Imagine a communication solution that effortlessly connects your team, eliminates bulky hardware installation, and cuts down on costs. Now, turn your imagination into reality with a hosted phone system whose advanced call management features transform how businesses communicate.
But what exactly is a hosted phone system?
A hosted phone system is a cloud-based system, commonly called a virtual phone system, that uses an internet connection to make and receive calls and is hosted off-site by a service provider.
Are you still interested in learning more about hosted phone systems? Want to know how a hosted phone system can benefit your business and streamline your workflow? Be sure to check out the article.
What is a hosted business phone system provider?
A hosted business phone system provider provides a cloud-based phone system or virtual PBX (Private Branch Exchange) that works via an Internet connection and is hosted in the cloud instead of on-site.
But where exactly is the data located? Your servers and data are in a third-party data center rather than your business place.
With a hosted phone system, you get to enjoy hassle-free upgrades and maintenance, flexibility to connect with anyone anywhere with an internet connection, and seamless scalability as your business grows.
Where traditional phone systems rely on on-premises hardware, hosted phone systems operate online. A hosted business phone system eliminates the requirement for physical lines to initiate phone calls, allowing your business to save extra bucks.
But how does a hosted phone system help businesses? That’s precisely what we’ve discussed below:
- Global Reach
Businesses can establish their local presence in any location with a hosted phone system, reducing the need for physical offices and extra phone lines. Virtual local phone numbers with specific area codes help businesses make a local presence in a particular geographical location, expand their customer base, and tap into new markets.
Furthermore, businesses can access their hosted phone system wherever they can access the internet. This global reach facilitates seamless customer service for companies with international operations, significantly allowing them to scale up their businesses.
- Cost-Effectiveness
The hosted phone system doesn’t require any physical hardware installation, so businesses can save huge investments on installation and maintenance costs. Also, you don’t need to buy extra equipment to use hosted phone systems; you can easily use them on your existing devices, like Smartphones(iOS and Android), laptops, computers, VoIP softphones, and even desk phones.
Additionally, businesses can save on additional maintenance and hardware costs and enjoy fixed monthly costs without worrying about extra technical assistance and hardware repair charges.
- Scalability and Growth
As the business grows, the communication needs don’t stay fixed (especially for small businesses); they change with time. With a hosted phone system, you can add and remove new users as your business grows.
Additionally, you can add additional features to the system as your business grows, making it easy to stay ahead of the competition and keep up with changing communication needs.
- Security and Reliability
Hosted phone systems come with an extra layer of security, like encryption, firewalls, and intrusion detection systems (IDS), to protect your crucial data from unauthorized access.
In addition, these additional security features are designed to protect your business from potential cyberattacks and data breaches. Furthermore, hosted phone systems are also more reliable and backed up by a team of professionals.
- Seamless integration with other business app
The hosted phone system seamlessly integrates with existing business software like CRMs and other productivity tools, making accessing customer data, managing interactions, and tracking sales performance easier.
In addition, integration makes it easier for employees to access the same features
and resources on both systems, facilitating a smooth workflow.
3 Features of a Hosted Phone System That Help you Streamline your Workflow
With a hosted phone system, businesses can unlock their efficiency using its features, including:
- Achieving Team-Wide Mobility
Since the hosted phone system is cloud-based and works via the Internet, you can easily connect with your team members while away from your office space. This helps you collaborate in real time from anywhere. It’s a great option to stay productive and keep your team on the same page.
Since the hosted phone system is compatible with various devices and browsers, your employees can easily access it from smartphones, laptops, computers, and other devices with an internet connection. Furthermore, it eliminates the need for a physical office, facilitating flexibility and enhancing remote working.
- Easier Management and Scaling
A hosted phone system has the ability to manage your team’s connections, directories, and security through a centralized interface. This makes managing and scaling your operations more accessible, as you can add or remove users and manage call flows quickly and easily from any location.
Whether you’re a small startup or a large corporation, a hosted phone system offers seamless scalability. For instance, if you’re operating your business with a single phone number, you can quickly get a second phone number online per your requirements. With this flexibility, you can efficiently manage incoming calls and increase workflow without the hassle of traditional phone line installations.
- Data-backed Decision-making
With strong analytical capabilities and seamless integration with other apps, businesses can facilitate their decision-making with hosted business phone systems. Hosted phone systems provide in-depth reporting and analytics, allowing businesses to understand their calling progress better and make informed decisions.
Also, with KPIs in the call analytics reports, you can have a transparent view of your team’s performance and customer interaction.
That being said, with call analytics, you can receive performance reports and tracking tools for a variety of call metrics, including:
- Incoming Call Volume
With incoming call volume, you can understand the overall demand for your products and services. You can use this data to improve customer service, identify trends in customer behavior, optimize call routing, and track the success of marketing campaigns.
Additionally, data obtained from incoming call volume can be used to track employee performance, identify areas where training is needed, and develop targeted marketing campaigns.
- Number of Calls Answered
This metric allows you to track your customer support team’s efficiency in handling incoming calls. Having a high volume of calls answered indicates good service availability, whereas a low volume indicates inefficiency in call routing or an employee shortage. Keeping an eye on this metric can help identify areas for improvement in your customer support operations.
Furthermore, this data can be used to identify areas where training is needed or additional staff may be required.
- Number of Calls Missed
The number of missed calls indicates the number of incoming calls that still need to be received by your support team within the designated timeframe. This means that the more calls that go unanswered, the more sales and customer support opportunities are missed. It also helps to identify which department needs additional staff and training.
In addition, it indicates areas for improvement in call handling procedures, technology infrastructure like call queueing systems, and staff utilization during peak hours.
- Average Call Length
The average call length provides valuable insights into the complexity of customer queries and the efficiency of the call resolution process. With this data, you can identify which customer service areas need the most improvement and which are already performing well. It can also help to identify areas where training would be beneficial.
Also, it can help to identify any bottlenecks in the process that could be causing customer dissatisfaction. This information can then be used to develop strategies to reduce call times and improve customer satisfaction.
Conclusion
Hosted phone systems have become a game changer in business communication, offering easier management and scaling capabilities and allowing businesses to adjust based on size and needs.
By facilitating smooth workflow, integrating advanced features, and streamlining seamless collaboration, these systems boost firms’ ability to connect with their audience and team members.
As business environments are increasingly becoming competitive, investing in reliable and scalable hosted phone systems is crucial to ensuring consistent growth, boosting productivity, and delivering superior customer service.
