When most people contact a business by telephone, their first impression of the company will come from how the call is answered and dealt with. While larger companies can have dedicated staff to deal with calls this may not always be possible for smaller businesses. However by using a hosted phone system even the smallest of companies can provide a premium answer calling service.
There are a number of advantages to using a hosted phone system for your business. There are much lower set up costs required with a hosted business phone system as all the required hardware and routing software is housed at the service provider’s data center. This means that all that is required in an office phone system is the phones and computers for use with the hosted telephone system. With no physical system hardware needed at your office for a small business phone service like this one, this also reduces maintenance requirements as this is all carried out by the service provider at their data center. It also means you do not have to spend money upgrading systems with a hosted IP phone system as this is also done by the service provider.
Calls coming into the hosted business phone system are routed through the data center and a virtual receptionist can answer these and provide options for the caller to connect their call. This helps to provide a more professional image for your company and ensures callers can get through quickly and easily which will provide them with a good impression of your company. Calls can then be routed from the data center to wherever required and this can be in your office, at your home or to your mobile when you are travelling. This means that you should never miss an important call when you have a hosted telephone service.
A hosted phone system can be a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system with the calls being connected over the Internet or a Private Branch Exchange (PBX) system with internal calls being routed over a private exchange and a trunk line being used to connect the system to the existing phone network. Using either a hosted VoIP phone system or a hosted PBX phone system is usually a more affordable solution that a traditional business telephone system and this can be a major benefit.
Some of the companies that provide a hosted phone system include, amongst others, Virtual PBX, M5 and Velocity Networks. These provide a number business hosted phone systems. Typically the cost for these hosted phone services will be based on the number of phones required for the system and the services to be included in the network. The best way to find a hosted system cost is to contact a service provider and discuss your requirements and they will be able to provide a quote. This can also be done over the Internet with many of the service provider’s websites having a feature where you can enter your details to get an estimate of the costs involved for a phone system hosted option.
Using a hosted phone system can provide a number of advantages for your business. It can present a more professional image to customers and others trying to contact your business and this can only help. It is therefore an option to consider if you are setting up a business office or are looking to upgrade your existing business telephone system.