Communication is essential in today’s hurried corporate environment. Having a dependable phone system is crucial to keeping your business running smoothly whether you’re a small business owner or the CEO of a major multinational. A business phone system gives you a way to be reached by clients, to facilitate employee communication, and to efficiently run your company.

But selecting the best business phone system might be challenging given the abundance of possibilities. It’s crucial to take into account the characteristics that will be most advantageous to your company and guarantee that you get the highest return on your investment.

In this blog post we’ll go go over the top features for your business phone system. Each feature’s significance and potential commercial advantages will be covered. You’ll know more about what to look for in a business phone system after reading this article, and you’ll be able to choose the one that’s best for your company.

The key characteristics that your business phone system should have may be found in the following sections, whether you’re beginning a new company or trying to enhance your present one.

Security

Security is a crucial feature that every business phone system should have. A secure phone system ensures that your business communications are protected from prying eyes and hackers, preventing sensitive information from falling into the wrong hands. A secure phone system can also save you from the threat (any frustration) of dealing with phone scammers. Here are some essential security features to look for in your business phone system:

1. Call Encryption – Call encryption is a feature that encrypts the voice data during transmission, ensuring that no one can intercept or listen in on your calls. This is essential for businesses that handle sensitive information, such as financial or medical data.
2. Two-Factor Authentication – Two-factor authentication is a security feature that adds an extra layer of protection to your phone system by requiring users to provide two forms of identification before they can access the system. This is an effective way to prevent unauthorized access to your phone system, and it helps ensure that only authorised personnel can access your sensitive data.
3. Firewall Protection – Firewall protection is a security feature that blocks unauthorised access to your phone system by filtering incoming and outgoing traffic. This prevents hackers from accessing your phone system and stealing your data.

You can safeguard your company from security breaches, hacking attempts, and other security dangers by making sure your business phone system has these security safeguards in place. By ensuring the security and safety of your business communications, you can concentrate on managing your company with ease.

Call Management

Call management is an essential feature for any business phone system. It enables you to efficiently handle incoming calls, improve customer experience, and ensure that your team is always available to take important calls. Here are some of the most critical call management features that your business phone system should have:

1. Call Forwarding – Call forwarding is a feature that allows you to forward calls to another phone number or device, ensuring that you never miss an important call. This is ideal for businesses with remote workers or employees who are frequently out of the office.
2. Voicemail – Voicemail is a feature that enables callers to leave a message when you’re unavailable or unable to answer a call. This ensures that you never miss an important message, and it allows you to respond to calls at your convenience.
3. Call Queuing – Call queuing is a feature that places callers in a queue while they wait for the next available agent. This is ideal for businesses that experience high call volumes, and it ensures that callers don’t have to wait on hold for extended periods.
4. Interactive Voice Response (IVR) – An IVR system is an automated system, known as an auto attendant, that greets callers and provides them with options to direct their call to the appropriate department or person. This ensures that callers are directed to the right person quickly, and it reduces the workload on your receptionist or call centre agents.

You can increase team productivity, shorten client wait times, and boost customer satisfaction by integrating these call management capabilities into your business phone system. This guarantees that your company is always available to answer calls and that your clients get the assistance they require.

Cost Effectiveness

When choosing a business phone system, cost-effectiveness is an important feature to consider. You want to make sure that you’re getting the best value for your money and that the phone system you choose fits within your budget. Here are some cost-effective features to look for in your business phone system:

1. Hosted vs. On-Premise Systems – Hosted phone systems, also known as cloud-based phone systems, are becoming increasingly popular among businesses because they offer a cost-effective solution that doesn’t require expensive hardware or maintenance. These systems are hosted in the cloud, which means that they’re maintained by the provider, and you pay a monthly fee to use the service. On-premise phone systems, on the other hand, require you to purchase and maintain the hardware and software, which can be expensive.
2. Scalability – Scalability is another important cost-effective feature to consider. You want a phone system that can grow with your business, so you don’t have to purchase a new system every time your business expands. A scalable phone system allows you to add or remove users as needed, without having to purchase new hardware or software.

