Unlocking Efficiency: The Power of Enterprise Voice Solutions

Enterprise voice is a modern business essential, a term used to describe a comprehensive suite of communication solutions consolidated into a single user-friendly interface. The tools integrated into that interface are the key to optimizing workplace productivity and unlocking efficiency. According to the career experts at Zippia, efficient and effective communication can increase workplace productivity by as much as 25%.

With the right set of enterprise communication features for your business, you’ll have everything you need to support collaboration, streamline your workflow, and ensure optimal internal and external communication. Chances are your business could benefit from a voice solution with nearly unlimited scalability, flexibility, and reliability. Find out by taking a few minutes to explore what enterprise voice is, how it works, and which of its many advanced features could help unlock efficiency for your organization.

Communication Overview: A Brief Comparison of Enterprise Voice Technologies

The term enterprise voice has been used for decades to differentiate between the technology used to transmit speech from other types of business communications, such as digital solutions like email, text messaging, SMS, and chatbots. 

By that definition, your legacy business phone is technically an enterprise voice system. But its features are most likely rather limited, at least by today’s standards. Most often, legacy business phones connected through a landline can mute, place calls on hold, and transfer callers between departments, but that’s about it.

Cloud-hosted enterprise voice solutions, on the other hand, provide those capabilities and more. You’ll have far more control over your business communication costs and multiple features designed to help optimize workplace efficiency. Instead of having your incoming and outbound calls routed through a bundle of copper wires, Session-Initiated Protocol (SIP) and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technologies convert analog voice signals to digital packets transmitted over the Internet.

Beyond the Basics: Exploring the Power of Cloud-Hosted Enterprise Voice Features  

With live chat, video conferencing, and automated messaging services dominating the workplace, many business owners are paying for multiple applications and subscription services to keep their workforce connected. 

Although these initial workarounds effectively supported remote and hybrid workers with digital communication solutions, decision-makers are now seeing the impact of managing workplace communication with disparate technologies firsthand. The more fragmented the solutions, the faster efficiency and workplace productivity decline.

Related: Empowering Communication: Unleashing the Potential of Enterprise Voice in Microsoft Teams

For companies looking for a cost-effective way to bridge the disconnect between legacy phone service and advanced digital solutions, enterprise voice solutions have a lot to offer. As you weigh the benefits of streamlining internal and external communication, take into consideration how powerful the following advantages of enterprise voice could be for your business.

Unified Communication Capabilities

Not only is unified communication a game-changer for businesses of all sizes, but it’s also a critical component to success in today’s landscape. Once your voice services are migrated to the cloud, your entire workforce will have everything they need for efficient, effective communication. 

All of this—video conferencing, business SMS, desktop sharing, and more—is accessible on a single user-friendly dashboard from nearly any internet-capable device. That unification allows your team members to send a message on one medium and have that communication received on another. Data syncing and real-time collaboration become the norm, boosting productivity and ensuring your employees are all on the same page.

Advanced Call Routing And Management

Also known as an automated call distribution system (ACD), advanced call routing automates the distribution of incoming calls based on the number dialed, time of day, caller location, or any other predetermined criteria selected by management. It’s a simple process that leads to major benefits. First, the incoming call goes to an interactive voice response tool (IVR). The caller answers a series of questions. Finally, an automatic call distributor directs that call to the most appropriate extension based on the caller’s response. Automated call routing results in the following benefits:

• Boosts efficiency by reducing customer wait times
• Optimizes resource allocation
• Creates a more balanced distribution of call volume

Enhanced Collaboration Tools

The enhanced collaboration tools available with enterprise voice solutions can streamline workflows while also improving communication efficiency within your enterprise. Take Microsoft Teams for example. Integrating voice into Teams augments its chat, collaboration, and video conferencing features as end users schedule and join meetings directly from their Outlook calendar.

