5 Simple Things to Think About When Considering VoIP Phone Services

5 simple things to think about when considering voip phone services
VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol

Thinking about replacing your old phone system with VoIP phone services?

Many companies large and small have, and none have regretted it! Cost-overheads are usually significantly less, it’s simple to tack on additional phone lines and customization through software instead of having to have new equipment installed for every new feature.

But before you go on a shopping spree, here are five simple things to think about that will save you a world of headache:

Know What You Want

 Nobody knows your business like you do, so nobody is more qualified to know what you will need. Do you just need to be able to make phone calls from a few desks while your company grows? Do you have an army of desktops, laptops, etc. with a need for an on-site server to route hundreds of calls to the right destinations? With a little research and asking questions you can learn which options will be best for your team, and which will give you the services you need.

Is Your Network Up To It?

Most internet connections that are called “high speed” are easily up to the task of handling VoIP services. If your system is not up to par for VoIP, it may be necessary to make some upgrades to handle the amount of data VoIP services call for.

What Features Do You Want?

Business phone systems offer a lot of options, and you don’t want to miss out on that one feature that could make the difference between boom or bust. Research your options carefully so you don’t buy something you don’t need and you don’t miss an option that could turn out to be a real productivity multiplier.

Check Out Reviews

Many sites offer reviews of companies and their track records of service. You should read these reviews and decide their merits. While some people are never satisfied, a good review site will post positive as well as negative comments, and some will even have areas of feedback for the company in question. Check multiple sites and see what others have to say.

Know What You Want To Pay

It can be time consuming to go to company after company and ask for quotes from each one. The good news is that some sites have price comparison features that can save your fingers a lot of walking. Pricing structures can vary, so think about what the plans will cost you.

Pricing by the minute may be fine for a company that sees little telephone traffic in the course of its business, but a company that has heavy telephone traffic may benefit from monthly pricing.

Armed with these 5 simple considerations, you should now be able to begin your search for the VoIP services that are right for you. Contact us  get started finding the solution that fits your needs!

What is CRM Integration and What Are It’s Benefits?

what is crm integration and what are it benefits
customer-relationship-management

The whole point of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software, is to keep all of your customer’s information organized so that you have no problem keeping track of it, while also managing customer activities and conversations.

This lends a helping hand, specifically, to the customer service, marketing and sales teams because with the information collected, they can better understand the wants and needs of your customers. Each day many businesses waste valuable time and effort, simply searching for information. That’s time that could be spent working on more important aspects of your business.

CRM Integration, simply speaks to a consolidation of all your company’s information into one centralized database, but ultimately means you’re not relying on an in-house data structure to carry out day-to-day tasks.

This way, you and your team can get any necessary work done, come rain or shine; while you’re in the office or out. As a bonus, integrating your website & marketing software means that your customer’s information goes right to your CRM.

Take for example, if a potential customer were to download a white paper or some type of informational guide from your website. If your maketing software is automated & integrated with your CRM, then a new log, or record, will be created of when the customer visited your website last; what pages the customer looked at; what information they requested and so on.

This log will then be sent to a sales rep for a follow up on that potential customer. Giving your sales team the best leg up in terms of converting a potential customer into a paying customer.

Lets consider some other benefits that CRM integration can offer your business:

  • It can improve communication & customer retention.
  • It can Enhance customer prospect tracking.
  • Makes it possible to deliver more targeted marketing, with higher quality leads.
  • More efficient workflow and customer processing.
  • You’ll save valuable time and effort because all needed information is at your fingertips.

Whether big or small, all businesses can reap the rewards of CRM integration. Giving them an invaluable edge as the need for organization increases.

You need a partner that ensures your success, not a run of the mill computer guy or IT Company benefiting from your problems.

4 Corner IT is the next level for your company, let us show you the why and how. Contact us to request a call or an appointment with one of our IT experts.

How Important is CRM Integration?

how important is crm integration

When you operate a business, building and maintaining a relationship with your clientele is crucial. In today’s business environment, the key to success is forging long-term relationships.

It is becoming more and more difficult for a company to differentiate by the product or services provided, and therefore, a company’s main differentiating factor must focus on customer support, and the customer experience.

CRM is the best and most efficient way for a company to realize and understand the potential of their existing and hopeful customers.

Consistently tracking, organizing, and maintaining customer information, ensures that you are up-to-date with the current and future needs of your clients. Customer relationship management is also very important when determining your companies future plans and product road map.

So, what exactly is CRM integration?

IT brings together your website and CRM to function together seamlessly. While your CRM maintains customer information and leads through manual entries, CRM integration allows you to obtain new leads from your website in real-time for a sales-lead to easily follow-up with. For obtaining new customers, and understanding what their intentions are so you can better serve their needs, this is huge.

For a business to achieve success, CRM integration is crucial. When you are able to manage your customers, prospects, and opportunities in one place for the entire organization to see, the results are invaluable.

