We look at the advantages that a cloud phone system will provide to your company. The costs of running a business are rising faster than ever. If the sharp increase in energy costs was not enough, firms are being hit with wage hikes and escalating recruitment fees, not to mention the impact of inflation and currency adjustments on software and services. It makes sense to leverage technology to reduce business costs and allow your people to be more productive.
Your phone system is where you can find some of the ‘lowest hanging fruit’ – and when these changes can also help your business grow, this surely must be a win-win.
5 ways a cloud phone system can help your business grow and save money
1. Lower running costs
Cloud phone systems use your existing internet lines to make and receive phone calls – so there is no requirement for separate phone lines. Of course, there is a subscription cost for the cloud phones but this is often offset by the saving in phone lines.
On top of that, the cost of making calls on a cloud phone system is extremely low – even to mobiles or overseas. In most cases your subscription will include bundles of minutes much like a mobile phone plan, so your call costs may actually be almost zero.
Cloud phone systems also offer a smartphone app, enabling staff to make and receive company calls via their personal mobiles. This means you no longer have to provide a company mobile phone and your staff don’t have to carry two devices around with them.
Finally, a cloud phone system dispenses with the need for a phone system server or PBX in your offices or datacentre. So you won’t have to pay warranty, maintenance and electricity costs to run it. And cloud systems are far less likely to go wrong, so you won’t waste time or miss out on business due to phone outages.
2. Attract and retain great staff
You might be wondering why your staff will care about what phone system you have. They probably won’t, but they do care about having a great work/life balance and their employer offering them flexibility around working patterns.
As a cloud phone system works the same way wherever you are located, your staff can work from the office, from home, in a coffee shop or even whilst overseas. Wherever they are, they can still receive their business phone calls on a business number and make and receive calls from a desk phone, their smartphone or their laptop.
Having this flexibility allows you to be creative with your flexible working arrangements and use it to attract the best talent to your business.
3. Scale your business faster
Growing a business at pace can be challenging. In doing so you may need to hire staff from other areas of the country or even overseas. You may also be considering working with outsourcing firms to provide some of your services.
A cloud phone system allows you to integrate contractors or satellite offices into your business with minimum fuss and cost. Calls can be answered, transferred, monitored and recorded as if you were a single business. Importantly it will also allow you to appear as one organisation to the outside world.
It’s also worth noting that cloud phone systems allow new users to be set up in minutes – so bringing on temporary staff at short notice is no longer hampered by your communications.
4. Increase staff productivity
Modern cloud phone systems are designed to work with your other business applications through integrations. Integrations are important as they: reduce the need for staff to enter data twice, keep information in one place so it’s easier to find – and make it easier for your staff to work. Simply put, they help them get more done in less time.
Integrations you should expect with your cloud phone system include centralising your messaging tools in a single interface – for many businesses this is Microsoft Teams. You should also be able to make phone calls directly from your CRM system, keep calling records in order and be able to keep details of recorded calls in your business applications.
Remember too, because you can make and receive calls and retrieve voicemail on smartphones, you are able to make and receive calls anywhere. Or even transfer them from your desk phone to your mobile so you can continue calls instead of wasting time with call backs.
5. How to find out if you can benefit
Pro Drive partners with the market-leading RingCentral or Microsoft Teams cloud phone systems. To find out how we can help your business grow AND save money, contact us using the form below or call 0330 124 3599.
