Achieve True Mobility as a Small Business Owner
October 12, 2008
Most entrepreneurs and small business owners will agree: one of the biggest challenges they face is the one of mobility. The advanced technology of smart phones helps with this matter as business owners can now receive e-mail on their phone and deal with them accordingly.
But what about true freedom? True mobility. What happens with the direct calls that the receptionist or assistant answers, or the faxes, or the direct calls that go to voicemail?
The first paragraph mentioned how the smart phone’s technology has helped with mobility. Given the technological advances in the past few years, companies can now manage virtually any application digitally and inexpensively. By taking advantage of inexpensive technologies, small business can now project a Fortune 500 image while allowing mobility and, often, reducing expenses.
The solution works rather cleverly. Your clients call or fax a computer, which translates the data into a digital format and essentially redirects the call or data to any mobile phone, hard-line phone, voicemail, or e-mail inbox (you pick which one). This simplistic description truly affords you the opportunity to work from any corner of the globe using your existing web-enabled smart phone or computer!
The market leader in this segment and the company we recommend is RingCentral. This single company alone can propel a small business’s image to the big time. And since image is so important these days with company failures and consumer apprehension about dealing with new “players,” image must take precedent when setting up your back-end. At any rate, through RingCentral you can project a better image through the following:
Toll-free number. This feature has a particular importance for companies whose client base reaches across different area codes. Consultants, service & support providers, mobile sales agents come to mind, and a toll-free number allows their clients to reach them wherever they are and wherever the entrepreneur or small business owner is located. Not only this, but toll-free numbers provide a Fortune 500 image.
Virtual Receptionist with music while callers are on “hold” and voicemail. Call any large company and you will probably hear music before your call gets patched through to the right party. Now you can offer this same feature even if you area one-person business. While features like this might incur additional charges with some providers, they are free with RingCentral.
Call Queues. Suppose you are on the phone at the country club when another call arrives. With a call queue, your new caller waits on hold while you finish your existing call. This helps you reduce lost sale calls that might have historically gone straight to voicemail or, worse, the competition! Again, another free feature.
Internet Fax. This all-important feature allows you to send and receive faxes by e-mail or online. Yes, this means you can manage faxes with most web-enabled smart phones. What a great way to win back your freedom, and it’s free!
The feature list has a surreal quality in that items you might expect to be “optional” are actually standard. Still, there is one disappointment with RingCentral. Their DigitalLine VoIP function is optional when they offer so much else for free… what gives? In reality, however, this option has little importance to most small business owners. And, for subscribers who absolutely need VoIP capabilities, the extra $7.99 is more than justified.
Whether you sign up with RingCentral or someone else, the most common reason for using a service like this comes back to the issue of mobility. A secondary justification would be the cost-effectiveness of the system; at $24.99, you can’t get this type of service through your phone company, let alone purchase the necessary hardware and software to do it yourself.
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