What is it like to switch to a VoIP phone system?

The Birth of a Business

When Andrew and Rick started to modify old SUVs in Rick’s garage, they did not intend to start a business. The two high school friends just enjoyed leaving the office behind at the end of the week and spending a few hours doing what they loved. Their approach was unique. Instead of building more of the quasi-monster trucks that ruled the roads of rural Missouri, they were thoughtful in preserving original details. They built quality vehicles that could be equally fun and reliable for a daily driver or a weekend of wilderness wheeling.

After building a couple of vehicles for friends, requests started coming in from friends of friends. With a backlog of ten orders built up, they decided to turn their passion into a full-time job and founded Red Hills Custom Overlanding. Their first order of business was to move out of Rick’s cramped garage and begin renting a mechanic’s shop. However, even that proved to be shortsighted. Five years later, they purchased an abandoned Ford dealership with a large shop and showroom. With the increased space, they brought on their first employees.

As revenues increased, they began to standardize their offerings. Ten years into the business, they now offered five different versions of brand-new modified vehicles – 4x4 vans, trucks, and SUVs designed for the overlanding and RV community. Their company evolved from a squad of mechanics to a staff of 30 – composed of accountants, tech support, marketers, salespeople, and fabricators. Since many of their new employees were not interested in making the 1-hr commute from St. Louis, they decided to open an office for their marketing and sales team there in the city. Business was steady and the company was growing when COVID hit.

Going Virtual

The employees at their small-town manufacturing facility returned after a month, but office staff at the satellite site in the city continued to work virtually. After six more months of this situation, Andrew and Rick realized that they had some decisions to make. Business was booming now more than ever. Due to the shutdown, they were receiving more orders than ever for their camping-oriented models. However, they were also continuing to pay premium rent for an empty office site in the city that they could not imagine returning to in the near future.

With some degree of foresight, they saw that business as usual in the foreseeable future was now unlikely. Fortunately, most of their office staff seemed to enjoy working from home, and they had made the adjustment to virtual work fairly smoothly. For the meantime, everyone was using their personal cell phone numbers for work calls, which was not ideal, but had been an acceptable solution in the pinch.

After holding a company-wide meeting for feedback, they decided to close the St. Louis branch and move those employees to full-time virtual positions that would meet once a week at their small-town manufacturing and support site. Now that they had made that decision, it was time to figure out how to deal with communications.

Before the pandemic, Red Hill had been paying for two separate phone lines – one in the city and one at their manufacturing facility, and prices had been steadily going up. Now that their company would be more spread out than ever, they felt that it was important to improve internal communications and continue to present a united feel to their customers. Some fellow business owners at a bureau of commerce meetings had mentioned an IT company that helped them switch to VoIP, so they called to investigate. 

The Decision

An initial conversation with the IT company put some of their fears at ease. First of all, they would be able to keep their existing phone numbers. In fact, everyone – including those that were working virtually – could all be tied into the same company phone number with their own extensions. They were also worried about emergency calls. Since their manufacturing facility dealt with some dangerous equipment, they were worried that 911 calls would not be able to locate them accurately. It turned out that although that used to be a concern, modern VoIP technology can eliminate that concern with proper configuration. In addition, since VoIP was based on the internet, they would no longer need to worry about expensive long-distance or international calls.

The one remaining concern was about internet quality. Since they were located in a small town, they were not sure if they would be able to maintain adequate connection speed and stability. Following the call, the IT company came out to their site to do an evaluation of their internet situation. They explained that in order to make the switch to VoIP, they would in fact need to upgrade their connection, but that it would not be problem to do so.

After the site evaluation, they all sat down together in the office to look at the numbers. In order to implement the VoIP system, the IT company would:

• upgrade the internet connection
• provide and set up VoIP capable phones
• manage the system and provide support on an ongoing basis
  

As Andrew and Rick waited to hear the final quote, they were shocked when the company told them the price. All of the work, including the hardware and monthly internet bill, would ring in for several hundred dollars a year less than they were currently paying only for landline service. Not only that, but they would charge a flat monthly rate that would consolidate the variable costs that they were now dealing with.

The Switch

The next week, the IT company was on site. First, they explained to the employees that they would not lose any calls while they were in the process of implementing the change. The new system would be completely set up and ready to go before they “flipped the switch.”

They set up desk phones for the tech support and office staff and then went out to the manufacturing and fabrication area to provide rugged wireless handsets to each supervisor. They would be able to wear them on their belts and answer anywhere on the premises. All of the phones looked comfortingly familiar to the staff. Several of them were nervous about new technology, but the devices looked just like regular phones but with color screens and a few extra buttons. They would just pick up the receiver or push a button to answer like they always had.

After a couple of days of work and training for the staff, the new phones began to ring at their same extension numbers as before. Five minutes before, calls were coming in on the old phones – but now they lay silent as the new phones came to life.

Sales, virtual employees, and interested office staff also downloaded VoIP applications to their phones and computers and practiced making and receiving calls. Their laptops and cell phones rang just like a regular phone, and they were able to answer on any device that they preferred. The company phone book was installed in the app and they were able to dial extensions or customer numbers without any issues.

After the first 30 days on the new system, the IT company helped them reconfigure their call routing settings. If a salesperson was unable to take a call from a potential customer, the call would now automatically reroute to admin personnel that could answer any questions and take down the information for the salesperson to call them back. They also added an option to their incoming-call menu that would allow customers with vehicles in for repair to be directed straight to the appropriate shop supervisor.

Andrew and Rick could hardly believe it. They had all new hardware. Customers and suppliers had a single number that they could call. Internal office calls all went to the same extension as before. They were still able to page across the office areas. Their business phone numbers now allowed them to text as well as call. Three separate and variable bills for internet and two phone service providers were now condensed to a single, stable monthly price that allowed them to budget better moving forward. All of this and they were actually saving money with greatly improved features, convenience and ongoing support.