This way is totally different from the normal classic telephony systems that require cabling and desks etc. The main difference with virtual systems is that calls come through a cloud-based server rather than a physical system in your office. Cloud phone systems have online servers to handle and divert calls as opposed to a tangible desk phone connection that is fitted through wiring.

Some of the benefits include being cheaper to run and maintain and simply just being able to manage their company´s telecom needs with a virtual phone number.

How does a virtual phone system work?

The virtual phone system works in conjunction with a toll-free or local phone number and will automatically provide your callers a greeting before asking them to indicate where they would like their call to diverted to. The call will then very easily get directed to the person best suited to their need.

Also an employee will have the choice of taking a call on their desk phone or by easily diverting the call to their laptop or PC, any landline or mobile device. A caller or customer will not know any different as to where the employee is at that time. And of course, a call can be redirected to another colleague or desk if you are too busy to attend to your own incoming calls.

We hear of cloud-based, off-site, virtual, hosted, and hosted PBX…are they all referring to the same type of product/system?  Yes, indeed they are! Each of the terms means your telecoms product is powered in a cloud system and not a tangible one in your office.

There is a huge selection of business phone systems to choose from but here is what makes a virtual phone system stand out from the others:

1. Easy and hassle-free set-up

One of the most popular benefits of switching to a virtual phone system is that it is quicker and easier to instal than the wired solutions that are seen to be disruptive to the office. Not only that but you have to rely on engineers to instal the infra structure and hardware…delays and disrupts the employees and the flow of work for quite a while.

Engineers are not required for setting up cloud-based systems meaning hardly any disruption to working life. Any installation takes place remotely by your provider – straight forward and stress free.

2. Save on costs

Pricing for a standard office phone system is not standard and somewhat complex. A basic package is too basic and when you add the features that staff require, you end up adding on so heaps of extra charges to your monthly bill and running costs. Especially when you are talking about a call centre set up with a couple of hundred staff. Huge costs in no time at all. But if you go for the virtual call centre setup then you will have low costs and with all the important features your business will need such as:

• Automatic greetings and responses that give info to your callers like operating hours etc
• Low cost rates for international calling
• Call logging for dates and times of calls to and from customers
• Record calls for legal and staff training purposes
• Music for the callers when they are waiting or on hold
• Routing and directing calls to the next available agent
• Pass a customer or caller to relevant department with call forwarding option
• Caller ID to keep your staff’s personal cell number private

All of these much in demand and attractive features make a virtual phone system an ideal choice option for a company of any size and it is cheap enough for a new start up.

3. VoIP number

Remote staff aren’t always going to have a a strong and reliable phone service. Maybe they are based in rural locations for example and this can make it difficult for them to receive mobile cellular calls. But, with a virtual phone system which works across both cellular and VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol), your remote team can accept calls through an internet connection with a dedicated VoIP phone number meaning all they will need is need is a connection to Wi-Fi or 4G. Remote working employees don’t need a business phone to make and receive their calls. Virtual phone systems protect their caller ID allowing them to call and take work calls without ever showing  their personal and private number.

4. Receive calls from any device

Wired phone systems only allow your staff to take calls through a phone that’s wired to their desk. But with virtual VoIP phone systems you can literally take a call on any type of device such as mobile, laptop/pc, tablet or VoIP headset.

5. Route calls to wherever you want

For many reasons staff are on the move and not tied full time to their desks. Therefore, they should have the flexibility to be able to still take calls and continue work as normal when out of the office. A virtual phone system provides the flexibility required. Ask customers to call a central free phone number so they do not need to remember a specific number for a specific team member. The incoming calls are dealt with by a cloud-based server and this directs the calls to the relevant team. Which device your team is using doesn´t matter. They get the call to any device in the same way as a traditional wired connection.

6. Measure team performance

With in-depth reporting and analytics a manager can easily decipher and analyse important key indicators about team members such as which member: spends most time on the phone, Answers the phone in the shortest amount of time etc. These analytics can give a mana ger an idea of team performance and this is useful when you are overseeing big numbers of agents. Performance reviews will be so much easier with this type of software on hand and you don’t need to manually keep track of their time management.

