The criteria you use to judge virtual phone systems may not include the user interface, or control panel—but it should. Your control panel, otherwise known as your “dashboard”, is how you interact with your business’ phone system and needs to be effective and easy to use.
A Component that is Usually Overlooked
When shopping around for a new phone system, you’re paying close attention to things like cost vs. value; included features; compatibility with your existing phones, which points are all important, but how easy will the whole thing actually be to setup, adjust as needed, and maintain?
You can seek support from the company staff if you need it, but it’s far more painless if you can make changes to your system with a couple of quick clicks. That’s why the user interface has to be accessible to make immediate changes anytime, from an easy-to-use online dashboard.
Managing Your Forwarding Phones
When utilizing a virtual phone system for your business, which is a much more cost-effective and simple alternative to traditional systems today, you need a way to quickly add and remove the phones you are using to receive and place calls. This is where a great control panel comes in.
It makes life a lot easier when you can just log into your account and switch around your forwarding phones at different times with the click of a button. Isn’t it worth choosing a virtual system that allows for that, which also has a powerful control panel?
Do You Understand Your Online Dashboard?
Most online interfaces for virtual phone systems now have a fairly archaic design and can be difficult to understand. The system may have all of the features that you want, but if you can’t tell how to use those features through the interface, then those great features don’t do you much good.
It helps immensely when the control panel is well-built, so that when you’re setting it up, you can see the effect of the setting changes you’re making in real time.
Just as when you enter into a relationship with a person, there are some key elements you’re looking for when you decide to sign on with a new virtual phone service. All of the usual suspects like uptime records, minutes, and connection quality should definitely be on your mind when judging competing services; however, the quality and usability of the online control panel should always make the top 5 of that list.
Stephanie
Stephanie is the Marketing Director at Talkroute and has been featured in Forbes, Inc, and Entrepreneur as a leading authority on business and telecommunications.
Stephanie is also the chief editor and contributing author for the Talkroute blog helping more than 100k entrepreneurs to start, run, and grow their businesses.