South Africa has emerged as a very prospering business provincial area that has gained the attention of the rest of the world. The growing economy, friendly government policies, and skilled manpower have attracted businesses from every nook and corner. While you aim to extend your business in South Africa, you should comprehend the significance of one resource and, i.e., VoIP.
South Africa’s small and medium-sized businesses must embrace cloud towards transformation for a better future. Because SMEs consist of up to 90% of businesses in South Africa, digital platforms are crucial considerations, giving them access to new markets. Cloud solutions SMEs need include CMR integration, unlimited extensions, and VoIP among others, improving business solutions.
VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol is one tool that turns your dream to expand to South Africa without bearing any added financial burden. As it shifts the voice signal transmission on the internet from a copper-wire based system, using a virtual mobile phone number is the first thing that you should do while seeking business expansion in South Africa.
Though having a VoIP-based business phone number is more than important, choosing the right one is nothing but a headache. There are tons of things to take care of and millions of points to ponder over. To make things easier than ever, here is our guide to choosing the best VoIP service provider in South Africa.
- Know your requirements first
Do you need a business phone system or a call centre?
How many employees would be using the service?
What are the minimum features set that you need at any cost?
Finding answers to all these questions is critical if you want to fetch a good deal on your South Africa phone number. VoIP is available at various prices and features range, and everything can’t be the best fit in your case. So, know your requirements before you move any farther.
- Understand the deployment type
In general, VoIP is available in two deployment types: on-premise and cloud/hosted. Before you make the final decision, understanding these two deployment types is crucial.
In the case of on-premise deployment, the VoIP service provider is going to bear only the VoIP charges. Other things like hardware, software, system maintenance, and updates will be your headache. It also demands high initial investments. So, if you are a small business with no hefty investments to back you, choosing it for your budding business in South Africa can go wrong.
On the other hand, a cloud-based or hosted business phone system sets you free from all of this. In cloud telephony, all the telephony equipment and switches are deployed on the cloud by the third-party service provider, and any business can use them after paying a fixed monthly rent.
This type of business phone system comes with less investment and allows a business to operate from anywhere. Even if you don’t have a lot of investments to build infrastructure for new business in South Africa, cloud telephony allows you to operate from any remote location using South Africa phone number.
For example, you can operate your business at Cape Town (+27 21), Johannesburg (+27 10), Pretoria (+27 12), Durban (+27 31), or any other location from your home country using cloud-based phone system.
So, choosing it for the early days’ struggle in South Africa is indeed a good choice.
- Consider The Features And Benefits
Businesses should consider the features and benefits when finding the best business communications system, like the reliable VoIP phones in Australia. VoIP providers don’t only offer VoIP phone tools but also unified communications, including live chat, connected phone systems, and video conferencing.
Choose a VoIP provider that can provide the best features of business communications tools and systems to help drive employee productivity, customer retention, and sales. Check the following best features and benefits of business phone systems:
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- Multiple Communication Channels: Respond to customers across several communication channels such as calls, video conferencing, and live chat for seamless communications of internal teams.
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- Time-Saving Tools: With time-saving tools, employees can promptly respond to customers and finish tasks on time. These time-saving tools include voicemails delivered straight to the email inbox, and meeting rooms, collaboration, and screen sharing features. Also, other time-saving tools include presence statuses and an active directory to tell who’s online.
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- Productivity Features: Businesses need productivity features to access services from mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, as well as from computers and desktops, without costly, locally managed hardware.
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- Popular Features: Virtual extensions, music on hold, simultaneous ring, hunt group, number portability, and auto-attendant are some of the popular features that support business needs. Others include dial by name, do not disturb, call waiting, caller ID, and call notifications.
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- Enterprise-Level Features: With VoIP enterprise-level features, businesses can direct and manage calls within the organization as efficiently as possible, optimizing internal communication.
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- Choose the one who offers flexible service plans
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Your business needs to keep on changing. Changing the business phone system with changing business needs is not a good idea. So, you should always finalize the VoIP service provider that offers customization at your disposal. It helps you to choose the right features based upon your business needs.
- Never ignore the free demo and training
Not everyone is a tech nerd and can handle gadgets with perfection. You can have some team members who are a novice in this. In that case, if you want to make most of the telephony, use features in full swing, and churn out maximum ROI, having a better understanding of system operations holds prime importance.
That is why you should always decide upon the VoIP service provider that offers free demo and training whenever it is required.
- Never avail final service before a test run
VoIP runs on the internet. Hence, if you want to enjoy high-quality calling and communication, then it is important to check the internet connectivity around you. Sadly, many regions in South Africa are still using 3G and deal with poor connectivity.
On average, you will find 7.2/2.4 Mbit/s HSDPA/HSUPA wireless connection speed and 4/1 Mbit/s to 1000/1000 Mbit/s fiber connection speed in South Africa. It can hinder the call quality sometimes. Hence, we suggest you to ask for a test run from your VoIP service provider before you make the final purchase.
Availing this service helps you to know the real-time performance of the virtual phone number. Many leading VoIP service providers offer this facility to their customers. We suggest they are the best bet.
VoIP can be a game-changer for your business in South Africa and other abroad nations. Hence, choosing it right is what ensures success. Make sure you are paying attention to factors like business needs, cost, deployment type, and network compatibility before reaching any conclusion.
