A modern cloud phone system can do far more than simply make and receive calls. Yet many businesses invest in cloud telephony without taking advantage of all the cloud phone system features available to them.
From intelligent call routing and mobile apps to call recording, reporting and business continuity, the right cloud phone system can help your team communicate more effectively while giving customers a better experience.
For businesses with hybrid teams, multiple locations or employees regularly working away from the office, these cloud phone system features can be particularly valuable.
At Digicomm 360, Digivoice gives businesses a flexible cloud-based telephone system designed around the way modern organisations actually work.
So, are you getting everything you could from your business phone system?
Here are seven cloud phone system features that could transform the way your business communicates.
1. Cloud Phone System Features for Intelligent Call Routing
What happens when someone calls your business?
With a traditional telephone setup, the answer might simply be that one particular telephone rings. If nobody answers it, the customer could be left waiting or eventually reach voicemail.
A cloud phone system provides much greater control over how incoming calls are handled.
Call routing allows calls to be directed according to rules set by your business. A call might ring several employees simultaneously, move from one person to another or be directed to a particular team.
Hunt groups can be especially useful for departments such as:
- Sales
- Customer service
- Accounts
- Technical support
- Reception
Instead of relying on one employee being available, calls can be distributed between appropriate members of the team.
This can help reduce missed calls and waiting times while making it easier for customers to reach someone who can actually help them.
If you’re still using a traditional telephone setup, our guide to the benefits of cloud telephony for business explains why more organisations are moving their communications to the cloud.
2. Mobile and Desktop Cloud Phone System Features
Business no longer happens exclusively at a desk.
Employees may work from home, visit customers, travel between locations or simply spend part of their day away from their office telephone.
A cloud phone system can allow users to access their business telephone service through applications on compatible devices, such as computers and smartphones.
That means your business number doesn’t necessarily have to be tied to one physical telephone sitting on one particular desk.
Employees can remain connected while working from different locations and continue to present a professional business identity when communicating with customers.
This can be particularly valuable for hybrid and remote working teams.
It can also help avoid situations where employees feel they need to give customers their personal mobile numbers simply because they’re working away from the office.
The result is greater flexibility for your employees without losing control of your business communications.
3. Call Recording for Training and Customer Service
Call recording is another powerful cloud phone system feature that many businesses can benefit from.
Depending on your organisation and how recording is configured and managed, recorded calls can support areas such as employee training, customer service and quality assurance.
For example, managers may be able to review conversations to understand how enquiries are being handled.
Recordings could help identify:
- Training opportunities
- Common customer questions
- Successful sales techniques
- Areas where processes could improve
- Customer service issues
- Misunderstandings about previous conversations
Call recording can also provide useful context when a customer queries what was discussed during a previous telephone conversation.
However, businesses should consider their legal and data protection responsibilities when recording calls, including why calls are being recorded, how recordings are stored and who has access to them.
We’ve explored the subject in more detail in our guide to business call recording and its benefits.
4. Voicemail to Email Helps You Manage Missed Calls
Voicemail is useful, but traditional voicemail systems aren’t always particularly convenient.
Someone may need to remember to dial into a mailbox, enter a PIN and listen through several messages before finding the one they need.
Cloud telephony can make voicemail much easier to manage.
With voicemail-to-email functionality, voicemail notifications or recordings can be delivered to an email inbox, depending on the configuration of the system.
That means employees can manage messages alongside their other communications rather than repeatedly checking a separate voicemail service.
It can be particularly helpful when staff are:
- Working remotely
- Away from their desk
- Travelling
- Moving between customer sites
- Managing multiple responsibilities
The important thing is that a missed telephone call doesn’t have to become a missed business opportunity.
5. Cloud Phone System Reporting and Analytics
Do you know how many calls your business receives?
What about your busiest times of day?
How many calls go unanswered?
How long are customers typically waiting?
Without reporting, it can be difficult to know whether your telephone system is genuinely supporting your business effectively.
One of the most useful cloud phone system features is access to information about call activity.
Call reporting can help businesses better understand how customers are contacting them and how their teams are responding.
