We all know that all businesses these days need to “think global and act local.” But when it comes to selecting the right VoIP vendor, this wisdom needs an adjustment: “think global and buy local.”
Let’s start with the first part of this advice: think global.
What this means is that small and mid-sized businesses should ensure that they get the same enterprise-grade telecommunications features enjoyed by large multinational firms, such as: auto attendant, live call forwarding, call transfer, automatic call distribution, online message access, call queuing, call announce, company directory, hold music, voice and fax email messages, message notification, and call analysis, and reporting. And of course, the system must be quick to learn and easy-to-use.
Now for the next part of this advice: buy local.
Choosing a local VoIP vendor — and in this context, local can also be defined as regional (e.g. Midwest, Southeast, etc.) — is vital for the following 4 key reasons: