Small and mid-sized businesses in Singapore are now steering away from traditional telecom providers in record numbers, with each of them hoping to take advantage of the cost saving capabilities of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) while leveraging the calling features it provides. But with the potential for great return being this high, it has become easy to get caught up in the hype, rush into making decisions, and end up settling with a less than capable VoIP provider. To help mitigate the risk and ensure that you reap the maximum benefits of this phone service, we listed down some hiring mistakes you should avoid as you start searching for your VoIP service provider.
1. Disregarding How the Technology Works
Before you proceed in choosing a VoIP provider for your business, you should first ensure that you understand how the VoIP technology works. You don’t need to become an expert on the VoIP technology, but learning the basics – such as knowing how it functions – will certainly help you avoid the pitfalls that some providers might not disclose.
2. Failing to Learn About the Hidden Charges
Although VoIP in Singapore are inexpensive, have the initiative to go one step farther than the price you see on the provider’s website as there might be some hidden charges like its licensing, support and usage. For instance, you might notice a great price on the unlimited calling on your prospective provider’s website, but in the brochure it might state that the price doesn’t actually include calls made outside of their network. If this is case, inform your prospective VoIP provider beforehand to include both local and international calls in their unlimited call plans.
3. Hiring a Flagship VoIP Provider
If the provider that you are planning to hire is new to the VoIP industry, then it’s possible that they are using your business as a test subject. While this isn’t true to all new VoIP providers, it’s crucial that you find and hire someone who knows their craft and has been in the industry for quite some time. After all, you wouldn’t want to hire someone who will disappear on the fly, or worse, leave you with a system that will cause you a lot of headaches later on.
For that reason, ensure that you spend some time learning about your prospective hosted pbx solution offered in Singapore as this investment will surely return to you tenfold. Browse through local hosted pbx providers to cater to your business needs.
4. Choosing Someone Who Won’t Consider Bandwidth and Traffic
When implementing a VoIP service in your business in Singapore, it’s crucial to remember that your phone calls will be transmitted over your internet connection. Depending on the type of connection that you have, the upload capacity of your VoIP might be limited. If you have a large amount of data and voice, you might not have enough bandwidth to effectively use your VoIP service. The end result will be an unreliable VoIP connection and issues with data transmission using your internet connection.
To keep this from happening, ensure that you provider knows and listens to your needs. It would also be a good idea to get feedbacks from the people who previously hired your prospective provider so you will have an idea as to how the service works.
5. Forgetting to Ask About any Necessary Licenses
Using a VoIP on your home computer is relatively easy – you simply choose a provider, pay your monthly fee, and download the necessary software interface. However, it doesn’t work this way when it comes to using the services for your business, as most providers use licensing to lock their clients in. These VoIP in Singapore also use great value telecom services to hide licensing, making their offer look better until you are already locked in. To keep this from happening, inquire about any possible licenses that they have before you sign on the dotted line.
6. Failing to Ask About Their Disaster Recovery Plan
One of the first questions you should be asking your prospective VoIP provider is whether or not they have a plan in place for disaster recovery. Failing to do so will likely leave you stranded in case a system failure occurs. So don’t assume that your VoIP provider will automatically provide disaster recovery services to your business. Instead, ensure beforehand if these services are actually offered or not.
7. Neglecting the Features Offered by the Provider
While some of the phone services you need for your business seems like a “no brainer”, you will be surprised at how many VoIP providers in Singapore actually leave out some basic services like call forwarding. So instead of relying that all the services you want are already provide, require your provider to perform a demonstration so you fully understand what is being offered in the plan you are planning to get. Doing this will certainly help in avoiding negative surprises that might adversely affect your business later on.
8. Forgetting to Perform a Network Test
Some VoIP in Singapore will not bother evaluating your existing network to see if it’s capable of handling the VoIP system that you need. If your prospective VoIP provider is one of those teams, simply ask them about it. If things start becoming sketchy as they answer, do yourself and your business a favour and move on the next VoIP on your list.
With the hype in the VoIP system these days, it’s quite easy to end up hiring an incompetent and inexperienced provider. To keep that from happening, ensure that you avoid committing these mistakes when choosing a VoIP provider. Make sure that you are hiring someone who’s offering a reliable technical support and system maintenance. After all, this is an area of your business you would not want to cut corners, as it could spell disaster if you do.