7. Working together as team

You know yourself how frustrating it is to have an answer machine type service pick up your important call to somewhere. And now you certainly do not want to give callers to your company the same impression. Through a virtual phone system you don´t need to worry about this as the system will direct the call to another colleague if you are unavailable to do so. It is very easy to simply forward to another team member rather than your voicemail. Working together as team to pick-up all incoming calls is a more collaborative approach.

The question is: Is a virtual phone system an ideal fit for you and your business?

As we have been discovering, a virtual VoIP phone system offers more benefits than a traditional wired one and if you are still pondering the idea of switching then ask yourself the following:

• Are your telecom costs very high for your existing telecoms system?
• Existing system performs slowly at times and you have to wait days before a technical engineer can come out to fix the problem
• Some of your team work remotely
• A number of team members take calls from home or on the go
• Your team relies on applications such as WhatsApp, Google Voice or Google Hangouts to deal with work calls

Sometimes you need all the team on the same call but it isn’t possible with your current set up. With a shift in working patterns and businesses needing more flexibility for their employees and features from their calling software, virtual VoIP phone systems are the way to go. Can be varying reasons like rolling out big scale tele-marketing campaigns or just being able to give staff the option of working from home hassle free.

What is a virtual phone system, and what equipment do I need?

Well it is a telecoms solution that works over the internet and via computer. Calls are directed to a phone device. All the controls and features for you to handle the calls appear on the computer screen.  Big bonus features are call-forwarding and call-queuing and you can have additional phone numbers if required.

What is VoIP, and what equipment do I need?

VoIP is a low cost if not a free, means of communication, as it runs on the existing Internet infrastructure to transmit the voice. Because it is wireless it means that it is extremely flexible and far more versatile than a virtual phone system and what´s more it doesn´t add on to your internet bill. VoIP also allows you to make calls in the usual way of using conventional phones giving employees a wider choice of communication equipment.  If you decide to replace your existing service with VoIP as your form of service some costs will be incurred but the calls you make will be cheaper than those made in the more conventional landline ways. These days, communication services providers offer ‘deals’ which enable subscribers to get the most out of the service they pay for.  In the case of internet providers, free telephone calls is one of the most attractive bonuses that can be offered, but such deals are not available to everyone depending on which countries they are in. In more expensive countries VoIP is therefore popular. To be able to make a call to wherever they want in the world at a fraction of the normal cost or even free is a tremendous advantage to many people. All you need is internet connection! Any company that has to contact other countries on a regular basis find the VoIP system imperative to their business needs.

To use VoIP at its prime you will need to ensure access to broadband internet in the form of Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line or ADSL and at a reasonably good high speed.  Using unlimited ADSL will provide the best service because your monthly broadband cost will be fixed and you will have the advantage of being able to use VoIP at any time with no limitations or extra costs.  

What are the key variations between VoIP and virtual phone systems?

First one is cost – a virtual phone system relies on a regular telephone and a fixed line for transmitting calls which is then converted and redirected to a computer screen. Calls can only be transmitted over the public switch telephone network so costs are automatically incurred. On the other hand, VoIP operates from over the internet fand this is already covered and paid for on the monthly bill. WiFi provides more flexibility and furthermore there is no need then for the PSTN and its associated costs.

Second one is availability:  Well, as long as you have access to the internet then so too is VoIP. Always available where you want even in areas where traditional telecoms struggle to methods are set up and with huge running costs.

Business telecoms appears to have a bright futures as new businesses are being set up literally all the time.  Anyone thinking of starting one really needs to, first and foremost, consider not least the communication costs. The choice of actual systems to implement your telecoms is rather vast but realistically it will be the overall costs that will help you make up your mind. VoIP has always been a popular choice and proved itself within the 20 years that it has been around for.  It has had all this time to constantly improve and develop making it the efficient and dependable product that it is seen as development has made it as reliable and efficient as it can be.

Both VoIP and virtual phone systems will help in providing and creating a professional corporate image for your business no matter what its size. VoIP will come in as way more cost effective and maybe even totally free and without the constraints of long-term tie ins and contracts. Beside the actual product or service, a company or business is providing, communication is as always one of the most important and fundamental components of any organisation.  Saving on running costs is what all business owners search for as it frees up money for elsewhere and a goody reliable system means they are free to focus on other areas of the business.