2 Business Phone System Upgrades You Should Ask About

17 February 2015
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If you own a business, you might be more concerned about securing a great shipment of inventory or impressing that investor than you are about your phone system. However, you might be able to improve your workflow by making a few small changes to those old lines. Here are two business telephone systems upgrades you should ask about, and how they can make a difference:

1: Voicemail Transcriptions

When your employees get to work, they might find themselves going through loads of voicemail from the night before. As they scour messages for phone numbers, customer names, and information, they might be wasting valuable time.

Fortunately, newer phone systems frequently contain software that can transcribe audio voicemails into readable text. Instead of pressing a bunch of buttons and listening to recorded prompts, your employees can quickly go through emails to find important information. Here are a few other ways voicemail transcription can help:

  • Save Time, Save Customers: Did you know that it is 6-7 times more expensive to find a new customer than it is to keep an old one? Unfortunately, if your employees take forever to return calls or lose track of important information, you might find yourself on a constant search for fresh clients. However, voicemail transcriptions can improve employee efficiency, so that your customers have a positive experience.
  • Easily Searchable Text: What will you do if you lose that new vendor's phone number or need to retrieve that important voicemail an upset customer left? One of the best things about voicemail transcription is that it converts messages into easily searchable text. With a few simple keystrokes, you can search for and find the messages you need in seconds.
  • Archived Messages: If you have an older voicemail system, you might only be able to keep the number of messages that fit onto those little tapes. However, since transcribed messages contain compressed audio files and simple text, you can archive loads of messages and keep them for as long as you need to.    

If you are interested in voicemail transcription, talk with your business phone system representative. Some transcription software can be easily integrated into your existing setup, so you can start using it right away. 

2: Set-to-Set Dialing

When you are in an important meeting with a client, nothing is worse than not being able to get ahold of one of your co-workers. To retrieve sales figures or find out information about a product, you might have had to choose between running down stairs and calling the front desk like a customer. However, you can solve all of these problems by installing phones with set-to-set dialing.

With set-to-set dialing, your phones are set up on an in-store network. Each phone is assigned its own extension, so that you can simply dial a number to get ahold of whomever you need to. Cordless business phone systems can be set up with set-to-set dialing too, making it easy to get ahold of people who wander away from their desk or who work in your warehouse.

In addition to speeding things up, set-to-set dialing can also help you to preserve privacy in your business. Need to write someone up? No problem. Simply call their desk and ask them to report to your office. Need to discuss potential promotions with your second-in-command? Instead of raising eyebrows and starting the gossip train, you can quietly call a meeting, discuss front-runners, and announce your decision to everyone. Set-to-set dialing will help you to improve the stream of information throughout your office so that you can keep things simple.  

By upgrading your phone system, you might be able to help your employees to get things done, while improving customer service.