May 10, 2022

Here Are 5 Essential VoIP Integrations To Boost Business Efficiency

Discover the essential VoIP integrations you need to connect with your phone system to centralize all business workflows.

Paulene Miguel

Reading time: 6 minutes

Today, customers are reaching out to businesses over different communication channels — phone calls, email, chat, social media, and more.

While it’s the oldest form of communication, results from the 2020 Customer Communications Review revealed that the phone call is still the preferred communication channel of customers over 56 years old after buying a product or service.

Phone calls are still the most preferred communication method after purchase. Source: RingCentral

That’s why many businesses are investing in robust business phone systems to streamline communication with their customers. In fact, by 2024, the global VoIP services market is expected to be valued at $194.5 billion.

To help you future-proof your business, we explore some of the most essential VoIP integrations you should consider in order to increase work productivity.

5 VoIP integrations your business needs

Did you know that nearly 10% of businesses use more than 200 apps?

With the multiple business apps that companies use today, having an integration-ready VoIP solution is important to break down silos and have a unified platform for all data points.

Here are some essential VoIP integrations that can streamline your work processes:

Calendar Integration

Calendar integration is a great way to ensure that your appointments don’t overlap. You can have two different apps sync with each other to avoid duplicate calendar entries.

For example, sales teams can benefit from Google Calendar integration to sync agent schedules.

This way, the sales team manager can monitor the number of client meetings in a day and schedule group meetings when every team member is available.

CRM integration

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software integration can help you centralize, synchronize, and analyze customer data.

Marketing, sales, and customer service teams can use CRM tools to understand and have a unified view of the customer journey.

For example, Novocall integrates with two of the most popular CRM platforms: Hubspot & Salesforce.

With Hubspot CRM integration, you can sync your leads and automatically create contacts. You can also store and access call recordings, log call activities, and track outbound call efforts.

With Salesforce CRM integration, you will be notified immediately of any new leads coming through Novocall, and you can create custom filters on the Salesforce platform.

Social media integration

With social media integrations, you’ll be able to reach and engage your online audience. After all, in this digital-savvy world, a bulk of customers are on social media platforms, be it Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

This is why providing social media customer support should be a top priority for businesses.

Novocall integrates with Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp so you can chat with your customers anytime.

Analytics integration

Integrations with analytical tools can give you better insights into customer behavior. The right data insights can help improve your product or service offerings, which can result in increased sales revenue for the company.

Here are some useful data and analytics tools to integrate with:

Google Analytics: To track website traffic and identify trends and patterns of website visitors.
Google AdWords: To ensure a smooth online-to-offline attribution for your marketing campaigns.
Facebook Pixel: To track callback conversions that came from your Facebook ads.

Integration with online collaboration tools

For hassle-free project management, teams from different departments use online collaboration tools for instant messaging, file sharing, and more.

Your VoIP phone system should integrate with the team collaboration software your team is currently using.

Here are two of the best apps to improve work collaboration and productivity:

Slack integration: Send automated activity notifications straight to your specified workspace & channel in real-time.
Microsoft Teams: Receive real-time notifications regarding your calls, messages, and schedules.

Benefits of an all-in-one VoIP phone system

Businesses of all sizes — from SMBs to big corporations — can take advantage of an all-in-one cloud phone system in different ways:

Advanced call features

To improve your team’s inbound and outbound call process, it’s recommended to have the following call handling functions:

Call forwarding: Redirect or forward incoming calls from one number to other numbers or devices.
Call whisper: Coach agents during a call with a customer in real-time.
Call recording: Record incoming and outgoing calls for review and feedback on agent performance.
Lead routing: Set lead routing rules to transfer calls to the most qualified sales rep to handle the conversation.
Autodialer: Save time by eliminating manual dialing and improve the sales outreach process by automating cold calls with an outbound autodialer.

For a better look at the call features that you should look for in a VoIP system, we’ve further classified these features into different tiers — from must-haves to the nice-to-have-if-you-have-the-budget-for-it.

This tier list will be useful when deciding which features a necessary to have and which software provides these features.

Cost savings

There are different ways by which adopting an internet phone solution can help you reduce communications costs and save money.

Here are some examples:

You don’t have to purchase expensive hardware or hire a dedicated IT team. If you choose a hosted VoIP setup, your service provider will be the one to cover the installation, maintenance, repair, and upgrade costs of the phone system.
You only have to pay a monthly subscription fee to get the features your business needs. Most service providers offer different plans that already include a wide range of capabilities, so you don’t have to worry about paying separate fees for each of them (which is the case with landlines).
You can get unlimited international calls. Some business VoIP vendors offer this as part of their subscription plans. With this, you won’t be charged per minute for “long-distance calls” made in the two countries.
You can get discounts. Depending on your provider, you can get discounts on subscription fees if you pay per annual billing cycle instead of paying monthly.

Mobility

If you switch to IP telephony, your staff won’t be limited to working with a physical phone in the office. As mentioned earlier, they can work from anywhere as long as they have IP-enabled devices.

In some cases, the VoIP app also allows them to switch devices while a call is ongoing and move around without getting disconnected. This means they can go from using a desk phone to using a smartphone—wired to wireless.

The mobility of an IP-based phone solution is helpful for companies that have remote staff or employees required to travel for business-related matters. When your employees can work from anywhere, you can ensure business continuity (even during disasters).

Increased productivity

For your employees to stay productive, you need to equip them with the right tools. Using VoIP as a business communication tool will give them access to a wide variety of features, which they can use to do their work more efficiently.

For example, they can use the videoconferencing feature when they need to hold a meeting with participants from different locations. They no longer need to travel far to gather in one place to discuss business matters. They can simply do it online.

Using the features available in your VoIP phone system can save them a lot of time. This way, they won’t have to spend extra hours at work to finish their tasks.

Scalability

As your company grows, it’s natural that the number of your employees also increases.

If you are using VoIP as a phone solution, you can easily add phone numbers and extensions, to new users. Simply log in to your account, purchase a new phone number, and assign them.

This is way more convenient than adding users to a traditional phone system because you don’t have to install wires and landline phones.

Aside from that, if you want to move to a new location or open a new office, you don’t have to build a separate phone system. Your current location and your new location can use the same VoIP phone system.

Better customer service

To gain loyal customers, you need to provide better service. Customer satisfaction is the key to retaining and attracting more customers.

A VoIP solution with a wide variety of integrations can help you manage customer data better and build stronger customer relationships, especially with CRM integrations.

Also, when your customers need your help, they can reach you anytime because you can answer their calls wherever you are with an IP-enabled device. This is impossible with a landline phone system because you get disconnected once you step outside your office.

How to choose the right VoIP provider for your business

There are a lot of VoIP vendors in the market. It can be tricky to choose one when you have too many options. To help you find the provider that’s best for you, here are five steps you need to take:

Set your budget and identify the features you need using our feature tier list
Look for the top business VoIP service providers
Learn more about the security measures of each provider
Compare their pricing plans and features
Read customer feedback posted on review sites

Don’t forget to take advantage of the free trials offered by these VoIP providers to check out their features and quality of service. The last thing you want is to invest in a provider that can’t meet your business needs! 😩

Conclusion

Getting a business phone system that offers robust integrations will keep your internal and external systems aligned and up-to-date.

If you’re looking for a business phone system, Novocall is a cloud-based VoIP solution built for SMBs, equipped with a suite of call management features and app integrations to support your call-driven lead generation activities.

To get started, book a free demo today!

Paulene Miguel

Paulene is a content writer for RingCentral, a cloud communications and contact center solution. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a great passion for learning foreign languages.

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