By choosing a hosted phone system and ensuring that it’s scalable, you can reduce your upfront costs and ongoing maintenance expenses. This allows you to allocate your budget to other critical areas of your business, such as marketing, product development, or customer support. Additionally, with a cloud-based system, you’ll never have to worry about outdated hardware or software, as the provider will handle all updates and maintenance.

Mobility

Mobility is an essential feature to consider when choosing a business phone system, especially if your team works remotely or needs to be accessible while on-the-go. Here are some key mobility features to look for in your business phone system:

1. Mobile App Integration – Mobile app integration enables your team to use their mobile devices as extensions of your business phone system, allowing them to make and receive calls as if they were in the office. This means that your team can stay connected to customers and colleagues no matter where they are.
2. Remote Access – Remote access allows your team to access your business phone system from anywhere with an internet connection, whether they’re at home, in a coffee shop, or on the road. This feature ensures that your team can stay connected and productive, even when they’re not in the office.
3. Call Routing – Call routing is a feature that automatically directs calls to the appropriate person or department, regardless of where they’re located. This ensures that calls are never missed and that customers are always directed to the right person, no matter where they are.

By providing your team with mobile app integration, remote access, and call routing, you can increase productivity and ensure that your team is always accessible to customers and colleagues. This feature is especially important for businesses with remote workers or those that need to stay connected while on-the-go.

Call Routing

Call routing is the process of directing incoming calls to the appropriate person or department within your organisation. With call routing, you can ensure that your customers are directed to the right person without having to go through multiple transfers, which can be frustrating for customers and can waste valuable time for your employees.

There are several different types of call routing, including:

1. Automated Attendant – An automated attendant is a pre-recorded message that greets callers and directs them to the appropriate department or person based on the caller’s input. This is a great option for small businesses that don’t have a dedicated receptionist.
2. Hunt Groups – A hunt group is a group of phones that ring simultaneously when a call comes in. This is ideal for businesses with multiple employees in the same department, as it ensures that calls are answered quickly.
3. Call Queuing – Call queuing is a feature that allows you to place callers in a queue and provide them with hold music or a message while they wait for the next available agent. This is a great option for businesses that experience high call volumes.

By implementing call routing in your business phone system, you can improve the customer experience, reduce wait times, and ensure that your customers are directed to the right person or department every time.

CRM Integration

Effective communication is the backbone of any successful business, and having a robust phone system is crucial for maintaining smooth operations. When choosing a business phone system, there are several essential features to consider, and one that should not be overlooked is integration with your CRM or customer database.

Integrating your phone system with your CRM or customer database offers a range of benefits that can significantly enhance your customer service and overall business efficiency. Here’s why it’s a feature worth considering:

1. Personalised Interactions: Integration allows your phone system to display relevant customer information automatically when receiving calls. This means your employees can greet customers by name, access their order history, and have a complete view of previous interactions. Personalisation leads to a more tailored and positive customer experience.
2. Streamlined Workflows: With integration, you can streamline workflows by eliminating the need to switch between different systems. Employees can log call details, add notes, schedule follow-ups, and update customer records—all within the CRM platform. This saves time and ensures accurate and up-to-date information.
3. Improved Customer Service: By having access to comprehensive customer information during calls, your employees can better understand customer needs and provide more informed assistance. This leads to quicker problem resolution, higher customer satisfaction, and increased loyalty.
4. Enhanced Sales Opportunities: Integration with CRM opens up opportunities for sales teams to upsell, cross-sell, or offer personalised promotions based on customer profiles. Access to customer data allows for targeted and effective sales strategies.

When selecting a business phone system, consider the ability to integrate it seamlessly with your CRM or customer database. This feature will help you deliver exceptional customer experiences, streamline processes, and ultimately drive business growth.

Analytics and Reporting

In the fast-paced world of business, making informed decisions is vital for success. That’s why when choosing a business phone system, it’s essential to consider features that provide valuable insights into your communication patterns and call performance. One such feature is analytics and reporting.

