The past few months have been difficult for many businesses across the South West – whether through a loss of trade during the lockdown or through the complexity of having staff members working remotely when they’ve previously always been in your office.

During this period, we’ve moved a number of businesses over to our VoIP solutions. The reason for this is that there are a significant number of benefits that make it the perfect solution for smaller businesses during this period of uncertainty. Here are just five ways your small business can benefit from a change to VoIP.

Lower your costs 

If you’re one of the many businesses that has suffered a loss in trade due to the Coronavirus then you’ll no doubt be looking to minimise expenditure. One of the things many people say to us when they look at their phone bill is that it seems expensive, but the hassle of moving means there’s no real alternative.

Moving phone system needn’t be a hassle or complicated – the move to VoIP can in fact be seamless. You’ll get your new handsets pre-configured, which means that once they’re plugged in they’re ready to go.

Savings of up to 80% on line rental and call charges also mean that the cost of the handsets is quickly outweighed by other savings in the short, medium and long term.

If you’re looking to reduce costs with no real downside then VoIP becomes something of a no-brainer.

Flexibility

There are three ways that VoIP can give you the flexibility that you need now and over the coming months:

a) Working from home

Having employees working from home can be disruptive if you’ve got a traditional phone system and you’re limited to call forwarding to a single phone (which usually comes at a cost each time you do it). VoIP phones can be taken from the office and plugged in anywhere in the world!

That means that when someone rings the office, all of the phones that are connected and plugged in at home ring. You can also transfer calls between the phones, allowing you to function just as you would if you were all in the office.

b) Increasing or lowering staff levels

 If you need to take tough decisions on staff levels, whether that’s adding them as demand grows over the next few months / years, or having to let people go, you can do so without large amounts of cost / investment.

If you recruit new team members, they’ll only need a number and a handset, meaning they can be quickly added to your team for a minimal outlay. Alternatively, if you let someone go then you’ll keep the handset and number for the future, again with minimal costs.

c) returning to work flexibly from furlough

With the furlough scheme entering a more flexible stage after July, many businesses are likely to take back employees on a flexible or part-time basis. VoIP gives you the freedom to have your phone plugged in as and when you want or need it to be, making it perfect for flexible working from home.

For more information on how we can support your business through the Coronavirus and recovery please give our experienced team a call on 01237 420010.