Medical practices and surgery centers in Phoenix have been using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phones for decades, but rarely to the full extent of this technology’s capabilities. Healthcare practitioners were sold on quick installations and transitions, low monthly costs, and the simplicity of scaling up the number of phone lines they needed. Unfortunately, many of them miss out on further benefits by skipping out on ongoing optimizations. Countless times, a company has reached out to us about our voice systems service, only for our technicians to point out that they already had most of the hardware they needed for a cutting-edge telephony infrastructure. The only pieces missing were proactive support and maintenance. If you’re currently missing any of the features listed below, your communication technology needs some tender love and care from trained professionals.

Multi-device access to phone lines

COVID-19 and the ensuing work-from-home movement have made workforce mobility more important than any other time in history. Your administrative employees should be able to make calls from their work number using a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or desktop. And it should be as easy as sending or receiving an email. One way platforms like RingCentral make this a piece of cake is with the Find Me feature, which routes incoming calls to several devices in quick succession. Is a doctor’s desktop computer the best place for them to take a call? Then that’s the first place a call notification comes in. And if no one picks up there, maybe you’d like the VoIP app on their laptop to ring next, followed by their mobile device as a last resort? No problem. All incoming calls go to a “virtual number” that the app reroutes to existing or “real” numbers. Because everything takes place in the cloud, updating or rearranging a user’s Find Me device list is a simple drag-and-drop interface.

Voicemails automatically transcribed for email

No matter how great the Find Me feature is, there will always be times when calls are missed. VoIP developers have confronted this head-on by breathing new life into an age-old feature: voicemail. When someone leaves a voicemail message on an employee’s number, an email will go out with the audio file attached and the text of the message transcribed in the body of the email. These notifications can even be sent to multiple people simultaneously. For example, an office with two receptionists may want both to receive transcriptions and audio files of voicemails left on the company’s main phone line. VoIP systems have a similar feature for faxes. If that’s a communication channel you use, you no longer need to receive a printed copy via an office machine. The fax can be emailed as an attachment to anyone you choose.

Video calls and messages

Was your practice forced to do video conferencing via free apps like Zoom or Google Hangouts as patients, business partners, and vendors adopted social distancing measures? We can empathize with the urgency of the situation, but sustainable and effective communication requires a business-ready system that doesn’t limit call times or guest lists, especially if your practice is wading into the telehealth space. VoIP-integrated video conferencing means that users don’t have to open another app and log in with another set of credentials. Taking consultation calls, sending messages to co-workers, and initiating meetings with video and screen shares all happen in the same window. In fact, VoIP is technically just one subset of a service that is often referred to as unified communications.

Cost and savings optimization

Your employee roster, business processes, and communication needs change month to month. And while VoIP phones are cheaper than traditional phones 99% of the time, you should still keep close tabs on everything to ensure that you aren’t paying for lines or features you don’t need. Additionally, minimizing downtime costs requires robust IT support. All it takes is for a second or third technology problem to creep up while your lone in-house technician is working on something else, and you’re left paying for people to sit around twiddling their thumbs until their problem is fixed. Medical practices and surgery centers in Phoenix need proactive and expert tech support. However, we understand that switching to a managed IT services provider is a big decision during these uncertain times. Schedule a free consultation and we’ll draft up a proposal based on your current budget and needs.