Your business phone system is an essential part of your operation. Having the right system in place can make or break not only your customers’ experience but also your employees’ experience. Both play a big role in the longevity of your business. VoIP phone systems have taken over the business phone landscape, leaving old school PBX solutions in the dust. If you’re thinking about making the switch and upgrading your phone system, there’s a few questions you’ll want to ask business VoIP providers before settling on one to support your company. Let’s go over a few key differentiators for business VoIP providers so you can find the best one to help take your business to the next level.

Technology is always rapidly evolving and expanding, providing new opportunities and innovative solutions to some of today’s most pressing matters.

What is VoIP?

Before we dive into how to best vet business VoIP providers, let’s review what VoIP is. VoIP stands for “Voice over Internet Protocol.” This means that your phone systems runs over your internet connection instead of traditional phone lines.

As long as there is an internet connection, your business line can operate without interruption. The flexibility VoIP phones provide businesses in today’s day and age of remote employees is part of why this innovative solution has become so popular.

How Do You Find The Right Business VoIP Providers?

Now that you understand why your business may want to consider VoIP, the next step is to talk to the people who can help you take the leap. Finding the right business VoIP providers for your business is key to the successful implementation and on-boarding of a new phone system.

The provider you select is especially important if the majority of your workforce is filled with Gen Xers or Boomers. Millennials tend to be more welcoming to technological changes, so you’ll want to ensure that a major transition, like upgrading your phone systems, goes as smoothly as possible. Here’s some tips for ensuring your select a VoIP provider who can support your business through this change.

What Security Can The Provider Offer?

Security is essential when it comes to any kind of business technology. When vetting business VoIP providers, you’ll want to dive deep into the security capabilities of their solutions. On its own, a VoIP phone is not a secure service, simply due to the nature of the internet. That does not mean that your phone system can’t be made secure, however. Ask the business VoIP providers you’re considering about:

• Encryption
• Multi-Factor Authentication
• Network Security

All of these elements will play into the provider’s ability to keep your phone system secure.

How Reliable Are They?

As a business owner, you know better than most that when your phones go down, everything comes to a screeching halt. You need business VoIP providers that have prioritized reliability and have the systems in place to respond accordingly when disaster does strike.

In order to ensure maximum reliability, the provider should have multiple data centers in a number of locations. This creates redundancy so if one server fails, another can take over in real time. This will minimize (or even eliminate) downtime when technological issues occur.

What Is Their Pricing Structure?

The next thing you’ll want to discuss with potential business VoIP providers is the price. We know that pricing is often the first thing you want to discuss, but if you don’t know what you’re getting for that price, the information is only so valuable. 

Like many other services, you don’t necessarily need the most expensive provider out there, but you should be wary of those with too-good-to-be-true pricing. There is a reason that the best business VoIP providers charge above the vendor price – service, reliability, and security are not free. Understand what you’re paying for and why before signing a deal.

What Do Their Current Customers Think About Them?

The last thing you want to do when vetting business VoIP providers is see what their current and past customers have to say about their experience with them. Get to know what service level you can expect from them and if there are any red flags that you’ll want to discuss before signing a contract.

Find The Best Business VoIP Providers

Asking these questions will help you weed out the not-so-great providers and differentiate between the good to find the right fit for your business. Upgrading to a VoIP system is a big deal and you want the most reliable provider to help you with the task.

If you’re ready to upgrade your phone system, contact the business VoIP providers in Denver at Analytics Computers.