Here’s why analytics and reporting are crucial for your business phone system:

1. Performance Evaluation: Analytics and reporting tools allow you to evaluate the performance of your phone system. You can track key metrics such as call volumes, call durations, peak call times, and missed calls. These insights help you understand your communication patterns, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions.
2. Staff Optimisation: By analysing call data, you can identify peak call times and allocate resources accordingly. This ensures that you have the right number of staff members available to handle incoming calls, reducing wait times and improving customer service.
3. Quality Assurance: Call recordings and analytics provide an opportunity for quality assurance. You can review calls to assess employee performance, identify training needs, and ensure consistent service delivery. This leads to continuous improvement and higher customer satisfaction and retention.
4. Cost Management: With analytics, you can gain visibility into your phone system usage and identify cost-saving opportunities. For example, you can track long-distance or international calls to manage expenses effectively. Additionally, you can assess call patterns to optimise your phone system configuration and avoid unnecessary charges.

Choosing a business phone system that offers robust analytics and reporting capabilities empowers you to monitor and optimise your communication processes. By leveraging data-driven insights, you can enhance efficiency, improve customer experiences, and drive business growth.

Collaboration and Conferencing

Effective collaboration and seamless communication are vital for the success of any business. When choosing a business phone system, it is crucial to consider features that facilitate collaboration and conferencing among employees. Here’s why integration with collaboration and conferencing tools is a feature worth prioritising:

1. Enhanced Collaboration: Integration with collaboration and conferencing tools enables employees to collaborate effectively, regardless of their physical location. Features like audio and video conferencing, screen sharing, and instant messaging promote seamless communication, allowing team members to exchange ideas, share presentations, and work together in real time.
2. Improved Productivity: By providing a platform for virtual team meetings and discussions, collaboration and conferencing features eliminate the need for everyone to be physically present in the same location. This saves time and travel expenses while enabling efficient communication and decision-making. With quick access to colleagues and resources, productivity increases as team members can address issues, make decisions, and move projects forward without delays.
3. Flexibility and Remote Work: Collaboration and conferencing tools empower businesses to embrace flexible work arrangements and remote work. Team members can connect and collaborate from anywhere, facilitating a global talent pool and accommodating diverse work setups. This flexibility enables companies to adapt to changing work dynamics and attract top talent.
4. Seamless Client Communication: Collaboration and conferencing features also facilitate effective communication with clients or external stakeholders. Businesses can conduct virtual client meetings, presentations, or demonstrations, ensuring a seamless and professional experience. This feature helps build strong client relationships, enhance customer satisfaction, and improve overall business reputation.
5. Cost Savings: Integrating collaboration and conferencing tools into your business phone system can lead to significant cost savings. By reducing expenses associated with travel, accommodation, and venue rentals for in-person meetings, businesses can allocate those resources to other areas such as innovation, employee development, or marketing.

By prioritising a business phone system with integration capabilities for collaboration and conferencing, you enable effective communication, promote teamwork, and enhance productivity. This feature empowers your business to adapt to the modern work environment, improve client interactions, and achieve sustainable growth in today’s interconnected world.

Customisation and Flexibility

When choosing a business phone system, it’s essential to consider features that offer customisation and flexibility to meet the unique needs of your business. Here’s why customisation and flexibility are crucial features worth prioritising:

1. Tailored Solutions: Customisation allows you to adapt the phone system to your specific business requirements. You can configure settings, features, and call flows based on your workflow and communication preferences. This ensures that the phone system aligns with your business processes, enabling seamless integration and efficient operations.
2. Scalability: A flexible phone system accommodates the growth and changing needs of your business. It allows you to add or remove phone lines, extensions, or features as your business expands or evolves. This scalability ensures that your communication infrastructure can keep pace with your organisation’s growth, saving you from the hassle and cost of replacing the entire system.
3. Integration with Existing Tools: Customisation and flexibility enable integration with your existing tools and software. Whether it’s your customer relationship management (CRM) system, helpdesk software, or collaboration platforms, a customisable phone system can seamlessly integrate with these tools. This integration enhances productivity by centralising communication and streamlining workflows.
4. Call Routing and Call Handling: Customisation features allow you to create personalised call routing and handling options. You can define call flows, set up custom greetings, and create specific rules for call distribution. This customisation ensures that calls are routed to the right department or person, optimising call handling and improving customer experience.
5. Branding and Professional Image: A customisable phone system allows you to personalise greetings, on-hold messages, and voicemail prompts with your company’s branding and messaging. This helps create a professional image and reinforces your brand identity in every customer interaction. Customisation options ensure that your phone system reflects your business’s unique identity and values.
6. Adapting to Remote Work: With the rise of remote work, flexibility becomes even more critical. Customisable phone systems offer features like softphones, mobile apps, and virtual extensions, enabling employees to work from anywhere while staying connected to the business communication network. This flexibility promotes work-life balance, productivity, and employee satisfaction.

