How to set up VoIP phone system for small business? 

voip phone system for small business

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Business owners, whether of a small business or an enterprise, are aware of your business needs, but to gain progress and thrive ahead, clear communication is crucial. Business communication must be transparent: internally, within the organisation and externally, with clients and stakeholders. Thus, investing in a proper communication system for your business, specifically business telephone systems, is a must.

When it comes to effortless and transparent communication, companies use mobile phones, dedicated office phones, and other online communication platforms. And when it comes to setting up a phone infrastructure or availing of phone service, you may end up choosing between a PBX System (Private Branch Exchange) or VoIP network (Voice over Internet Protocol). Here, we will cover more on why you should switch to VoIP for a strong telephone system for your small business. 

 

What is a VoIP System? 

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a technology that allows you to place voice calls through your broadband Internet connection. Here, every time you place a call, your voice is converted and compressed into data, which is then transmitted to the recipient’s phone. Differences between VoIP and traditional phone systems (PSTN or landline) are mostly seen in terms of Hardware, Process, Efficiency, Scalability, Maintenance, Redundancy, Stability, and Cost. VoIP calls today have the same level of quality as a standard PBX call.

International, mobile, long-distance, and local numbers are all included in VoIP services. Some VoIP services only function over a computer or a dedicated VoIP phone, while other VoIP systems offer you a regular phone that is connected to a VoIP adapter.

According to the Telecommunications Act 1997 (Cth), VoIP services are typically classified as carriage services in Australia, meaning VoIP service providers are considered legal. However, these providers must abide by the rules set forth in the Telecommunications Act. 

 

Components of Basic Business VoIP Phone System 

  • Internet Connection / Bandwidth

VoIP server uses the internet to route voice calls, allowing a business to increase and decrease the amount of traffic across its internet connection. The more calls a company makes, the more bandwidth you’ll require. Small home offices and small enterprises with 1-2 employees should be able to make and receive calls over their current internet connection at a sufficient volume. 

 

  • Router

Your network gear may end up becoming a bottleneck if your router cannot manage peak load. So, you must have a robust router. 

 

  • Business telephone number

 The majority of VoIP providers will often offer a wide selection of phone numbers to give businesses flexibility.  

 

  • VoIP Service Provider & Hosted PBX service

Businesses can improve internal communications and offer unified communications by using VoIP service providers and hosted PBX. Hosted VoIP solutions are perfect for small and medium organisations with 15 users or employees with work from home/remotely work. 

 

  • VoIP Deskphones and softphones

Both desk phones and softphones support VoIP packages. Desk phones resemble landlines in many ways. You might need to purchase some connection cords for laptops and business phones that support VoIP. Softphones are specialised computer programs with graphical user interfaces that show a keypad on the computer screen so users can enter phone numbers or answer calls. Small phones are preferable for start-ups and small enterprises with few employees that don’t want to invest money in a larger set. Always invest in a premium VoIP desk phone if you want calls to sound fantastic. 

 

How do VoIP phones work? 

  1.  When a VoIP phone receives digital data from another device, it splits digital data into information packets and appends a destination address to each packet. 
  2. The converted data is sent over the broadband line to the router. 
  3. Once the router receives the data, it finds the shortest path to its destination. 
  4. The packet is received at the destination. 
  5. The receiving VoIP phone uses the addresses for each packet to put the packets in the right order. 
  6. The VoIP use receives the data as recognisable speech. 

 

Advantages of VoIP for small businesses 

A small business in Australia can avail following advantages when using a business VoIP system.  

Ease on Costs

VoIP is great for small enterprises because you don’t need to set up complicated equipment or hire an IT staff to maintain VoIP. This is significantly helpful for small businesses which are operating on a tight budget and cannot offer much to a phone system team within the company. 

 

High Call Quality

VoIP gives your small office more control over call quality because you can utilise a headset or microphone and alter the settings to produce the desired sound. 

 

Lower Business Phone Costs

VoIP uses the internet to transmit voice data, lowering operating and phone bills. On operating expenses, businesses can make savings of up to 75%. You may effortlessly interact with your employees from any location using a cloud-based communications platform when you use hosted VoIP. UCaaS (unified communications as a service) is another option. It includes voice, video conferencing, chat, and file sharing. 

