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Monday, May 27, 2013

A Virtual Phone for Home Business Owners

A virtual phone system, also known as virtual PBX is a wonderful solution for home based businesses. The communication needs of a home based business are the same as a big business. In fact, at times small and home based businesses need to communicate more with customers than their larger counterparts. The need for routing the vendors and customers of a home business is same as that of a big company, but in a home based business, it is often difficult to answer calls all the time. This is because a home business is usually like a one-man army. You are the owner and you take care of marketing, sales, accounting and every other aspects of a business.

Most Viable Alternative

The advanced features of a virtual phone including auto attendant, call forwarding, voicemail and online fax can help a home business grow. You can also use a toll free number for the convenience of customers. Though the communication needs of businesses are the same, the unique circumstances of a home office make it necessary to get the right phone system. Home offices are usually too small to accommodate a fully fledged PBX. Moreover, home businesses also operate within limited financial margins. For home entrepreneurs, a virtual PBX is the most practical alternative.

Easy to Use

A virtual phone is usually hosted by service providers. You do not need to buy any new hardware or software. You also do not need to get a new telephone connection. It can be used with any of your existing cell phone or home landlines.  There is also no need for any training. You can easily use it with your existing phone connection.  This is a huge benefit for small businesses as well.

Call Screening
When home entrepreneurs use a virtual phone for their business, callers are not able to recognize any difference. It seems like they are calling a big company and not a home business. The auto attendant answers the call and forwards the call the same way as in a big enterprise. It can also forward it to your voicemail box, if you are not able to answer it. Since a home business owner needs to do a lot of things in a short time, he can screen a call on his virtual telephone before actually answering it.

Call Forwarding

Call forwarding is perhaps the most important feature for home business owners. Incoming calls can be routed to a cell phone, home landline or other phone numbers according to the choice of users. You can also specify the day and time when you wish to receive calls on a particular number. A virtual phone can forward calls according to your choice. This reduces chances of calls going unattended. But if you fail to answer a call for any reason, the virtual PBX system forwards it to your voicemail box.

Voicemail Box

You are notified via email and text message on your cell phone as soon as a new voicemail arrives in the voicemail box. A virtual phone also allows reading a voicemail through email so that you can manage all your communications from one place.

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