What's the best VoIP solution for a home office?

Working from home, or any other flexible working situation, is a great use case for a VoIP phone system. We wanted to walk you through some of the things that you should be considering when looking for a VoIP solution for your home office. In the end, we hope that you will feel confident in selecting the best VoIP solution for your needs, that you can take advantage of from your home office.

But first, it’s worth reminding everyone of the benefits of a VoIP system. No matter where you choose to use a VoIP system, you’ll be able to access a smart business technology solution. Some of the benefits most commonly seen with VoIP systems include:

• Decreased costs associated with voice communication
• Increased accessibility for your callers and your team members
• High quality voice communication with clear voice quality
• Improved scalability and multi-user options

`And more! Specific VoIP providers can come with additional features that lead to your team experiencing even more benefits.

When you are trying to find the best VoIP solution for your home office, it is most productive to think about how you specifically like to do your work, and your phone communication. When it comes to choosing a VoIP solution, there is no one size fits all solution. That is why it’s important to focus on finding the best VoIP solution for YOUR needs, YOUR business, and YOUR home office.

Thinking about the following will help you figure out what that looks like for you!

Your Working Style:

Your work from home setup should be compatible and supportive to your favorite working style. This will help you avoid a frustrating user experience. To identify your working style, and how it relates to your perfect VoIP solution, here are some ideas to get started with:

• How important is collaboration, and having a VoIP system that connects you to other users?

  If you want to have access to more collaboration then look for features such as call forwarding, call commenting, or other features that make it easy to tackle phone communication as a team.

  If you prefer more independent working, then look for a phone system that will only direct relevant calls to you, allowing you to independently handle the calls within your role.

• Do you prefer all of your business software to be clearly separate from each other and working independently, or streamlined and integrated into each other?

  This can help you determine if integrations are an important part of your VoIP selection process. Some users will love having their phone system live in tools they are already using such as Slack, while others prefer having their phone system as a separate business tool.

• When working do you prefer to have uninterrupted time to focus on one task at a time, or do you prefer bouncing back and forth from one task to the next?

  If you prefer uninterrupted time, make sure that your VoIP system can help you handle a high volume of calls even when you aren’t available to answer the phone. This includes features such as office hours, canned responses, and more.

  If you prefer bouncing around, then you may like a phone system that has a ring on speaker feature or other real-time notification options so that you never miss an incoming call.

Your Current Equipment:

If you have already purchased physical hardware such as SIP phones, a designated mobile phone for business, a headset, or anything else you probably want to make sure that your new VoIP system is compatible with that equipment.

If you haven’t made any previous phone equipment purchases, now is a great time to consider if you’d like the option to add some in the future, or if you are happy with a system that simply connects to one device such as your computer.

Your Home Office Goals:

Are you looking for a home office that lets you pick up where you left off in the office, or a solution that allows you to work entirely from home? Is this a shared space, perhaps with other household members, or designated specifically for you to work? These questions will help you identify if you need a system in which users can use multiple devices, or if location flexibility isn’t a top priority. They can also help you determine if you have the space and desire to have a robust call center from home with multiple devices and hardware equipment pieces, or if it makes more sense to have a compact or integrated system.

Final Considerations

Make sure that you have a strong internet connection in your home office, or look to upgrade your current internet connection. This will ensure that you are able to get the most out of your VoIP system. It can also be helpful to take advantage of free trials to determine if a VoIP provider is the best VoIP solution for your home office. Get started with Yodel’s free trial today, and learn why thousands of companies trust us for their VoIP needs.