 

Advanced Call Features Without High Costs

 With a modern VoIP solution, you can avail call forwarding, Interactive Voice Response (IVR), call recording, analytics, auto attendant, call queuing, and connectivity. These solutions can help you provide better customer service, enhance call flows and learn more about performance. 

 

Better Security with the Right Provider

With VoIP, your business can access more call functionality and security choices. End-to-end encryption, Endpoint security, two-factor authentication for phone apps, SPAM call blocking and labelling, and other security features are all available with VoIP. In order to ensure the highest level of security, you should choose a hosted phone system supplier that excels at the data centre, network, and product protection. 

 

Employees Can Work from Anywhere with VoIP

 VoIP allows for flexibility and allows your team to work remotely. As a result, your small business has the option to adopt a hybrid model in which some workers work remotely. In fact, becoming a small business that allows employees to work remotely helps you retain o even get new talent. 

 

Streamlines systems and increases productivity

You can just link a VoIP system to your CRM, chat, or email to start tracking, recording, and operating. Also, team members stay informed, and your staff is better organised and productive when calls are integrated with your office tools. 

You can receive faxes and voicemails easily.

With VoIP telephony, you can get faxes sent directly to your email messages. Also, email messages can have voicemail notifications. In addition, you can save time and maintain organisation by keeping everything in one location. 

 

7 Steps of Set Up a VoIP for a Small Business

  • Understand Your Internet Connection, Network, and Purchase Needs

Before you decide on how to set up VoIP business phone service for your business or home office, you should first check your internet and connection. Nowadays, most internet service providers include gigabit speeds in their commercial plans.

Thus, a VoIP phone service can be used with your current connection. VoIP requires continuous good-quality internet, so you should ensure that your telephone system holds up to the transition.

Along with speed, connection instability is frequently a factor in the problems affecting VoIP calls’ quality. You must check your router or network, and if it is not strong, you can have audio problems and dropped calls, and you may lose handling peak load. You should consider setting up Quality of Service (QoS) to prioritise VoIP packets and data. 

 

  • Purchase the appropriate VoIP hardware.

 VoIP has become standard in businesses over the past few years. You can see numerous cutting-edge solutions. You can also get a premium VoIP desk phone if you want your calls to sound great. Your business phone can also be upgraded so that VoIP headsets can be added, allowing you to move about while on calls.

The purchase of IP phones or other hardware should also be considered. You should also see whether you can correlate virtual numbers with your current hardware. But if you want to cut off or minimise hardware costs, then you can use Softphones- Software or a mobile app that lets you receive and make phone calls. 

 

  • Choose a VoIP provider with the appropriate features.

Now is the time to research and understand how VoIP works and the different systems available. In general, we have: 

  •  On-premises( here, a company purchases the hardware, including servers and switches, and hosts the service on-site) 
  • VoIP(it transmits calls over data networks instead of traditional phone lines) 
  • Hybrid( here, companies can choose to invest in an on-premises system or combine on-premise with a cloud-based solution), and  
  • Hosted VoIP(a cloud-based solution that hosts, maintains, and updates software and hardware offsite and delivers voice connectivity remotely.)  

You should also check VoIP features such as auto-attendants, the cost of international calls, Interactive Voice Response, voicemail and caller ID and more.  

 

  • Get a Business Phone Number

You can look for different types of phone Numbers: Local Phone Numbers, Toll-Free Phone Numbers, and vanity numbers. 

  • Local Phone Numbers: A local area phone number is ideal for small enterprises, firms with a focused niche, and firms that want to have a local presence but service a specific geographic region. 
  • Toll-Free Phone Numbers: Those phone numbers that begin with a toll-free code, such as 800, 888, 877, 866, 855, 844, or 833, are known as toll-free numbers. A toll-free number enables the caller to contact the number, in this case, your business, without paying any fees. 
  • Vanity Numbers: Toll-free numbers that spell out specific words are known as vanity numbers and are memorable. To obtain a recognisable number, you could also need to buy it from a third-party seller. 

You can also give service providers your current phone number and other crucial data. Your current carrier will receive your transfer request after it has been sent to them. When the porting procedure is finished, you will be notified by email. 

 

  • Install a VoIP phone system.

