7 Must-Have Features to Look for in an Internet Business Phone

Boosting productivity and efficiency

Thanks to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology, more organizations than ever before can get the benefits of a dedicated phone line. VoIP also enables advanced features that can keep your business safe, level up efficiency and improve customer experiences.

At Walmart Business, we know finding the right internet business phone means considering a dizzying amount of features and providers. This list of important features may help simplify your decision.

Key internet business phone features for companies of all sizes

1. Advanced call management

Call management is the cornerstone of professional phone systems. Any IP phone business worth its salt will offer basics such as call holding, transferring and blocking. Here are some more advanced features to look out for:

• Conference calls allow multiple parties to join the same voice or video call (more on that later).

• Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is an automated service that lets customers describe their needs in natural language.

• Automatic call routing takes that IVR info and send the caller to the most appropriate queue. This can lead to better-balanced employee workloads, shorter wait times and higher customer satisfaction.
  

2. Video conferencing

Working from home has shown organizations the value of video calls. By putting faces to voices, they can help build camaraderie on a team, deepen relationships with clients and make presentations more engaging.

Standalone apps such as Zoom have led the charge on video calling, but an IP phone can bundle that feature into a single platform. Not only can that streamline your workflows, but it may also simplify your accounting.

3. Versatile integrations

Traditional phone lines are isolated from the rest of your company’s workflows. But by moving those communications to the internet, a business IP phone can integrate with your pre-existing systems.

For example, with the right integrations, your phone system could check your calendar applications to maintain real-time availability info. It could even pull contact information from your database so employees can easily make calls.

Integrating with your customer relationship management (CRM) solution can power automations that quickly fill out client profiles. Sales and support teams can then refer to that info in future calls.

4. Airtight security

Cybercrime continues to grow worldwide, with the number of annual data breaches rising by more than 20% in 2023¹. Each of these attacks can cost the targets millions in upfront costs, as well as legal fees, damages, service outages and the loss of business caused by damage to their reputation.²

When you use an internet business phone, you open another potential access point for hackers. To keep them out, you’ll need security features such as end-to-end encryption (E2EE). This protects data when it’s resting in storage (such as call recordings) or in transit (such as during the calls themselves).

Many encryption solutions are available, but the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is one of the most popular and effective. Secure Real-Time Transport Protocol (SRTP) applies AES to your calls. It’s often combined with Transport Layer Security (TLS), resulting in a highly secure connection for your calls.

5. Simple scalability

VoIP services tend to scale well because they use cloud-based infrastructure. That allows greater flexibility in the number of users on a plan and per-user pricing.

Whether your organization is just starting out or already at enterprise scale, the number of employees you have may always be in flux. When choosing a VoIP solution for your business, look for plans without headcount limits.

Make sure the process of adding new users is simple and quick. Balance your desired feature set against the per-user price of a given price tier.

6. Robust analytics and reporting

Before you can improve something, you need to understand it. Key call analytics give you an objective measure of your work. Some important examples include:

• Number of inbound and outbound calls

• Inbound and outbound talk time

• Customer wait times

• First Call Resolution (FCR) rates, which measure how often a customer’s needs are resolved by the end of their first call about the issue

• Agent utilization rates
  

A great business IP phone could even turn this data into reports that track your key metrics over time. It will highlight areas for improvement and make it easy to determine next steps.

7. Responsive customer service

When your customers call you, they aren’t thinking about which phone service you use. All they care about is whether they can reach you when they need you.

So, if something goes wrong on your provider’s end, you need to be able to get their help right away. The sooner you do, the sooner you can restore service and the sooner you can help your customers.

Connect with Walmart Business+

Another key to business continuity is staying on top of your equipment and supply needs. Whether you’re outfitting employees with business phones or furnishing a new office, you may be able to do it for less with Walmart Business+.

As a Walmart Business+ member, you’ll enjoy free shipping with no minimum³, free delivery from a nearby store⁴ and 2% of eligible purchases back as Walmart Business Rewards⁵.

Click here to start your Walmart Business+ membership today.

¹"The Continued Threat to Personal Data: Key Factors Behind the 2023 Increase," Apple

²"Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023," IBM

³Excludes most Marketplace items, freight & certain location surcharges.

⁴Restrictions apply. Additional fee applies for Express delivery.

⁵Exclusions apply. See full terms for details.