Would you dare to dream of using a ten to twelve-year-old mobile or laptop device?
So why use an old, outdated phone system that can potentially risk your business?
We live in an ever-changing digital world where companies need a properly functioning and up-to-date phone to run their business operations smoothly.
Future of Business Phone System
Using a phone that can not keep up with your business demands can adversely affect its growth. Many businesses depend on landlines for their daily functions. As the trends in technology will keep growing, so will the need to update business phone systems
Scroll down to learn what you can expect in the future.
- Business phones will be used as communication platforms
If employees connect their phones to the company’s business number, they can reply to messages requiring their expertise even when they are not in the office. For customers, it is easy to have a continuous conversation with a single contact whereas, for business owners, that conversation can be redirected to any person who needs to step in.
- Receptionists will evolve
A receptionist has to answer Business Phone. Sometimes people do not pick up, phones are busy and appointments are not rescheduled or canceled on time which causes a lot of chaos. Virtual receptionists or call answering machines will play a vital role in inbound communication.
- Texting can become a default way of communicating in a business
If you want information about a business on google, the basic details usually show the address, website, and phone number. These details are slowly changing and people have started to replace the phone number option with a text message option. Texting will most likely become the future norm as it is more convenient for business owners and clients.
- Voicemails will be gone
For years, experts have been predicting the extinction of voicemail; this doesn’t look very far now. If someone calls a business after hours, there will be an automated system that allows the clients to send a text instead of leaving a voicemail, as they are sometimes irrelevant and tiring to listen to.
- More businesses will be saved as contacts
As the conversation through text messages increases, clients will start to save your number as a contact so that when any further exchange happens, the customers will see a number they recognize and trust instead of chatting with a random one.
After knowing the future of business phone systems, it is quite evident that outdated phones will not last the test of the technology. They are going to have poor effects on your business.
Here are 6 Ways an Outdated Business Phone System Can Put Your Business at Risk-
- Overspending on an old business phone system
If you feel like updating your phone system or buying a new one is out of your budget, think about the monthly costs, which are rising anyway. International calling, wireless internet costs, equipment maintenance costs, etc. will eat your profit. If you keep repairing your old phone again and again, you are depriving your business of new technology and spending more dollars over time.
- The old phone system is not flexible with current business changes
Business today needs a communication system that can go wherever their employees need to go to meet business needs. More and more employees are choosing to work from home these days, which means that the phone system cannot be tied to the office alone; it needs to be able to forward a call to a cell phone so that an employee in the field or someone working from home can answer it.
- Inadequate modern system features
Your phone system should have the ability to communicate across multiple platforms with customers and employees worldwide. Gone are the days when phones were used to make and receive calls only. Today features like conference calls, call forwarding, file sharing, live chat, video meeting, customer relationship management database, and instant messaging are a must.
- Lack of valuable customer data
Customer data is valuable, if a business loses this, then it can lose sales as well. Maintaining a track of contact details, call history, previous purchases, and other crucial information helps to improve customer support. The sales team relies on up-to-date customer information to decide the next step for the business to increase sales. An outdated phone system will most likely not merge with your customer relationship management software resulting in the loss of valuable customer data.
- Difficult for customers to connect
No business wants to risk losing its customers to another business. Imagine if a customer called you to know something about your product or service but due to your outdated phone system, you are unable to provide them the information they need instantly. This customer will have a high chance of switching to your competitor with a better communication system.
- Falling behind competitors
As discussed in the point above, customers can easily switch to your competitor if your communication system doesn’t help them with what they need. Failing to update your phone system puts you on an unlevel playing field. Thinking that small companies can not compete with established ones is wrong, as any business that adopts newer technologies will stay ahead of its competition.
Solution for Outdated Business Phone Systems
If your business is facing these issues and it feels like your current phone system will not be able to keep up with the future technology, increasing workload, and growing competition, it is probably the right time to upgrade.
Vonage cloud communication offers some solid solutions for outdated phone system problems. If you want to change your phone system but are confused about which plan to opt for, you can talk to an expert on Vonage’s website or choose a plan from their automated process by answering a few simple questions about your business. To know more, check out their website.
In today’s world, going hand in hand with technology is always a wise idea. During the covid-19 pandemic, many businesses struggled to keep up because they did not have a properly functioning phone system. Over the years, the telephone world has truly evolved, and those who couldn’t match up the pace suffered.
If you see the past few years, computer processing power has doubled up every two years, and it will continue to do so even faster so if your phone system is not up to the standard required to run your business smoothly, then you are at risk of losing clients and therefore losing a lot of money.
Follow Techdee for more!