For example, you may discover that a significant number of calls arrive first thing on Monday morning, but you don’t have enough people available to answer them.
Perhaps calls regularly go unanswered during lunch.
Or you might discover that one department receives significantly more calls than expected.
Information like this can help managers make better decisions about staffing, call routing and customer service.
Instead of guessing what’s happening on your telephone system, reporting can give you information you can actually use.
6. Auto Attendants Can Direct Customers to the Right Team
You’ve probably encountered an auto attendant yourself.
It’s the system that greets callers and provides options such as:
“Press 1 for sales, press 2 for accounts or press 3 for support.”
For the right organisation, an auto attendant can make call handling much more efficient.
Instead of every call reaching reception before being manually transferred, callers can select the department they need.
That can reduce unnecessary transfers while helping customers reach the appropriate team more quickly.
It can also help businesses create a more professional and consistent experience.
Combined with professionally recorded greetings and music on hold for business, your telephone system becomes part of the overall customer experience rather than simply a way of answering calls.
The key is keeping the journey straightforward.
Customers generally want to reach the right person quickly, so menus should be clear and designed around genuine customer needs rather than creating endless layers of options.
7. Business Continuity and Call Diversion Features
What happens to your telephone system if nobody can get into the office?
It could be bad weather, a power problem, an internet issue at one location or simply an unexpected situation that means employees need to work elsewhere.
With traditional telephone infrastructure, disruption at your premises could potentially mean disruption to your calls.
Cloud telephony provides businesses with much greater flexibility.
Calls can potentially be redirected to alternative users, locations or mobile devices according to your configuration.
That means your telephone system can become part of your wider business continuity planning.
It is also valuable during more routine situations.
If someone is on holiday, working remotely or away from their desk, calls can be managed differently rather than simply ringing an unanswered extension.
For customers, the important thing is that your business remains contactable.
For employees, it means communication isn’t necessarily dependent on being physically present next to a particular telephone.
Which Cloud Phone System Features Does Your Business Need?
Moving from traditional telephony to a cloud phone system is only the beginning.
The real value comes from choosing and configuring the cloud phone system features that suit the way your business operates.
Think about your current telephone setup.
Are customers regularly struggling to reach the right person?
Are employees giving out personal mobile numbers when working remotely?
Do you know how many calls your business misses?
Can employees easily access voicemail when they’re away from the office?
Could your telephone system continue operating effectively if your team suddenly had to work elsewhere?
If the answer to some of those questions is no, you may not be getting everything you could from your business communications.
Our guide to cloud telephony for UK businesses provides more information about how moving telephone services to the cloud can support a modern organisation.
Why Choose Digivoice From Digicomm 360?
Every business communicates differently.
A small professional services company may need a straightforward system that allows a handful of employees to work flexibly. A larger organisation may require multiple departments, sophisticated call routing, reporting and support across several locations.
That’s why choosing a business telephone system shouldn’t simply be about buying a collection of handsets.
It should start with understanding how your organisation communicates.
With Digivoice from Digicomm 360, we can help you create a cloud telephone solution around your business, your employees and your customers.
We can help you identify which cloud phone system features will genuinely benefit your organisation rather than providing technology you never use.
And as your organisation changes, cloud communications provide the flexibility to adapt with it.
Ready to Get More From Your Business Phone System?
Your telephone system should do more than ring.
With features including intelligent call routing, mobile working, call recording, voicemail to email, reporting, auto attendants and flexible call diversion, a modern cloud phone system can become an important part of how your business operates.
Whether you’re still using traditional telephone lines or already have cloud telephony but aren’t making full use of its features, Digicomm 360 can help.
Talk to the Digicomm 360 team about Digivoice and discover which cloud phone system features could transform your business communications.
Further Reading
Want to learn more about improving your business communications?
- Cloud Telephony UK: What Businesses Need to Know – discover how cloud-based telephone systems work and why UK businesses are making the switch.
- Benefits of Cloud Telephony for Business – explore the wider flexibility, scalability and communication benefits of moving your telephone system to the cloud.
- Business Call Recording Benefits – find out how call recording can support customer service, training and business operations.
