Old landlines may be disappearing, but voice calling isn’t going anywhere. There will always be a need to pick up the phone and connect with someone else in real time. You'd think after decades of use, we would have mastered the use of business phone systems, but you'd be wrong.
The following are four common problems your traditional phone system is probably causing you…all of which can be solved with one simple solution — managed voice.
Big Problems Managed Voice Can Fix
1. System Upgrades and Updates
The vast majority of business phone systems currently in use rely on software to one degree or another. Software is great, until it doesn't work properly. Many common software issues can be avoided by applying updates in a timely fashion, but keeping on top of them may be a significant drain on your IT department’s time — time that they don’t have to give.
If your department is already overwhelmed with providing help desk support and enabling remote work, for example, managed voice can take this endless series of chores off of their plate.
2. End-User Training
Modern handsets have made significant advancements since those rotary dials. Still, your employees can't be plunked down at a desk with a phone and left to their own devices. In order to properly manage features such as voicemail-to-email, voicemail-to-text and video conferencing, training is required. This again falls on the shoulders of your busy IT department, if you're lucky enough to have in-house staff.
Managed Voice providers typically provide all of the training and support your staff will need, and their platforms have been designed with end-user ease in mind.
3. Disruptions and Other Surprises
PBX systems can be finicky, and any failure in the system could prevent your company from connecting with its customers over the phone.
For managed voice providers, guaranteed uptime is part of their Service Level Agreement (SLA). It is in their best interests to detect problems and resolve them before they can affect your service. When an issue does have a negative impact on the service you receive, it is also in their best interests to provide you with excellent customer service and resolve the problem quickly.
4. System Reconfiguration
Whether your company deals with seasonal changes in demand, capacity growth, or simply faces office relocation on a one-time basis, adding new lines, handsets, or altering service can be a significant challenge for your IT staff.
With managed voice, all of these once time-consuming and complex tasks are made ridiculously easy with the help of a customer portal.
Finding the Right Managed Voice Provider
When VoIP technology arrived on the scene, a surge of startup telecommunications companies did too, looking to claim uncharted marketplace territory. There’s nothing wrong with that, but when you’re looking for a company that will be facilitating communication between your business and its customers, there’s something to be said for finding one that you know will still be around in five or ten years.
The nice thing about shopping for a managed voice provider is that everything you need to know should be included in their SLA. Check out our SLA for an example of what one should look like and what it should include.
Pay special attention to a carrier’s guaranteed uptime — that’s the amount of time this carrier guarantees that your phone systems will be working properly. 99.9% uptime sounds good, but over the course of a year, that means you could experience almost nine hours of total downtime with no recourse. 99.99% uptime reduces your possible downtime to just under an hour, and 99.999% uptime trims it down to just over five minutes.
Benefits of Marco’s Managed Voice
Marco has been around since 1973, and we’ve carefully designed our managed voice solution to give your business exactly what it needs in a phone system at a price you can afford.
Our Managed Voice offering includes:
- Custom equipment selection
- Worry-free installation from trained pros
- On and offsite support
- Guaranteed renewal options for upgrading equipment
- Free software upgrades monitored and installed by us
- Free web-based training for current, new, and temporary employees
- Full-service warranties
- Guaranteed rates for expansion
- Risk-of-loss coverage to help you control costs
No two organizations are alike, and if you’re considering managed voice, or another business phone solution, it can be a difficult topic to research online. If you want to run some of your thoughts by a real human being, we’re here for that! Our phone specialists will get to know your organization and its goals so they can steer you in the right direction.
