In our modern lifestyles of quick fixes and easy solutions, customer service and support systems are more important than ever. How fast we can route them to an operator and how efficiently we can resolve their issues could make or break your business.

With our modern technologies of US Toll Free Numbers, we have different ways to reach out to our customers and help them with their problems. Getting these systems working together would result in a better customer experience.

A good seamless support routing and quick response times would already make for a majority of a customer great support experience.

What Matters the Most?

According to a survey done by consumer reports back in 2015 (https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2015/07/the-problem-with-customer-service/index.htm), customers’ number one problem is getting a live person to talk or chat to.

The majority of the time, people would reach out for support during time-sensitive situations such as a sudden failure or deadline or even on their break.

During these times, customers would already be in a stressful situation, and failing to get support for their issues will not only cause disdain and a bad reputation among customers but also influence their decision in their purchase or continued stay with the company.

Just ensuring that they would be able to reach the correct person, would not only alleviate some of that stress but also would reassure that they would get the help that they need.

Once they are connected correctly to the proper support personnel, the systems must be reliable enough to ensure that the agent would stay on the line or have the means to reach the customer back, in the event of unforeseen disconnection, until it would be resolved as another big chunk of what irks customers would be disconnections and failure to reach the same agent.

Phone, VoIP, or Online Support?

From VoIP to social media accounts, we are currently living in the digital age wherein we have multiple avenues to get support from. Picking a system that fits both your business and your clientele would help your business grow and retain customers.

A business in the present day must inspect every aspect of these services and ensure the reliability and robustness of such systems when push comes to shove. A well-armed and prepared business can stem the tides and allow flexibility not only to staff but for the business as well. Different systems have their own upsides and downsides.

What is VoIP?

VoIP, also known as voice over internet protocol, is another and a more recent phone system technology that converts your customer’s voices over the phone to a digital packet which can be sent and distributed anywhere and everywhere as long as there is an internet connection.

Phone vs VoIP

There have been a lot of arguments between these two systems. What matters the most in business is which system will deliver the most bang for your buck. It usually boils down to scalability, redundancy, reliability, features, infrastructure, and cost.

When talking to scalability, features and redundancy then VoIP would be your go-to guy. Unlike the traditional phone systems, VoIP offers you the flexibility to scale up or down your operations and add features on the fly depending on demand without much hassle.

The best thing about VoIP is that you almost do not need to buy any equipment in order for your business to set up VoIP. You can use VoIP practically anywhere and everywhere as long as there is an existing internet connection.

With data traveling through the internet, VoIP can be set up with redundancy in mind to ensure little to no downtime in productivity. VoIP is also easy to monitor, track, and record every single call and thus help your business easily track the demand. There are a lot of different vendors such as Telnum.net that offer VoIP solutions that will help you get on track in setting up VoIP.

Where VoIP shines is also its greatest weakness, internet connectivity. VoIP traffic has an impact on your overall network speed. A lot of things have to be correctly set up in order for VoIP to work flawlessly.

As mentioned, VoIP has an impact on your overall network speed, and thus thinking about how much volume your existing internet connection can handle without it jittering or slowing down is no easy feat.

A lot of involvement between your IT staff and the vendors must take place in order to ensure that everything is considered from the network connectivity to ensuring that each device is compatible with the said vendor as VoIP would need CAT5 or higher for it to operate.

The hidden downside to VoIP is choosing the correct vendor. Not all vendors are created equal and choosing the right vendor for the job can make or break your business if you switch to VoIP.

With a traditional phone line, it offers reliability, infrastructure, and cost. A traditional phone line can operate without an internet connection. As such it is more reliable and predictable in terms of overall performance vs VoIP. Problems such as jitters, slowdowns, and connectivity loss are automatically thrown out the window.

Compared to a VoIP, a traditional phone system is simple to set up. The cost of a traditional phone system makes it seem high at first as you would need to buy the initial equipment in order to set up a PBX system in order to route the customer to the correct department but overtime such cost would pay for itself unlike an on-going monthly payment to a VoIP.

What about online support?

In this world where everyone is always connected, companies are slowly integrating online support through different avenues such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. This type of support brings both the support element and brand advertisement or awareness into the mix.

Online support brings to the table the same flexibility, redundancy, and scalability as a VoIP without the need for complexity often associated with it. With online support, there usually is no need for additional infrastructure as companies such as Facebook already have the tools that enable managers direct control of their brand pages or profile to which your employees can access on any device given to them.

In addition, it brings the cost-effectiveness of running it as a single person can provide support to multiple customers at once which would result in a faster response time compared to phone or VoIP interactions.

Which brings us to the best advantage that online support can offer compared to the traditional means; customers can reach companies directly.

A downside to online support, other than the internet connectivity part, is that people working for it should have a specific set of skills and at times specialized.

The unique way that online support approaches customer support makes it require agents to be highly skilled and trained to handle everyday interactions with customers as at times, would require a complex set of tools in order for them to give the best support there is to your customers.

Conclusion

Each and every support system has its own pros and cons, and it is always best to choose the best one for your business. A combination of each and every system would result in a better customer support experience for your clientele.

For small businesses, a direct or online method would be best as it offers the least cost and infrastructure needed. Over time, you can upgrade your systems to incorporate a mixture of traditional phone systems such as PBX mix in with VoIP and a dash of online support will help ensure that your company covers the disadvantages that each system brings.