There are thousands and thousands of office phone providers, especially in the United States. No one knows this better than people looking for a new office phone system. It can be quite a tiresome process: researching all the offerings, wading through endless reviews, and cataloging pros and cons. This is why we’ve done a lot of the leg work for you! Below are seven of the best office phone system features you should look for when selecting a system for your business.
1. Office Phone System Features: Virtual Receptionist
If you’ve ever heard the words “press one for…” you’ve dealt with a virtual receptionist, a feature that should come standard in every office phone system. It’s an automated menu that directs callers to the person they’re trying to reach. It can be set up quickly and easily using an online portal, and the greetings and menu options are fully customizable – giving you the power to update the options any time you need to.
2. Find-Me/Follow-Me
This office phone system feature is quite important for remote and hybrid teams. At its core, find-me/follow-me is a combination of two features: call routing and call forwarding. Find-me services allow calls to “chase” you down a specified list of numbers. For instance, if you get a call on your office phone but you’re out at a trade show, that call will be forwarded to the next number you listed.
On the other hand, follow-me services allow calls from multiple numbers to be routed to a single phone or answering service. This is particularly helpful for smaller businesses that have limited staff covering multiple roles.
3. Audio & Video Conferencing Capabilities
Being able to add multiple participants to one call is a must-have for any office phone system feature set. Whether it’s over the phone or via video call, connecting your employees with one another in this way allows for more effective collaboration. Does a customer need additional clarity about a product?
Your sales team members can include a technological expert by just pressing a button. Wondering about the pricing on a particular offering? Bring a financial officer into the conversation in a matter of seconds. Conferencing is an essential office phone system feature for sales teams, IT teams, and anyone else who needs to effectively collaborate with their team members.
4. Managed Caller ID
With the increase in spam and robocalling, consumers are less likely to answer calls than ever. Especially if the call is from an unknown number. If you’re trying to reach out to your customers and aren’t getting a response, odds are it’s because you haven’t assigned caller ID to your numbers. Many office phone systems allow you to edit the caller ID (or CNAM) on your corporate numbers.
This means you can display your company name on your customer’s phone when calling from a main business line or display the name of an employee when that employee is calling. Caller ID is crucial to connecting effectively with customers.
5. Business Softphone Support
With Find-Me/Follow-Me, you can route calls to your mobile devices. But with a business softphone, your mobile device (and even your desktop) can become your office phone system. A softphone is an application that can be installed on multiple devices and allows you to make and receive calls as if you were on your office phone.
Some softphones even allow you to manage your voicemail settings and chat with co-workers straight from the app! If you’re looking for seamless communication, no matter where you are in the world, be sure the office phone system you select has support for softphones.
6. Software Integration Capabilities
One particularly useful office phone system feature is the ability to integrate your communications solution with other types of software. Not only does it streamline internal processes, but it also alleviates a lot of duplicative work for your employees.
For example, if your office phone system integrates with your CRM solution, your sales team can make and take calls directly from the CRM without having to switch applications. They can also automatically log their calls within the CRM, instead of transcribing them manually. This is a time-saving office phone system feature if ever there was one.
7. Contact Center Module
A contact center module is a group of office phone system features that are particularly helpful to your customer support teams. Customer support teams must handle high volumes of calls and route callers accurately and efficiently, all while providing personalized service.
They can do this when their office phone system features allow them to receive unlimited concurrent calls, customize hold messaging, program call efficient routes, quickly forward calls to the right place, and much more. If you want to provide excellent care for your customers, be sure you pick a solution that comes with contact center features already built into it.
Robust Office Phone System Features in One Offering
We know that not all businesses have identical needs. That’s why the team at ACI has developed a virtual PBX with an extensive feature library that allows you to pick and choose which ones to implement without incurring additional fees.
Want to see for yourself? Schedule your free demonstration with our team today!
