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Basic Business Phone System Features

Business phones come in all shapes and sizes, and even small, home-based businesses will often employ a separate, dedicated business line with features above and beyond what is available on a standard home line. With the availability of VoIP, IP PBX and hosted PBX technologies, today it is much easier for even a small business to enjoy high-end telephony features.

A primary goal of any business is to keep the amount of time customers are on hold to a minimum. Nonetheless, the "hold" button still gets heavy use in any office, and it has become standard practice to play music, or even a company advertisement, while the caller is on hold. The MOH (Music On Hold) function is therefore very important to every business. This is available directly through the PBX system, which will typically have a port to allow a continuous feed from an external music source, such as a radio or CD player. When using the MOH feature however, avoid playing standard pre-recorded audio CDs due to copyright liability. There are several ready-made, licensed and copyright-legal music sources available, as well as separate MOH devices with embedded music already built in, ready to integrate with your PBX. The hold function may also be integrated with a periodic outgoing message, which interrupts the recorded music to reinforce the message that a conversation with a live attendant is imminent.

Additional Free Business Features

The auto attendant is another highly useful function that has virtually replaced the need for the front desk receptionist. Integrated with the PBX, the auto attendant greets the caller with an automated voice, and then allows them to either speak voice commands or enter touchtone commands to reach their destination.

Some other important features to incorporate into your business VoIP system is the ability to incorporate accounting codes, so that calls from certain branches are automatically allocated to different accounting codes. Also, the Internet fax function has become quite valuable. Business VoIP systems often incorporate Internet fax facilities, which allow you to send or receive a fax straight from the computer, and eliminate the need for free-standing fax machines.

Businesses of any size will also want to incorporate conference calling features, which is again available as a standard feature on most business VoIP offerings. The conference feature allows for conference calls to be set up between multiple parties in remote locations, typically setting up a separate line to which each party calls in.

Business VoIP technology has advanced significantly, and now allows every business to enjoy high-end features for very low cost. These and other business VoIP features will enhance the reputation and appearance of the business, streamline operations and improve communications, and will ultimately deliver a strong ROI in a short period of time as it delivers the advantage of low start-up cost, advanced features geared towards delivering better customer service, and improved sales by delivering increased levels of efficiency to the customer call center.

Business VoIP Quotes

Businesses are saving up to 80% on their monthly phone bills by switching to a VoIP phone service. Receive FREE, no obligation, VoIP quotes by completing the short form below. This quote form should take less than 1 minute to complete. Alternatively select a Business VoIP service from our most popular provider table below.