15 Essential VoIP Features for Business Communications

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is a communication technology that converts your voice into a digital signal that travels over the web. It enables you to make phone calls using an internet connection from a computer, smartphone, or other mobile device.
 

The VoIP uses digital voice conversion, i.e., analog-to-digital conversion, to convert your voice signal. Here is a brief explanation of how VoIP functions:
 

• Digital Voice Conversion: VoIP converts your voice signal from analog to digital format.
• Packetization: Data packets are divided into segments marked with the destination.
• Routing: Instead of using dedicated lines, data packets travel the fastest route possible via the internet.
• Arrival at Destination: Once the packets reach the destination, they are reassembled correctly to reconstruct the original voice signal.
• Digital-to-Analog Conversion: The recipient will then understand the digital data by converting it back to analog.

VoIP offers various powerful features that can significantly enhance efficiency and connectivity within your business. Here are 15 VoIP features that can transform your business communication.

Call forwarding enables businesses to redirect incoming calls to another phone number user who is available at that moment, which doesn't leave any call unanswered and provides relevant information to the customers' queries.

Businesses utilize call-forwarding features to manage high-call traffic and high-volume calls. Using this feature, companies can respond to client inquiries promptly.

Call routing automatically receives, queues, and routes an inbound call by customer type, purpose, issue ownership, agent performance, and staff availability.
 

Businesses use call routing features to handle large volumes of calls. It helps to improve customer experience and company communication by connecting calls straight to the correct department or individual.

Auto-attendant is a multi-level menu system that helps to answer, escalate, and route incoming calls, connect customers to their desired recipients, and handle their problems. It improves efficiency by effortlessly routing callers to the correct department, saving time and money.
 

Auto attendant provides customers with options when they call in, for instance, “Press 1 for Sales,” “Press 2 for Customer Support,” and so on.

When a business receives a massive call, call queueing manages the incoming calls. Call queuing reduces waiting time and allows customer service executives to handle more calls. They can organize their staff and departments into groups to handle all inbound calls effectively.

The voicemail-to-email feature automatically forwards voicemails from your business phone system to your email. It converts voicemails into text messages and sends them directly to your email, allowing you to read the content of voice messages without listening to them. It saves time and makes it easier to track important messages when you can't listen to your voicemail, like during meetings or in noisy environments.

A conference call is a phone call in which multiple people can engage in a conversation at the same time.  It is perfect for online meetings since it allows people to interact in real-time, no matter where they are.
 

Businesses use this feature because it connects people and clients worldwide in an economical, efficient, and time-saving manner. It provides a flexible means of communication.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) integration allows all customer data to be placed onto a single platform with your communication setup. It enables agents to access a customer’s data and call history during calls.
 

Businesses use these features to track conversations as they can store data like purchase history, previous interactions, and essential information during calls. It enhances customer satisfaction and improves your team's efficiency.

When the call is on hold, the call-on-hold music system automatically starts playing a selected track to the caller. It helps to transform waiting time into an enjoyable experience.
 

Small businesses, enterprises, and sales teams use the music on hold feature to engage customers or callers. Some companies use their hold time to play short promotional messages about their newly launched products or services.

Number Sharing or a Shared Phone Number allows multiple employees to use the same phone number, ensuring customer calls are always answered. It is ideal for teams like customer support or sales, where quick response times are critical.
 

Calls to this number can be directed to several devices simultaneously or ring sequentially across different devices. It ensures efficient handling of incoming calls and simplifies communication for customers, who need to remember only one number to reach various departments within a company.

AI-powered call summaries help you make informed decisions. It provides every call with actionable details, such as the customer's intention and the reason for the call. It offers a whole discussion log summarizing the entire conversation and indicating whether the call was positive, negative, or neutral.

Businesses use this feature to gain valuable customer feedback through sentiment analysis and identify areas for improvement, which helps to understand customer needs and improve satisfaction.

The call whisper feature provides real-time guidance to your team. Sometimes, the agent lacks knowledge regarding any issues, so you can guide them privately without disturbing them.
 

Businesses use call-whispering features, so managers can hear what agents are saying to customers without the customer being aware of it. It enhances customer experience and resolves the conflicts between customer and agent.