By prioritising a business phone system that offers customisation and flexibility, you gain the ability to tailor the system to your specific needs, scale your communication infrastructure, integrate with existing tools, optimise call handling, and maintain a professional image. These features empower your business to adapt to changing requirements, enhance efficiency, and provide exceptional communication experiences for both your team and your customers.

Integration with Productivity Tools

In today’s fast-paced business environment, maximising productivity is paramount for success. When selecting a business phone system, one crucial feature to consider is integration with productivity tools. Here’s why this feature is vital and how it can benefit your business:

1. Seamless Workflow: Integration with productivity tools allows for a seamless workflow by bringing together your phone system and essential business applications. Whether it’s project management software, team collaboration platforms, or task management tools, integration ensures that communication and productivity go hand in hand. Employees can access relevant information, collaborate efficiently, and stay organised without the need to switch between multiple systems.
2. Efficient Task Management: Integration enables easy synchronisation of tasks and appointments between your phone system and productivity tools. This streamlines scheduling and helps employees stay on top of their responsibilities. For example, they can schedule follow-up calls, set reminders, or create tasks directly from within the phone system, ensuring that important customer interactions are not overlooked.
3. Enhanced Communication: Integration with productivity tools provides enhanced communication capabilities. For instance, employees can initiate calls directly from within their preferred productivity application, eliminating the need to switch back and forth between different tools. This promotes efficient and effective communication, saving time and increasing productivity.
4. Real-Time Collaboration: By integrating your phone system with productivity tools, you enable real-time collaboration among team members. They can easily share information, documents, and updates, facilitating quick decision-making and problem-solving. This seamless collaboration leads to improved teamwork, increased efficiency, and better overall outcomes.
5. Data Consolidation and Analysis: Integration allows for data consolidation from various sources, including your phone system and productivity tools. This enables comprehensive data analysis, giving you valuable insights into communication patterns, customer interactions, and employee performance. With these insights, you can make data-driven decisions to optimise processes, identify areas for improvement, and enhance overall productivity.
6. Mobile Productivity: Integration with productivity tools extends the benefits of your phone system to mobile devices. Employees can access their productivity tools on the go, ensuring continuous connectivity and productivity even when away from their desks. This mobile productivity empowers remote workers and enhances flexibility, enabling your team to stay productive regardless of their location.

By choosing a business phone system that integrates with productivity tools, you unlock a range of advantages, including streamlined workflows, efficient task management, enhanced communication, real-time collaboration, data-driven insights, and mobile productivity. This integration empowers your team to work more efficiently, improve coordination, and ultimately achieve higher levels of productivity and success.

Call Recording and Voicemail Transcription

In today’s business landscape, effective communication and accurate record-keeping are essential for delivering exceptional customer service and ensuring regulatory compliance. When considering a business phone system, one critical feature to prioritise is call recording and voicemail transcription. Here’s why this feature is invaluable and how it can benefit your organisation:

