What to consider when getting business phones for your company
Offices are starting to embrace hybrid and remote working more and more, increasing the demand for flexible, business phone solutions. However, even for in-office employees, a reliable business phone is essential to meet customers’ availability demands while ensuring productivity and team connectivity.
So, let’s take a deeper look at business phones and how to choose the best ones for your business. This is what we’re going to cover today:
Before we take a look at some of the best VoIP phones for your office, let’s explore the different types of business phone systems.
Let’s compare the two phone systems in more detail to help give you a better idea of their differences.
| On-premise | VoIP-based |
|---|---|
| High upfront costs: You need to purchase all of the software and hardware as well as pay for installation, and wiring | Low upfront costs: No expensive hardware or installation required since all infrastructure is handled by the VoIP provider |
| High running costs: This is due to maintenance, upgrades, and overheads being shouldered by the business owners | Low running costs: VoIP providers use subscription-based models that usually include maintenance and security in the price |
| Difficult to scale: Adding new users mean acquiring and installing new equipment and hardware | Scalable: Easy to add new users as your company grows |
| Inflexible: Usually limited to desk phones within the company premises only | Flexible: Multi-device support, accessible anywhere as long as the device is connected to the internet |
Different types of VoIP phones suit different business needs. While your VoIP service provider is primarily responsible for the operational functionalities of your VoIP phone system, the hardware you use plays a key role in the overall effectiveness of your business communications system.
The different types of VoIP phones are:
No two companies will have the same business telephone budgets or requirements. Needs will vary across departments, teams, and employees. 8x8 can provide you with business phones from some of the industry's leading providers.
Here are some of the best VoIP phones for small businesses right now.
Corded phones are irreplaceable in office and call center environments. Here at 8x8, we offer a range of Cisco and Poly desk phones to suit different business sizes.
The Poly VVX 350 is an affordable, entry-level phone and a reliable starting point for small-to-medium business call center workers who require a no-frills solution. Its user-friendly interface, customizability, and HD call quality make it an efficiency-boosting phone for those in charge of handling small to moderate call volumes.
Highlights and features:
Designed for small-to-large enterprises, the Cisco 8851 is a secure, adaptable solution that is committed to offering an enhanced user experience. Along with wideband audio, echo cancellation, and cell phone integration, Cisco 8851 presents businesses with flexible deployment options for process optimization. Highlights and features:
The Poly VVX 450 is a superior phone solution for small businesses, equipped with world-class technologies and features to support the needs of office workers, execs, and management alike:
Our selection of conference phones use patented technologies to deliver optimal coverage and clear, rich audio experiences. For example, the Poly Trio 8300 uses Poly NoiseBlock technology to prevent distracting background sounds from impacting the quality of your conference call.
It also has:
Desk phones are invaluable, but they aren’t always practical. For the times you need to leave your desk during a call, cordless phones are a cost-effective solution.
The Poly VVX D230 is a credit to office environments. As an expandable cordless phone solution, it increases your in-office mobility and productivity while supplying crisp, interruption-free audio. Some of the highlights of the Poly VVX D230 include:
VoIP headsets are the ultimate mobility devices, offering hands-free phone operation to telephone-intensive users. If you regularly travel between locations or work in a lively, open-plan office, investing in noise-canceling, high-fidelity headsets will keep your conversations crystal-clear and distraction-free.
With a wireless range up to 580 feet/175 meters, Poly Savi headsets are designed to amplify your mobility while delivering convenience to your communications. They boast 13 hours of talk time on a single charge (or unlimited talk time with a hot-swappable battery), as well as one-touch call controls, and multi-device flexibility across your desk phone, mobile phone, and PC.
And of course, DECT 6.0 audio ensures an enterprise-quality audio experience.
Whether you want a wired mono or stereo headset, or a wireless headset with its own charging station, Jabra Evolve headsets have you covered. All models come with a busy light, handy when signaling to your colleagues that you’re on a call, as well as an adjustable headband and noise-canceling capabilities for extra comfort and convenience.
While on the subject of convenience, the Jabra Evolve 75 (the wireless headset), gives you 18 hours of single-charge talk time and allows you to connect two Bluetooth devices simultaneously.
The full functionality of your VoIP device is reliant on the services of your business phone service provider. All VoIP phones should be able to perform basic call management and PBX features like transfer, speakerphone, call recording, mute, and hold, along with plenty of other features that you want in an office phone system.
A staple of any business phone system, an automated attendant is essentially a digital answering system that greets and routes callers to the right department using touch-tone technology. Auto attendants are extensively customizable, with the ability for you to add extension dialing and routing, custom greetings, and more.
Integrating your business phone system with your other business software - most critically your CRM system - eliminates data silos to provide agents with easy access to information while they’re on a call.
Screen pop is a feature that automatically pulls stored customer data from the CRM and displays it on your agent’s screen while the call is still ringing.
One of the huge benefits of VoIP is that the service allows you to make and receive calls on any of your devices while using the same phone number. If you’re away from your desk phone, multi-device support features ensure that you can still stay connected via:
Call logs record your incoming and outgoing call information. They play a vital role in tracking your KPIs and improving your workflows while giving you the data-driven insights you need to continuously refine the customer experience.
Call logs provide information such as:
Away from your desk phone? Find me/follow me is a customizable feature that uses predetermined call transfer rules to automatically redirect calls from your desk phone to any of your other devices. For example, you could configure it to route all of your incoming calls to all of your devices at once, sequentially, or according to a preset schedule.
Even the very best VoIP hardware needs a powerful business phone system behind it. 8x8’s cloud-based phone system can elevate your communication and collaboration effectiveness with advanced features like:
Why not schedule a meeting with one of our friendly experts to see what 8x8 can do for you.
Rather than using copper wires like the traditional telephony system, VoIP phone services use packet-switching technology to convert audio signals into data packets. These data packets are then sent over the internet.
Regardless of how small your small business is, relying on single-line phones is a bad idea. Multi-line phones enable you to manage two or more calls simultaneously. Phones with 6+ lines are essential for medium-to-large businesses or call centers, but two or four-line phones might suit smaller collaborative teams, restaurants, or home offices.
The cost of IP phones and headsets vary significantly by provider and individual phone functions. For a more accurate insight into how much an office phone might cost you, feel free to request a quote today.