It’s time to finish setting up your office’s VoIP desk phones and handsets. The procedures required to set up VoIP Desk Phones and Handsets vary depending on the model you purchased and your network configuration. You may have to look for steps to set up VoIP desk phones or handsets without PoE or VoIP desk phones to PoE-enabled routers. In the case of setting up VoIP Headsets, you can see the option of either Wireless VoIP headsets and phones with EHS cable support or Headsets and desk phones with headphone jacks/ports. 

 

  • Examine Your New VoIP Lines

If you have done the main set-up right and have a fast connection, you won’t have any issues. But if you want to be safe, you must check for various aspects. 

You should pay attention on: 

  • Are all calls clear and consistent? Did you encounter any static or other signs of low-quality audio? 
  •  Do you experience long delays between speaking and the receiver hears you? 
  • Did any of the calls get discontinued? 
  • Your lines when there is a lot of other network activity as network congestion can lead to various line issues/ 

 

  • Educate your staff on how to make the most of VoIP features.

 As a small business, transitioning to VoIP often marks the beginning of helpful business phone functionality. Thus, business owners should schedule time for training their employees to guarantee that they use these features.

It may take employees some days or a week to understand and use the system properly. You might think it’s unnecessary, but if you are adopting new technologies and your employees are unfamiliar with how to use them, you are certainly inviting issues.

In fact, employees must be well taught to handle the setups for efficient business communication, serving customers and closing sales. For the training, you can ask your VoIP service provider’s website or tutorials for help.  

 

What determines the costs of VoIP?

Setup cost

If you have a very small business with 10-12 employees, then you can go for a VoIP with a monthly payment basis. If you have more employees, around 20 to 30, you can choose the KSU (Key System Unit). 

Call cost

The lower call costs are one of the key reasons businesses migrate to VoIP. VoIP telephony allows you to call people who are far away without spending a lot of money. Because the system is internet-based, you can contact abroad for local rates. 

Monthly cost

Costs for VoIP communication systems and other office systems are calculated monthly for each employee. Costs for a basic VoIP range from 25 to 30 AUD. 

Maintenance and upgrade cost

The costs of using VoIP technology are low because it needs less maintenance. Upgrading doesn’t call for any additional gear. However, you must upgrade the program and expand bandwidth. 

 

How to choose Good VoIP Services in Australia?

Determining if a VoIP phone system makes sense for a small business depends on its network quality and needs. You can check for further information when choosing a VoIP service in Australia. 

  • You should first understand your business communication needs. 
  • Check the standard and advanced features of VoIP. See if VoIP has enough bandwidth to handle the other traffic on the network, and check if their firewall and router can prioritise VoIP traffic over regular internet traffic. 
  • Dive into features and integrations. Check for the built-in third-party integrations in your VoIP. Some integrations include CRM, SMS and fax, Email software, and cloud storage. 
  • Look for VoIP Security, especially Datacenter audits, Multi-factor authentication, advanced account management, and high-level encryption.  
  • Read reviews and customer stories and how they progressed with VoIP services. 
  • See for customer support which can be simple, live representatives and self-service options. 
  • After checking all the features, you can compare prices and your budget. See if the costs involved, such as Price Per Installation, Price Per User, and Additional Fees such as Toll-free minutes, VoIP hardware, and Upgrading plans.  

 

Get VoIP Service from NSW IT Support

In the post-COVID work landscape, VoIP has now been emerging as a core solution for businesses. The best option for small businesses worried about their phone system is VoIP. To get good VoIP service, you must connect to a reliable VoIP provider in Australia. Are you looking for the best business VoIP provider in Australia? Among various names in the industry, NSW IT Support is the best business VoIP provider in Australia. We offer the best features, service, and reliability to support your specific business needs.  

With us, you can avail following VoIP services: 

  • Advanced Call Management, where we prioritise, hold, route, or block incoming calls. 
  • Conference Calls, where we hold remote meetings with dozens of participants in different locations. 
  • Call Recording, where phone calls are recorded to improve customer service and business performance. 
  • Speed Dial feature, which does not make you memorise numbers anymore; just dial a shorter sequence of numbers to make phone calls. 
  • Voicemail to email to attend voicemail messages and send voicemail messages to your inbox. 
  • IVR-Auto attendant, where we help your customer-facing staff needs, stay upbeat and effectively handle calls all day. 
  • We run Online Call Statistics where we process data such as call session metrics on various devices like desk phones and softphones. 

To avail our VoIP services, you can contact us. We are here to help you. 

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