1. Quality Assurance and Training: Call recording allows you to capture and review customer interactions for quality assurance purposes. Supervisors and managers can listen to recorded calls to assess customer service standards, identify areas for improvement, and provide targeted feedback to employees. Additionally, call recordings serve as valuable training resources, enabling new hires to learn from successful interactions and best practices. This is an invaluable tool to help you improve your small business phone calls.
2. Dispute Resolution and Compliance: Call recordings act as a reliable source of evidence in case of disputes or discrepancies. They provide a detailed account of customer conversations, ensuring accurate information exchange and reducing the risk of misunderstandings. Moreover, certain industries, such as finance and healthcare, have strict regulatory requirements regarding call recording and retention. By implementing this feature, your business can comply with industry regulations and maintain legal compliance.
3. Documentation and Information Retrieval: Call recordings serve as a comprehensive database of customer interactions, ensuring accurate documentation of conversations. This can be particularly beneficial when retrieving specific details, clarifying instructions, or addressing customer inquiries. Instead of relying on individual recollection, you can reference the recorded conversation, minimising errors and ensuring accurate information dissemination.
4. Training and Coaching Opportunities: Voicemail transcription enhances the efficiency of call handling and empowers employees to provide prompt responses. Transcribed voicemails enable quick scanning and assessment of caller needs, allowing your team to prioritise and respond accordingly. Additionally, supervisors can review voicemail transcriptions to provide coaching and guidance, ensuring consistent and effective communication with customers.
5. Knowledge Sharing and Collaboration: Call recordings and voicemail transcriptions can be shared among team members, promoting knowledge sharing and collaboration. Employees can learn from each other’s experiences, gain insights into successful customer interactions, and leverage best practices to enhance their own communication skills. This fosters a culture of continuous improvement and elevates the overall quality of customer service.
6. Legal and Liability Protection: Call recordings serve as a valuable resource in case of legal disputes or liability issues. They provide concrete evidence of the details discussed during customer interactions, protecting your business’s interests and reputation. This feature can be especially crucial for businesses operating in industries that are prone to legal challenges or customer claims.

By implementing a business phone system with call recording and voicemail transcription capabilities, you ensure accurate documentation, enhance quality assurance and training, comply with regulations, enable effective dispute resolution, facilitate knowledge sharing, and protect your organisation from legal and liability risks. These features contribute to improved customer service, streamlined operations, and ultimately, the success of your business.

Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity

In today’s interconnected and fast-paced business environment, disruptions can occur unexpectedly, posing significant challenges to organisations. To ensure the resilience and continuity of your business operations, it’s crucial to prioritise a business phone system that offers robust disaster recovery and business continuity features. Here’s why this feature is essential and how it can benefit your organisation:

1. Minimise Downtime: A business phone system with built-in disaster recovery capabilities helps minimise downtime during unforeseen events such as natural disasters, power outages, or network failures. It ensures that your phone system remains operational, allowing you to maintain communication with customers, partners, and employees, even during challenging circumstances. By swiftly recovering from disruptions, you can reduce the impact on your business operations and maintain productivity.
2. Redundancy and Failover: A reliable business phone system offers redundancy and failover mechanisms to ensure uninterrupted service. It typically includes redundant hardware, network connections, and backup systems that can automatically take over in the event of a failure. This redundancy helps prevent a single point of failure and ensures continuous availability of your phone system.
3. Data Protection and Backup: Disaster recovery and business continuity features encompass data protection and backup capabilities. A robust system regularly backs up critical call data, configurations, and settings to secure storage locations. This ensures that your data is protected and can be restored quickly in the event of a system failure or data loss. By safeguarding your business communications and information, you can maintain business continuity and minimise the risk of data loss.
4. Remote Access and Mobility: In times of disaster or business disruptions, it becomes crucial for employees to have the ability to work remotely and access essential communication tools. A business phone system with disaster recovery features often enables remote access, allowing employees to make and receive calls, access voicemail, and collaborate seamlessly from any location. This flexibility ensures that your team can continue to communicate and serve customers, regardless of their physical location.
5. Scalability and Flexibility: Disaster recovery and business continuity features are designed to accommodate business growth and changing needs. A scalable phone system can easily adapt to increasing call volumes, additional locations, or remote workforce expansion. This flexibility ensures that your communication infrastructure remains resilient and capable of supporting your business’s evolving requirements.
6. Disaster Preparedness Planning: A comprehensive disaster recovery and business continuity feature set is typically complemented by disaster preparedness planning resources. These resources help you assess potential risks, create contingency plans, and establish communication protocols in the event of a disaster. By proactively planning for contingencies, you can mitigate the impact of disruptions and maintain operational stability.