With Teams compatibility, multiple users can also work on the same documents with co-authoring features using Microsoft Office software and OneDrive. Enterprise voice further augments Teams’ core features with robust voice capabilities. Business platforms managed by Microsoft-approved service providers help businesses across multiple industries customize the technology to accommodate their unique needs.

Mobile Accessibility

Enterprise voice is just as accessible for hybrid and mobile workers as for employees working in the office. It’s a simple matter of having your team members install your enterprise voice app on their smartphones or tablets. Once enabled, their mobile device can make and receive business calls from nearly any location. 

They’ll also have access to the complete range of enterprise voice features installed on your interface. Having enterprise voice installed on a smartphone gives the appearance of all calls being made from a single location, a benefit that protects worker privacy and maintains the professional image of your business.

Overall Flexibility

Enterprise voice solutions paired with unified communication features make it easy for users to switch seamlessly between multiple modes of communication without having to log in or out of each application. But that’s not the only area of flexibility that unlocks business efficiency. When the service provider you select has a platform based on a standard API, you’ll also gain the ability to integrate familiar third-party software into your dashboard.

The flexibility of enterprise voice allows you to control your communication costs right from the interface. You can scale up or dial down the number of active users on your account as needed or modify the services in your subscription to accommodate seasonal business fluctuations. Your teams will appreciate having a central location for customer relationship management (CRM) tools, data analytics software, and workflow solutions.  

System Security And Reliability

With enterprise voice, business owners can count on exceptional call quality, system security, and service reliability. Experienced business communication service providers go to great lengths to ensure calls are private, sensitive information encrypted, and their services secure. They achieve those goals by implementing the latest encryption technology and assessment tools designed to detect and deter fraudulent activity.

Geo-redundancy minimizes the risk of service interruptions by dividing the platform’s data centers across multiple locations. If a server goes down for any reason, communication is routed through another. If internet service is disrupted, incoming calls are easily redirected to an alternate number.

Add-On-Capabilities

Enterprise voice is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Every business is unique. With the right provider, you’ll have access to everything you need for optimal efficiency, including service add-ons. If your company is experiencing rapid growth, you may want to consider investing in call center support, for example. 

Virtual call centers provide the advantage of having in-house receptionists or customer service representatives without needing to hire additional staff. Call center reps can book appointments, provide customer support, and make sales calls. Other possible add-ons include anything from fax service to bundled internet service.

Enterprise Voice Unlocks Efficiency And Reduces Communication Costs Without Expensive Upgrades

When your business pays a fixed rate for each legacy phone line assigned to your company, plus the cost of the various digital solutions you need to supplement your phone service, the expenses add up. Once you’ve factored in the amount of time your IT department devotes to troubleshooting, diagnosing, repairing, and updating aging connections and hardware, you’ve probably seen a considerable increase in your communication costs.

Related: Your Guide to Enterprise Voice Solutions

Enterprise voice is far more cost-effective. You’ll pay only for the services that make sense for your business: the solutions you need when you need them. You’ll also be spared the expense of maintaining a private branch exchange (PBX) in-house. 

In addition, you won’t need to invest in expensive hardware upgrades to take advantage of everything enterprise voice has to offer. Most companies can continue to use their legacy phone system. If your system isn’t compatible with the technology (most are), all you’ll need is an inexpensive adaptor to accommodate the upgrade.

Are You Ready to Unlock Efficiency with the Power of Enterprise Voice Solutions?

With live chat, video conferencing, business SMS, and automated messaging services dominating today’s work-from-anywhere landscape, far too many business owners are seeing an increase in their communication costs and a decrease in productivity. If your business could benefit from the many advantages of having cost-effective business communication solutions designed to maximize workplace efficiency, visit BCM One.

At BCM One, we work with mid-sized, multi-site organizations to develop secure, compliant, cost-effective communication solutions. We also offer world-class customer service and support. When you’re ready to unlock efficiency with the power of our enterprise voice solutions, contact us and learn more.