IP Phones Buyer’s Guide
IP phones are excellent for business, but IP phones come in many different varieties. Some brands offer features that other brands may not. Depending on your business, you might not all the features that other companies need.
What’s important is that you always get the features most important for your business and your employees.
Not sure what features to look for? This buyer guide outlines some of the most important ones to look for before purchasing an IP phone.
Call Handoff
This features easily transfers your calls from one device to the next. So, a call that starts from your mobile can be switched to your office phone or your conference phone all with one touch of a button.
The switching happens without the caller noticing so it’s convenient for everyone.
Hunt Group
This feature allows an incoming call to be routed to the first available extension in a group. If there is no response from the first extension, then the call will be automatically sent to the next. The process keeps repeating until a call is answered.
Many IP phones will allow you to choose between hunt group and ring group depending on which works better for your business.
Find Me and Follow Me
This is a great feature for those that need to be out of the office but still be connected to clients. This feature calls users on a specified list one by one until the call is answered. If no one on the list answers, it will be sent to voicemail.
You can program it in many different ways, but many business professionals have it ring each user or device twice. If you are using devices, it might ring your office phone twice, then your mobile twice, then your home phone twice- in that order.
Once it has called every device on the list and you do not answer, the call will go to your voicemail.
Call Screening
This allows you to see who is calling and then choose a method for dealing with the call. You might choose to send it to voicemail, forward it, hang up, or transfer it. You can also use one of the find me options if you want the call to be answered on one of your other devices.
This is a great feature if you have relatives calling you at work or someone else calling you that is not urgent that might be getting in the way of you working. You can also auto disconnect certain callers that telemarketers or others that might be trying to sell you something,
CRM Integration
This feature puts a pop-up on the screen that notifies you of all the details of the caller. It will pick up the information from your customer relationship system (CRM). You can also connect other databases to the system if you do not use CRM.
This is especially helpful for businesses because you will be able to know exactly who is calling before you answer the phone. This also enhances the customer relationships you have because they will feel remembered when you answer their call and you already who they are.
You can also search their name in the company database to see past orders or past issues they have dealt with. This allows you to give a more personalized approach when it comes to speaking to them on the phone.
One Number
This allows you to use several different devices all with the same phone number. So, you can set your mobile phone, softphones, and desk phones to the same number. This is convenient for business owners who do not want to have several different numbers to remember and give out.
You can also hide your real mobile phone number if you prefer for people to only have your office numbers and not your personal ones.
Final Thoughts
IP phones are essential for businesses but only if you are using them with all the right features. If you have an IP phone and are not setting up all the features, it’s a waste of time and money on your end.
Many of the features are easy to set up when using the user manual. You can operate your communication operations much easier with things like Ring group and call handoff.
