Not Tied Down, Part 1: The New Age of Phone Systems
By Andrew Bundy
When I grew up, our kitchen phone was a blocky, black rotary dial phone. Dialing the wrong number was a major time investment! When I was talking to someone, I had a few feet I could pace, but I certainly couldn’t find any privacy.
When we switched to a cordless phone, freedom and speed dial were the peak of human existence. But as technology keeps marching forward, rendering each previous iteration of the phone obsolete, even the phones in my work changed and evolved. And now, the internet has completely reimagined the work phone system.
Defining the terms
We will be spending a few blogs looking at the different types of phone systems a busy mental health practice could use. But before we dive into the phone options and the pros and cons, we have to define a few terms. For those of us who still fondly remember our rotary dial phones, the new phone world is lightyears away from what we grew up with.
The phone in the cloud
The first thing we need to define is the concept of “The Cloud.” The concept is not all that new, but it is one of those terms that gets said so often that many people may be afraid to ask what it means.
As a matter of fact, Bonnie Cha wrote an article in 2015 called “Too Afraid to Ask: What Is ‘The Cloud’ and How Does It Work?” Cha explained, “The cloud refers to software and services that run on the Internet, instead of locally on your computer. Most cloud services can be accessed through a Web browser…and some companies offer dedicated mobile apps.”
In short, the cloud you hear about is working on the Internet. It should come as no surprise, then, that this accessed-over-the-Internet model would eventually find its way to phone systems. These use what’s called a Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VOIP. VOIP is a method of making phone calls over your Internet connection instead of a phone line or cellular phone network.
At The Scale-Up Summit, Dr. David Craig talked about cloud phone systems.
“What I’m talking about when I say ‘a cloud phone system’ is a configurable interface that will let you separate a number from a device,” Dr. Craig said. “What that lets you do is reassign things on the fly as you need them, and it lets you be much more flexible for numbers.”
Like being able to edit a Google Doc on any device instead of a Microsoft Word Document solely on your desktop, cloud phone systems allow a number and all of the related information to exist on any device – your cell phone, your mental health virtual assistant’s cell phone, a computer, and more.
Being tied to a specific office phone is going the way of the kitchen rotary dial phone. While some offices have dedicated phone numbers and extensions to specific devices, others are going to phone systems that ring to one or more employees. Some are able to have a pool of people who get the call, increasing the chances that someone will answer quickly.
With the COVID-19 pandemic and its related shutdowns, cloud phone systems became even more useful.
And much like the cloud computing we all do on a regular basis, the phone systems are protected and have passwords and other ways of authorizing a user. For those who are used to having everything in one location, the concept of the cloud can be terrifying, but cloud phone companies understand their business and offer many protections for users. Some are even HIPAA compliant.
The office in the world
Cloud phone systems are especially useful for practices hiring mental health virtual assistants. More and more, offices are learning that having someone sitting at the front desk at all hours is not necessary.
A practice in Denver, Colorado, could work with a virtual assistant company in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. That virtual assistant company could hire assistants all across the country. With a cloud phone system, those geographical boundaries no longer matter.
Flexibility and options
When a practice settles on a phone system, they set up their people, and everyone can operate in real-time in different time zones. As the world becomes more of an office, and the home becomes more of a workplace, these phone systems offer flexibility and versatility that rotary dial phones couldn’t even dream of.
They also allow practices to try out different options. Some practices working with Move Forward Virtual Assistants, LLC, have a cloud phone system for the client aspect of their practices while the internal communications are run through another. As with almost anything in the modern world, a practice is not locked into one company forever. A better price or interface could lure a practice owner away from their existing systems.
In one of my old offices, the phones working on the system were proprietary. When the company I worked for signed a contract, the telecom group brought in and installed all the phones. When the company switched services, the telecom company got their phones back, and the new company installed their systems. With cloud phones, canceling a contract does not require a complex rewire or even kill the physical device.
The companies in the running
When trying to determine which company a practice should go with, there are some factors that can help someone pick one system over another. The first is, of course, price. After that, the interface should be a consideration, along with ease of use. One should look at the ability to add numbers or port in existing numbers.
Also, practices should examine the various features offered with these services. Some companies are simpler than others, but the additional bells and whistles of a complicated program could add an encumbrance to the practice.
While there are too many phone-in-the-cloud companies to make an exhaustive list, upcoming blogs will focus on the pros and cons of companies utilized by clients of Move Forward Virtual Assistants, LLC. Some of these clients have one system that they have used for years, while others have switched between several, trying to find the right fit for their practices.
In these blogs, we will examine some companies that many may not have heard of, such as Fusion, Ring Central, Spruce, Grasshopper, and Charm, as well as some better-known names like Zoom, Google Voice, Vonage, and Go Daddy.
In the end, only the practice owner will know what works best for their practice. But practices making the leap to a more-virtual workspace do not have to do everything from scratch. Some other practices have boldly gone where those practices will go soon, and what they have learned could benefit others.
Disclaimer: These blogs are not endorsements of any of these products. These are the names of companies that practices associated with Move Forward Virtual Assistants, LLC, have worked with.
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