Virtual Switchboard Services are continuing to emerge as being a valuable tool for small business management.

With more and more small businesses becoming increasingly internet savvy both awareness and willingness to use online telecommunications systems has increased.

From intensive market research carried out by Press1.co.uk, a list revealing the top 5 reasons why small businesses choose to use Virtual Switchboard Services has been created.

Below is the finalised Top 5 list for 2007:

1. Flexibility

The majority of the businesses surveyed expressed their satisfaction at the flexibility gained by using these services. They found that the features available with online switchboard services greatly enhanced their efficiency in call management. Businesses operating from different locations could provide one business number to their customers and forward calls to multiple lines either at different offices or to their mobile phones.

2. Corporate Image

Coming in at number 2 is image. Our participants were pleased to be able to add to their image of professionalism and gain the presence of a large organisation. The availability of IVR systems (interactive voice response) with these services enables small businesses to professionally greet their customer when they call through and then promptly direct them to the right department or person by dialling the telephone keypad. (Press 1 for sales, press 2 for support etc) Some of those surveyed said that they wanted to portray a corporate image to their customers as this can be the first point of contact. They also wished to separate and organise calls before they were answered so as they could be answered first time by the right person. Interestingly the smaller business of 1-5 employees said that they wished to gain the presence of a lager company to increase their image of professionalism and competitive advantage in their niche.

3. Boost in received calls

Following closely in 3rd position is the low level of missed calls. The majority of small businesses value the business they receive and work very hard to attract prospective customers. Therefore find it very frustrating to lose business by missing calls. Our surveys found that businesses decided to use online call management services so they could maximise the amount of calls that were answered. The ability to forward call to multiple phone lines means that if one phone is not answered another one will. Most providers offer voice mail and caller ID via email which is seen as a beneficial feature in that users could return unanswered or missed calls quickly and efficiently decreasing the number of lost customers.

4. Office hours

Number 4 on the list showed that businesses liked to automate their phone systems to run along side their businesses opening and closing times. By implementing a Virtual Switchboard System they could program their phone systems to handle calls differently at different times of the day and days of the week depending on their opening times. They expressed that this feature enabled them to manage and organise their calls much more efficiently, especially calls that come in after office hours.

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