Your finance company needs a reliable phone system and a phone system can’t be reliable without choosing how the phone system will operate; what type of phone line shall transmit the calls. A business phone line needs to give your finance company:
Flexibility with your phone numbers– High-quality calls – Business Continuity– No hindrance to growth plans
There isn’t one size, fits all, so please do get in touch to discuss your requirements!
Discover more about your Phone Line Options
ISDN Switch-off
ISDN lines are still used in most industries, including the finance industry however, like most industries you need to start looking at alternative solutions because of the BT ISDN Switch-off.
ISDN Phone lines are being phased out; from September 2023, BT will withdraw the ability to purchase any additional ISDN lines. Between April and December 2025, there will be a forced migration period before they switch them off.
Essentially, you have time to consider and budget accordingly for your alternative solution but it is inevitable; you need an alternative phone line solution.
Alternative Phone Line Options for your Finance Company
A direct replacement to ISDN phone lines would be SIP Trunks or Phone Line + but if you are considering your phone system options at the same time; different phone systems can replace the need for SIP Trunks.
You could potentially keep your ISDN phone lines and purchase the additional lines that you think you may need to carry you through for the next few years and switch to one of the other options at a later date. This would give you some time to plan and budget accordingly.
PhoneLine+
Phone Line + replaces traditional landlines using VoIP technology to deliver voice calls over the broadband network.
Phone Line + is an easy-to-use software-based solution which is updated and maintained remotely. You’d have complete control over users; easily adding/removing users, allocating your phone numbers and changing privacy settings such as including any numbers that you want to block.
With Phone Line +, you’ll be able to:
- Access from any Device
- Manage more than one number
- Use Key Features such as Voicemail, Call Divert, Call Hold, Contact Directory, Call Transfer, Call Forwarding and Number Withholding.
- Set an Out of Hours profile
- Store business essential phone numbers
- Receive email notifications of missed calls and voicemails
- Access Call Analytics
SIP Trunks (SIP Lines)
SIP and SIP trunks is an on-premise or hosted solution for a telephone system that will use virtual phone lines rather than physical wires.
SIP Trunking is fast becoming the best alternative to ISDN as it is cheaper on a per line basis, it offers flexibility and control over your phone numbers and quicker to install.
Any finance company with a compatible PBX can switch to SIP trunking service and immediately benefit from more flexible, less expensive and more resilient phone service.
Our top five benefits for upgrading your finance company to SIP:
- Save Money on call costs and line rental – IP connectivity costs less than ISDN so you’ll benefit from lower call costs; free internal calls between sites and free calls to UK local/national and mobiles. Typically, you are looking for saving of up to 50% on line rental and 25% or more on call costs.
- Flexibility with phone numbers – SIP trunking enables you to reduce the number of PBX’s you need to maintain whilst maintaining your existing phone number(s).
- Scalability – You are always in control because you can add lines, remove lines and split calls at any time.
- High Quality – We can proactively monitor and manage the quality of service across the entire network – it’s the underlying network quality that makes a real difference to SIP trunking.
- Business Continuity – SIP trunking allows you to take your phone lines with you quickly and cost-effectively should a disaster strike.
Hosted Phone System
The Hosted Phone system is cloud-based which means you connect to it using an internet connection (IP technology) but effectively you are renting the system rather than purchasing your own dedicated system.
A Hosted Phone system is a low-cost alternative to other phone systems because you don’t have significant upfront capital costs and its usually a pay-per-seat cost model.
IP Phone System
An IP Phone System uses Internet Protocol (IP) technology and the handsets are connected via an Ethernet connection either on a Local Area Network (LAN) or a Wide Area Network (WAN.)
When you choose an IP Phone System, you purchase the phone system for your own use and you choose where to host it. It gives your finance company more ownership over the use of your phone system but you’ll need to account for more of the time element in maintenance.
Are you doing Research on Phone Lines?
We have collated a selection of free resources based on phone lines. Topics covered include:
- Pros and Cons of SIP Trunks
- 5 common concerns about moving to SIP
- How to make the move from ISDN to SIP
- Do you have ISDN Phone lines? Go Hybrid!
SIP Trunk Call Manager
Should you be in need of a solution offering powerful business continuity or the ability to fully manage your entire number estate directly via your SIP trunks, then SIP Trunk Call Manager (STCM) will benefit your business.
SIP Trunk Call Manager provides you with all the benefits of SIP Trunks together with feature-rich, centralised call control. This includes our market-leading call bundles and the only fraud management tool that financially indemnifies you against loss.
SIP Trunk Call Manager offers a powerful business continuity solution, giving you the ability to manage your number estate and all aspects of your inbound calls. Consolidate all your numbers onto a single platform and never miss a call!
Inbound Call Manager in your Finance Company
Your finance company can benefit from using Inbound Call Manager; it gives you full control over your phone line and your calls to you, so that you don’t have to rely on a network operator to make changes for you.
Inbound will help improve your business’s customer service by ensuring all calls are managed by the right people, consistently, throughout quiet and busy periods.
Essentially, with the Inbound Call Manager software, you’ll have the ability to route your calls how you wish, monitor the calls to ensure they fall in-line with any important KPI’s and manage how your business deals with those calls. You can make changes using a mobile app or the online portal.