Employees tend to have many responsibilities, especially in small businesses. To handle these responsibilities, they need to manage their time wisely. One way you can help your employees be more productive is by providing calling features designed with convenience in mind. These features are found in managed VoIP solutions (voice over IP), in which telephone calls are transmitted over the internet rather than a traditional land line.
Here are 7 convenient calling features that can boost productivity and you might want to look for in a phone system or make sure your employees are taking full advantage of, if you already have this functionality:
1. Sequential Ringing
Employees who are on the move will find sequential ringing helpful. When this feature is enabled, an unanswered call is automatically forwarded to a preset list of phone numbers, but the person calling only has to dial one number. Employees specify the phones to forward their calls to and the number of rings before the call is forwarded. They often set up sequential ringing so that calls go to their desk phone, then their cell phone, and finally voicemail. The possibilities are endless, though. For example, if employees are unable to answer their phone, they can have their calls go to another member of their department, followed by a third department member, and finally the office receptionist.
2. Simultaneous Ringing
With simultaneous ringing, all the phones specified in a list will ring at once when a call comes in. As soon as the call is answered, the ringing stops. Employees often set up simultaneous ringing so that both their desk phone and cell phone ring at the same time. Businesses can even have all the phones in a department set to ring when someone calls that department.
3. Conference Calling
Traveling to a meeting can make an employee’s productivity plummet. With conference calling, employees can attend meetings without wasting time getting there. Plus, businesses can save money because they do not have to pay for travel expenses. Conference calling provides a virtual meeting room, which employees enter by using a dial-in number and personal identification number.
4. Three-Way Calling
Three-way calling lets employees participate in impromptu conference calls. During a call, an employee can add another person to the conversation. All the employee needs to do is press the switch hook or flash button, call the third person, and then press the switch hook or flash button again.
5. Enhanced Voicemail
With enhanced voicemail, employees can listen to their voicemails from any phone or through a web application. They can even receive them as MP3 files attached to emails. This is a key feature in a VoIP solution, and if you choose to implement VoIP through Microsoft Teams, these voicemail features will be deeply integrated into Microsoft 365.
6. Voicemail Transcription
Rather than having to listen to and write down information in a voicemail, employees can have an automated system transcribe the message so that they can simply read it. Most often, these automated systems send the transcribed messages to employees via email. In some cases, employees can receive them via a text messaging service.
7. Telemarketer Blocking
Telemarketing calls can waste employees’ time. Fortunately, there are features that can detect and block these calls. One such feature works by detecting when telemarketers use a machine that automatically dials every number in a phone directory. Another works by blocking phone numbers that display “Anonymous,” “Unknown,” “Unavailable,” or “Restricted” instead of the phone number on caller IDs.
Is It Time for a Phone System Upgrade?
If your phone system is overdue for an upgrade and/or you are looking for new ways to save money, now is a good time to consider Corsica’s VoIP phone service. VoIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol, and it means that calls travel over the existing Internet connection. While you could use a computer-to-computer connection to make and take calls with VoIP service, most businesses choose to go with IP Phones, which function just like a regular handset. VoIP-enabled IP phones come standard with these same modern calling features that can help boost productivity. So by moving to VoIP, your business could get a full phone upgrade in addition to saving money by eliminating that monthly phone bill.
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