Looking for a New Phone System?

Your business telephone system holds a great deal of power in how you are perceived by your customers. The right system can also give employees the tools they need to be more efficient and productive. Phone systems can be complex and confusing, but the selection process can be simplified by understanding what you are looking to get out of your phone system today and what you will need in the future. VOIP phone systems are gaining more popularity as they offer many of the features you might be looking for.  

So What Is VOIP?

VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is a technology that runs your phones over your existing data network to make and receive calls. VOIP technology converts a voice signal from a telephone into a digital signal and runs your phones over your existing data network instead of traditional analog lines. This conversion to a digital signal provides a lot of options than your traditional phone could ever provide.

So What Are The Benefits Of A VOIP Phone System Over A Traditional Phone System?

• Voicemail Features 
• Single voicemail – One voicemail box for all of your devices – your home phone, office phone and mobile phone.
• Notification of the arrival of a voicemail through your mobile phone, pager or email.
• Voicemails can be taken from many callers at the same time.
• Voicemails can be sent to other people's mailbox and introductions can be added to the message that you are forwarding.
• Voice messages can be stored for a long period of time. 
• Different greetings can be presented to different users.
• Call Forwarding – Forward your incoming calls to any other phone or to voicemail. Avoid missing any calls while you are away from the home or office. When your phone rings, and you are not there, the call is transferred to another phone, such as your mobile phone or home office.
• Single Number Reach – When customers dial your number, multiple devices can be programmed to ring simultaneously, such as the office phone, your mobile phone or your home. 
• Presence – A status that can be set to declare whether you are away, busy, available or wish not to be disturbed.  
• Connect Multiple Phone Systems – Link your offices so that it is possible to make inter-office calls between each location. VoIP has the ability to have only one system for several locations, thus sharing the phone system’s features such as voice-mail and call on-hold, as well as the ability to transfer calls from one location to another across long distances. Workers that work out of a home office can also be incorporated into your business phone system.
• Multi-Party Calling – With a traditional phone line, only two people can speak at a time. With VOIP, a conference call can be setup with a whole team of people communicating on one line.
• Auto Attendant – This allows the “network” to answer calls and present them with a menu containing numerous options such as dial by name, dial by extension and zero-out to operator. You can also have hold music or different customizable greetings according to the time of day (open and closed hours).
• Video Conferencing – It can bring people who are in different locations together and allow video as well as audio contact, thus reduce travel and meeting expenses.
• Two-Way Call recording – Record and save your conversations. A digital copy of your conversation can be saved to your voicemail. This can be an important feature when you want to save the call for educational purposes, legal purposes, security purposes or a variety of other reasons.
• Custom XML Applications - If you need a custom application for your system, 3^rd party companies such as IPcelerate, InformaCast and Berbee are able to design and develop applications for specific needs. A couple of examples include:
• Automated Dial Out function – A query can be built to send an audio message to select contact numbers. For example, a reminder of an upcoming doctor’s appointment or that your insurance is coming up for renewal.
• Real-time Communications to Employees – Send a text or audio message to send to company employees.
• DID (Direct Inward Dialing) – This feature allows your phone system to connect incoming calls to specific extensions without operator or attendant involvement. This feature allows for employees to have direct phone numbers that integrate with the main phone system.

Although not an extensive list, these are just some of the most popular features available with a VOIP system and other features can easily be integrated in the future as required. Hopefully this list can help you with deciding what features you would like and make the process to find the best system much simpler.

With VOIP, network security has to be up to date and functioning properly as it is a great target for hackers. Northern Computer has been a trusted business partner for network security for over 30 years. Our CISCO certified technicians can implement and maintain secure VOIP installations so you don’t have to worry about security issues.

 - Janet F, Marketing Coordinator

Northern Computer - Your Trusted Partner
#1 - 495 Banks Road Kelowna, BC V1X 6A2
Phone: 250.762.7753 Fax: 250.861.1861 Toll-Free: 1.877.257.2896
Email: sales@northerncomputer.ca or service@northerncomputer.ca
Web: http://www.northerncomputer.ca