By investing in a business phone system with robust disaster recovery and business continuity features, you can ensure that your organisation is well-equipped to handle unexpected events. These features minimise downtime, provide redundancy and failover mechanisms, protect critical data, enable remote access, and support scalability. Ultimately, this ensures the continuity of your business operations, instils confidence in your customers, and positions your organisation for long-term success.

International Calling and Multilingual Support

In today’s globalised business landscape, organisations often need to communicate with partners, clients, and customers around the world. To facilitate seamless international communication and cater to a diverse customer base, it is essential to have a business phone system that offers robust international calling capabilities and multilingual support. Here’s why this feature is crucial and how it can benefit your business:

1. Expand Your Reach: International calling allows your business to connect with customers and partners in different countries, enabling you to expand your reach and tap into new markets. By having a phone system that supports international calling, you can easily make and receive calls to and from various locations, fostering global business relationships and opening up growth opportunities.
2. Cost Savings: A business phone system with international calling capabilities often offers competitive rates for international calls. Instead of relying on traditional phone lines, which can be expensive for long-distance or international calls, these systems leverage Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology to provide cost-effective communication solutions. This helps your business reduce communication costs and allocate resources more efficiently.
3. Multilingual Customer Support: Multilingual support is crucial for businesses operating in diverse markets or dealing with customers who speak different languages. A phone system with multilingual support enables you to provide customer service in multiple languages, ensuring effective communication and understanding. It allows your customers to interact with your business comfortably in their preferred language, enhancing customer satisfaction and building stronger relationships.
4. Language Routing and IVR: A business phone system with multilingual support often includes language routing and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) capabilities. Language routing directs incoming calls to agents who are proficient in specific languages, ensuring that customers are connected with representatives who can communicate effectively. IVR systems provide callers with menu options in different languages, allowing them to navigate through the system easily and reach the appropriate department or information.
5. Localisation and Cultural Sensitivity: International calling and multilingual support demonstrate your commitment to localisation and cultural sensitivity. By providing communication services that cater to local languages and customs, you can establish a strong presence in international markets and build trust with your global audience. It shows that your business values diversity, respects cultural differences, and is dedicated to meeting the unique needs of customers in various regions.
6. Compliance with Regulations: International calling may require compliance with specific regulations and laws governing telecommunications and data privacy. A business phone system that supports international calling is designed to meet these regulatory requirements, ensuring that your communication practices are in line with local regulations. This helps your business avoid legal issues and maintain compliance when conducting international business.

By incorporating international calling and multilingual support into your business phone system, you can effectively connect with a global audience, provide personalised customer experiences, and expand your reach in international markets. These features enable cost-effective communication, support multilingual customer service, offer language routing and IVR capabilities, demonstrate cultural sensitivity, and ensure compliance with regulations. Embracing the global nature of business communication enhances your competitiveness and positions your organisation for success in the interconnected world.

Choose the Best Business Phone System for Your Success

In today’s fast-paced business world, effective communication is the key to success. Selecting the right business phone system is crucial to ensure seamless communication, enhanced productivity, and exceptional customer experiences. With a myriad of options available, it can be overwhelming to make the best choice for your company.

In this blog post, we have explored the top features that your business phone system should have. We have discussed the importance of security to protect your business communications from prying eyes and hackers. We have delved into call management features that enable efficient handling of incoming calls and improve customer satisfaction. We have highlighted the significance of cost-effectiveness, mobility, call routing, CRM integration, and analytics and reporting capabilities.

Now armed with the knowledge of these essential features, you are well-equipped to make an informed decision that aligns with your business needs and objectives. However, we understand that navigating the sea of options can still be challenging.

That’s why we invite you to call SpringCom on 1300 857 194. Our team of experts is ready to assist you in choosing the best business phone system tailored to your specific requirements. Whether you need help with security measures, call management solutions, cost-effectiveness strategies, mobility options, call routing configurations, CRM integration, or analytics and reporting insights, we have you covered.

Don’t let the complexity of selecting a business phone system hold you back. Embrace the power of seamless communication, efficient collaboration, and exceptional customer service with the right phone system in place. Call SpringCom today at 1300 857 194, and let us guide you towards success in your communication endeavours.