Whether you are touching base with a mobile workforce or keeping in touch with your clients right in your office, communication is an extremely crucial aspect of any business.
Although bigger and more established businesses could afford the most advanced and complex tools, and you can even allocate some of your resources for managed IT services, your small business could stay connected without eating up too much of your budget.
Below are communication solutions that will help you in maintaining your business communications without putting a huge strain on your budget.
In the Workplace
In the past, small business owners didn’t have a choice but to employ telephony for all their office communications. The phone systems back then lacked the features they wanted, but they also couldn’t afford the phone systems that boasted of features they wanted.
Enter the hybrid and keyed phone systems. Today, these advanced phone systems are commonplace in offices worldwide:
- Voice Over IP (VoIP) phone systems. Thee allow you to transmit and receive calls digitally over the Internet. You could leverage features such as call forwarding and transfer, auto attendant, as well as multiple telephone lines.
- Chat Programs. Whether as a standalone program or integrated with an email messaging system, this will allow you and your team to bypass emails and phone calls by transmitting a fast direct message.
Fewer formal instant messaging apps allow members to ask questions and get answers on the fly without the pressure of a formal phone call or email.
On the Go
Between cloud software programs and mobile apps, your remote employees and the mobile team could stay connected as if they were right across the hall from you. There’s no shortage of apps for remote communication; these include:
- Mobile VoIP. A mobile VoIP apps utilize the data connection of the mobile device it’s installed on for making video and voice calls.
If the device is running low on minutes or if it’s cheaper to utilize the data plan than using up more minutes, you can use the mobile VoIP for making off-peak wireless or long-distance calls. - Cloud-Based File-Sharing Apps. These apps are perfect if you are concerned about how you and your employees can access data while you’re on the go.
With these, you can share data between people wherever they are. But aside from file sharing, you could also use cloud-based apps for different purposes, such as for accessing sales or CRM software. - Web Conferencing Programs. As a standalone program or installed as a component of your VoIP, you could install these on mobile devices so that anyone in your team anywhere could participate in business meetings provided that they have access to internet connection.
Operating a small business is really a juggling act. You have to keep your costs low while ensuring effective business processes.
Cloud-based apps, VoIP, web conferencing programs, and chat programs, among others, could help you stay in contact with everyone without driving up your costs. You just have to look at all the options available to you and determine which ones fit your needs.