Office Phone Systems In Vancouver: Choosing A Provider

Office phone systems have become considerably more complex. Advanced call handling, desktop and mobile apps, integrations into CRM and ticketing systems. Which provider is right for you depends on how much of that your business actually needs, and that is worth working out before you start taking sales calls.

These four steps are the ones we walk Vancouver businesses through, in this order.

Step 1: Describe the system you actually want

Start from nothing. Set aside what you assume a business phone system can and cannot do, and describe what would genuinely help. In a perfect world, does it answer itself? Does it reach you when you are not in the building? Does it handle the ten questions customers ask most?

Most of what people describe turns out to be available:

• Cross-promotion on hold

  The greeting introduces callers to services they did not know you offered.

• Calls that follow you

  Unanswered calls route to your mobile wherever you are, and the caller never knows the difference.

• Voicemail in your inbox

  Messages arrive as email, so anyone on the team can review and respond without dialling in.

• CRM integration

  The customer record opens on screen as the call comes in.

Step 2: Desk phones, apps, or both

This is the question that changed with remote work. A virtual extension turns a computer or mobile into the phone, with no hardware on the desk at all.

Plenty of our customers have dropped physical handsets entirely. Their staff use headsets and dial from the keyboard, and the software includes things a desk phone cannot do: internal chat and file sharing, presence indicators showing who is on a call, and the ability to work from anywhere with a connection.

Others are not ready to give up a handset with real buttons, a speakerphone and a display, and there is nothing wrong with that. Most businesses end up with a mix. What matters is deciding deliberately rather than accepting whatever the provider ships by default.

Step 3: Do you want an auto attendant?

Business owners often worry that a greeting will cost them the personal touch their customers value. It is a reasonable fear, and the answer depends entirely on how the greeting is built.

Nobody minds a simple greeting that gets them to the right person quickly and tells them whether the office is open. What people hate is the multi-layered menu that routes them into a twenty minute hold, which is what their internet provider does to them. Those are two different things and customers can tell the difference immediately.

Done well, a greeting frees your team from playing receptionist all day, gives every caller the same consistent introduction to your brand, and can promote services to everyone who calls. Our guide to writing a greeting covers the structure and includes sample scripts.

Step 4: Decide what support you actually want

This is the biggest factor and the one most people leave until last. Will your provider ship a box of phones and wish you luck? Do you want someone on site? Would you rather have a self-service portal and manage the system yourself?

There is no universally right answer. Some providers support customers remotely and do it well, with excellent portals and fast response. We work differently. We arrive with your phones, coordinate with your IT provider, train your team, and then give you one-to-one support for as long as you are with us. We are not the most automated option available, and for businesses that want a self-service portal above all else we are probably not the right fit.

If you would rather have a person who knows your setup, that is the trade we make. Our plans and features are public, so you can compare before you speak to anyone.