on costs and the subsequent taxes attached to those additional expense factors. If you’re interested in reviewing your current phone system and plan, feel free to check out Telzio’s demos – and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to give them a call to take a test run today.