Custom greetings are recorded audio messages that play during the call to welcome the callers; businesses use professional greeting messages, which leave a great first impression and give customers a good experience.
 

Custom greetings give callers the information they need and direct them to the employee they are trying to reach.

Call Screening provides a way to see information about incoming calls before you answer them. It displays the caller's identity and number, allowing you to decide whether to take the call immediately, send it to voicemail, or decline it. It's beneficial for filtering out unwanted calls or prioritizing calls based on urgency or importance.
 

Businesses utilize these features to improve efficiency and provide you more control over your time and workflow by enabling quick decision-making in every conversation. It enhances customer satisfaction and response times.

Call Monitoring involves supervisors or quality assurance teams listening to live or recorded calls to assess staff performance. It provides valuable insights into customer interaction and agent performance, ensuring all customer interactions meet company standards and compliance requirements.
 

It helps identify areas where customer service can be improved and provides a basis for coaching or training employees to handle calls more effectively, ensuring that the business maintains a high standard of service.

Unified Callbox acts as a centralized hub for all your communication needs. It integrates different types of communication, such as phone calls, text messages, and voicemails, into one platform. This consolidation helps streamline how you manage communications, making it easier to switch between different types of messages and ensuring that you don't miss important contacts due to switching between multiple apps or devices.

Calilio offers a suite of advanced communication solutions tailored for modern businesses. It provides virtual phone numbers for more than 100+ countries, enabling you to make international calls at local rates.

A key feature of Unified Callbox is its ability to consolidate calls, messages, and voicemails into one efficient platform. Additionally, Calilio's AI-powered call summaries provide automated, concise recaps of conversations, enhancing the accuracy and usability of call data.
 

Along with these core features, Calilio offers various VoIP services, including call monitoring, recording, and advanced analytics, designed to improve customer relations and facilitate seamless internal collaboration.
 

Calilio offers a flexible pricing plan for all business plans.
 

• Basic Plan: $12 per user per month (if billed annually)
• Business Plan: $28 per user per month (if billed annually)
• Enterprise Plan: Custom (if billed annually)

Apart from a cost-effective pricing plan, Calilio also offers the following:
 

• 1 free local or toll-free number
• Free setup

Nextiva includes call queuing, call routing, multi-level IVR, voicemail to text, and anonymous call rejection features. It primarily aims to provide a safe and reliable communications and collaboration platform.

Nextiva offers three pricing plans:
 

• Basic: $25.95 per user per month
• Professional: $30.95 per user per month
• Enterprise: $40.95 per user per month

RingCentral is a virtual contact center that provides an open and secure place for making group work straightforward. It allows businesses to send and receive texts or calls across multiple devices and offers business phone or toll-free numbers at no cost.

RingCentral offers three pricing plans:
 

• Core: $30 per user per month
• Advanced: $35 per user per month
• Ultra: $45 per user per month

CallHippo assists in increasing agent productivity, automating workflows, and tracking team performance. It offers a power dialer, IVR, call barging, number masking, and call whispering features.

CallHippo offers three pricing plans:
 

• Starter: $25 per user per month
• Professional: $40 per user per month
• Ultimate: $55 per user per month

OpenPhone is an innovative business communication tool offering features like call forwarding, call transcription, AI text messages, and call routing. Its mission is to build relationships between customers and small companies effortlessly.

OpenPhone offers three-stage pricing plans:
 

• Starter: $19 per user per month
• Business: $33 per user per month
• Enterprise: Custom

Businesses with the right features like call forwarding, Unified Callbox, and AI-powered call summaries help to enhance your business communications. It improves customer satisfaction, streamlines workflows, and boosts agent productivity.

By signing up with Calilio, you can use all the features necessary to boost customer happiness and increase business efficiency, such as call whispering and live call monitoring.

VoIP is a communication technology that converts your voice into digital signals. Instead of traditional mobile networks, these messages are sent through the Internet.

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology is beneficial for all business types, i.e., small to large businesses with remote employees, distributed teams, or those looking for affordable communication options.

VoIP is an excellent option for small businesses as it is cost-effective and provides advanced features, flexibility, and scalability.