Change comes with many uncertainties. Majorly, individuals are normally concerned on whether the change effected will have the intended impact or if it will fail. It is very crucial that as you transit to enterpriseVoIP, you do it in the right way. It is no secret that enterprise VoIP has many advantages to your business. From lower call rates to having a single network plan for both calls and data to having more features and applications, enterprise VoIP opens your business to limitless opportunities of getting bigger, better and stronger.
However, the way you handle your switch to enterprise VoIP could negatively affect your business if not properly done. A lot of organization should be done before embarking on changing your systems. Organizations vary in size. It is easy for an organization with fewer telephone lines and employees to shift from the analog phone systems to the enterprise VoIP phone systems. For organizations with a larger communication network, the switch should be meticulously done.
This is to avoid any breakdown in communication between your customers’ and your organization. Even a slight breakdown of communication for a few minutes could be catastrophic to your business. Impatient customers could seek services elsewhere during the breakdown of communication. Other customers will consider the breakdown of communication as poor service. Customer satisfaction is always an important selling point for any business and no business owner would want to compromise on that.
So how best is it to shift to VoIP phone systems without facing the repercussions of hurriedly and incorrectly doing it? Let’s have a look at how to that.
Capitalize on the Trial Phase
Quality service providers will always demonstrate to their clients how their systems work. You might decide to make the switch to VoIP at once or in phases. Whichever way you choose to transit to enterprise VoIP, you should carry out various trials to determine the suitability of the services offered by the VoIP service provider.
Pay attention to all the features that the enterprise VoIP service provider is offering. You might not have deemed additional features and applications offered by enterprise VoIP service providers as important to your business until you explore and understand them. Even if those applications might not be important to your business at the time of switching, they might be useful in future. While testing the service providers systems, always have an open mind.
Insist on honesty from the service provider. Let them disclose to you all the functionalities of their systems during the trial phase. Some of these service providers intentionally fail to disclose some functionalities of their systems. Failure to disclose all the functionalities denies you an opportunity to know the full potential of the enterprise VoIP system you would be switching to. It is common practice when buying any product or service for the full package to be disclosed. You should accept nothing less. Question the systems during the trial phases to be able to understand it better so that you are able to get the best available service in the market.
Is a Complete Switch to Enterprise VoIP for All Staff in an Organization in One Go Possible?
This question has already been partly addressed. You should understand that different organizations have specific communication needs depending on their businesses. As earlier stated in this article, smaller organizations with less than 20 members of staff can succeed in switching to enterprise VoIP phone systems from analog phone systems at once. This can be achieved by engaging highly skilled and qualified service provider. For new business being set up with no old phone system to replace and with less than 20 staff members, the switch could even be much easier and could also be done at once. All that such an organization needs is a strong internet connection and a reliable hosted IP telephony service provider.
This could be tricky for larger organizations. Shifting all employees in a large organization of say, more than 100 employees from the old phone system to enterprise VoIP is virtually impossible. This is because any mishap experienced during the switching could paralyze the entire organization. Imagine the task of rectifying a
problem encountered during the switch for a network of 20 employees to that of a network 100 and more employees. It will be hard to troubleshoot a fault in a network of a larger phone network. That is why it is advisable for the switch to be done in stages.
Advantages of switching to enterprise VoIP in stages are as follows:
- You will be able to identify errors in the system before it spreads to other employees. These errors could include normal system errors and security gaps. VoIP relies on the internet where online fraud is rampant. Arresting such problems early enough is crucial. Through this, you are able to engage your service provider and put in place corrective measures.
- It will give you an opportunity to find out if your staff understand all the feature and functions of VoIP and how to use properly use them. In case you identify any gaps in knowledge and understanding, then you can initiate training sessions for all employees before making the complete switch.
Whether you are a startup, SME or a big established business organization, switching to enterprise VoIP slowly in stages is the best option. We offer a wide array of VoIP services.
