If you’re a business – especially a small to medium sized one – with plans to expand your services, and you don’t know about Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) business phone systems, you should. Not only are they more affordable than traditional phone services, but they also offer innovative flexibility that’s hard to pass up, whether you’re a brand new start-up or an established business owner looking to take on a side project.
Businesses that use VoIP and cloud technology have the ability to manage multiple divisions, departments, or even entirely separate services from the same (virtual) office – anywhere, any time. It’s crafty, it’s smart, and could cost as little as $10 more per month.
Say you already own a successful small restaurant, and you’ve been toying with the idea of creating a catering service on the side. If you already use business VoIP for your phone system, it’s all too easy to create a catering line or extension. This way, someone can call about making reservations in your restaurant, or call about placing a catering order, and the calls don’t have to go to the same place – or at least, they don’t have to appear to do so. Adding another line is cheap and easy with VoIP services, and gives your business a professional touch.
But what if you wanted your side business to seem like a separate entity altogether? It doesn’t even have to relate to your primary profession. As Erik Archer Smith, VoIP technology evangelist at 8x8 (News - Alert), points out, you can use VoIP to turn your hobby into a side business all its own.
Smith offers examples of small business owners who have successfully established side businesses using business VoIP services, such as the options 8x8 provides, including a hair salon owner who started an after-hours dog-walking business, an insurance agent who established a landscaping business on the side, and a doctor who set up a toy-train consulting business.
If you, like these entrepreneurs, want to turn your hobby into a way to make an extra buck on the side, you can use VoIP to get an additional line with its own number, which will be routed through the line you already have. This way, the caller never needs to know he or she was directed through your restaurant or hair salon or insurance business line to reach the side-service, giving you the appearance of two separate businesses without paying dearly for it.
As Smith puts it, “you don’t have to sacrifice credibility in one area because you’re starting small in some new venture.” Whether you’re expanding you business or finally getting around the nurturing that entrepreneurial brainchild, business VoIP is a creative and cost effective solution to give you a clean and professional edge, help build revenue and save money on that phone bill.
Edited by Rachel Ramsey