Do you have any questions about CRM integration, or would you like to learn more?

Contact us today. We look forward to hearing from you!

CRM Integration: Developing a Relationship With Customers

crm integration developing a relationship with customers
CRM

Some IT companies take your computer needs and can make software applications dance like magic in front of your eyes; they almost make you forget that their service is not tailored to your field of business, and not to you. At 4 Corner IT, you are an individual and your IT answers are fitted to your personal needs. Like our website states: “there are so many different kinds of technological devices that it can be hard to pick what will be best for your employees. Have no fear, we are here to help.” Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is shorthand for the digital relationship that we at 4 Corner IT develops with you, and that you in turn have with your customers.

Say that you are a starter company with a really great new widget to sell. We will evaluate your needs. You are not just a clump of data to us; you are a group of people trying for the same goal, selling the best widget possible.

The size of your company does not matter, your goals do. All businesses can gain an advantage with CRM Integration regardless of size and small businesses can have an edge that will prove priceless in day-to-day operations.

“In fact, smaller businesses need to be more organized because of their size as every customer is almost irreplaceable, unlike larger companies that make up profits in huge volume.”

We examine the tools you need to get your widget on the public stage of the cloud and then help you stay at a maximum state of success. Phrased succinctly,

“A CRM helps you and your company manage your customers, your prospects and your sales. CRMs can be either web-based or stand-alone systems and can keep track of people, their relationships to you, whom they work for, what they’re doing, what they’re thinking about buying and how often they contact you, among an incredible number of other options.”

Today’s businesses cannot compete without a good CRM integration partner, such as 4 Corner IT. We want to work to keep your product or service on top of and ahead of your competitors’ inferior widget.

Get in touch with us and we will show you how CRM planning can handle the technological and data security aspect of your business, and let you make the best widgets of all time!

Take a look at some of our cabling services!

Remote workers unproductive? Fix it

remote workers unproductive fix it

Have you ever been sitting at your computer at work, buried up to your ears with somewhat trivial tasks and wished you could do all this from a more comfortable environment, or your home even? You’re not alone, and many professionals have switched over to a remote office, where they connect to work via the Internet. The one downside to this is it can be a chore for managers to ensure remote employees are productive.

Here’s five tips on how you can better connect with and manage your remote workers, freelance or otherwise, to help ensure optimal productivity.

Establish workflow As your employees work off site, they will set their own hours. This means they have to rely on their own discipline to get work done. Because of this, it will be hard for you to set/control their hours, which means you’ll have to trust them to get their work done. You should be aware of when they prefer to work, simply by talking with them, and be flexible with their schedules.

Working with remote workers is a two-way street, and while you should know your remote employee’s schedules, they should also know your schedule, and how you work. If you answer emails in the morning and have meetings in the afternoons, be sure to let them know that you expect/will answer their requests before lunch, for example.

Communication is key As in most businesses, communication is key to both a happy and productive workplace. You, as the manager, need to ensure that an open line of communication with your remote employees exists. This could be as simple as a telephone number or VoIP account that’s always on, (within reasonable hours of course), or an instant messaging platform. It’s important to ensure that you find out if your employees have the tools to complete their job.

Two-way feedback, both positive and negative, is also an important part of the communication process. You need to provide near constant feedback, even on small issues that would ordinarily be glossed over in physical interactions, while encouraging your employees to do the same.

Remember: you’re the boss Many bosses with remote employees find that the employee seems to run the show, and getting projects or tasks completed on time can be a bit tough. As the boss, you need to clearly explain what is expected of remote employees, why it’s expected, and the consequences of not meeting expectations. If there’s a problem it’s up to you to try to fix it.

Most importantly, if you work with strict deadlines, you need to ensure that remote employees are not only aware of the deadlines but are held accountable for them. If deadlines are missed, you may want to find another employee, remote or otherwise.

Provide a secure platform While the majority of remote employees connect to the office from their home, there’s a chance that they may connect from other locations, like coffee shops or libraries. A large percentage of public Wi-Fi connections have little to no security, and the last thing you want is to have your data breached due to unsecure connections.

This means you should provide remote employees with a secure way to connect to the office. Some solutions include virtual desktops or a secure laptop. Providing a secure connection isn’t enough, you need to ensure your systems can actually handle remote connections and that IT support is available for remote workers. The added benefit to this is that you can better monitor productivity, as the systems can be monitored using the same software as is used for computers in the office.

Judge by the final product Productivity is not easy to judge when you can’t physically see someone sat in their seat. For remote workers, the easiest way to monitor productivity is by the quality and consistency of the final product turned in compared to the time it took them to provide it. In reality, remote workers should complete tasks in about the same amount of time it takes employees who work onsite. The time and date of submission shouldn’t enter into decisions unless there are deadlines.

Employees that connect remotely can offer companies who employ them many benefits too and if you’re interested in employing remote staff, why not contact us. We can help find a solution that will work for both parties for best productivity all round.