In the past 18 months, businesses have been through one of the most disruptive periods in modern history. Change can be daunting for any business, but necessary for helping you stay ahead of your competition. Even if you think your business is operating efficiently at the moment, you may be surprised at how the latest technological advancements can improve your operations.
This certainly rings true with communication technology. To provide the best level of customer service, it’s often necessary to have some of the latest and greatest tech. If you’re not yet convinced, some of the following information may help change your mind.
Improving customer service
If you run a small business and have a single phone line, customers could be being placed on-hold for extended periods of time and hang up out of frustration. They may be directed to your voicemail, resulting in them hanging up and going to a competitor. By upgrading your office phone systems, to one build to support modern business and customer requirements, you could be better serving your customers, helping increase sales and profits for your business.
If a customers does get put on-hold, they can get live updates on their position in the queue, making them more likely to wait on the line to have their questions answered. Of course you can simply play music to them, but why not leverage that opportunity with a potential customer to provide information about current sales or services on offer.
For medium-sized businesses, you may step up to use a voice menu system, and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) that allows you to efficiently route calls inside your business to put the customer directly through to the department they need.
With Covid19 and lockdowns still impacting business around the country, it’s also more important than ever, that a modern phone system allows you to answer calls wherever you are in the world, as being in the office is not always possible in 2021.
Better scalability
Having the ability to scale up may not have been something you considered when you first started your business. For example, you may have only needed one phone line, and there was very little chance you’d miss a call.
However, as your business grows, technology that used to work just fine might not anymore. That’s unlikely to be a problem if you upgrade your phone system.
Most office phone systems today are designed to be scalable. You can open extra lines, add more numbers to the voice menu, and take more inquiries through voice-to-email functionality. It’s also just as easy to scale down as it is up, this is particularly important on the back side of peak periods, like Christmas and New Years.
Increased staff productivity
If your business only has one or two phone lines with no forwarding options, you may be familiar with the time-wasting task of tracking down a staff member to take the call. You may have even spent time on the phone with a customer, trying to work out which department can help with their needs.
Out of all possible tech advancements you can make for productivity, a new phone system can be near the top of the list. Customers can have complete control over who they want to talk to and be immediately put through to the department they need.
Significant cost reductions
While there will be additional costs involved in setting up a new phone system, the savings can be quickly realised in various ways, on top of any other methods your business might use.
For example, modern communication systems enable you to make conference calls and hold virtual meetings. This significantly reduces or potentially even eliminates expenditure on flights, accommodation, and hiring meeting rooms, when you can meet with your business associates virtually instead.
The option of having an auto attendant can also spell money savings, given that you won’t need to hire a dedicated receptionist or phone operator for the job of answering phones.
Even if you are daunted about the prospect of having to learn anything new in your business, it won’t be long until you see the advantages. Many technological advancements like phone systems can take your business to the next level.
