Determining the Best Phone Plans for Your Business

As a business owner, one of your core priorities is to keep your people connected and communicating. Phones play a critical role in the communications infrastructure of any business, from a local mom-and-pop shop to a large multinational company. However, many businesses find that their monthly phone bills take an excessive amount of their operating costs.

To avoid this, you need to choose the best phone plan that comes with all the key features that you need to keep your business thriving. Here are some points to consider when choosing the most suitable phone plan for your business:

Are You Ready to Go Mobile?

While the traditional phones are still a mainstay in today’s business communication infrastructure, more businesses, especially SMEs are opting to go mobile. Cell phones not only provide the mobility and flexibility needed when communicating but also offer the perfect platform for today’s digital communication requirements.

With more businesses opting for mobile communication either as their sole communication platform or an additional option to extend conversations beyond the office, cellular service providers are offering friendly prepaid phone plans that provide unlimited talk, text and data suitable for businesses.

Research Your Business Calling Habits

If you’re planning to switch to a better phone plan for your business, it’s important to do some research about your past and current business calling habits. Pull some copies of past bills, probably within the last one year and evaluate them to get accurate figures of your company’s calling, texting and data usage patterns.

Are your calls mostly local? Would you need to have low-cost international calls added to your new plan? Would text and data be useful to your business? Are you finding yourself mixing business and personal phone calls? Answering these key questions will help you determine what kind of plan suits your business best.

Outfit Your Key Business People

How you decide to equip your workforce to ensure reliable communication with clients and customers can make a huge difference in your bottom line. While it’s unlikely that all your employees will need a cell phone for their day-to-day work, it’s important to outfit your key business people, normally senior management and sales and customer service staff. Map out your business communication needs clearly to know who should be equipped with a phone.

The key thing to consider is the mobility of each member of your team. Do they handle clients face to face? Do they spend most of their time outside the office? Are they always on the clock? Is their work pretty much about checking emails and accessing files on the fly? Once you understand these key aspects, you should know who needs a phone and what plan suits them.

Find the Right Service Provider

Select at least three cellular service providers in your area and compare their network coverage, plans, their range of cellular services and whether they provide contract plans, monthly plans and prepaid plans, unlimited plans and 4G network. You should also ask yourself if you want to choose a local or national service provider depending on your business operations.

Evaluate the Phone Plans

Cellular service providers offer a wide range of plans for businesses, including voice plans, texts, emails and data. To choose the right plan for your business, start by checking the datasheet provided by providers so you can easily compare the prices, number of minutes and data allowances for each level of service offered.

Choose plans that fall in line with the communication needs of your business and be sure to read and understand the fine print. To avoid more charges, consider sharing and monitoring how your plans are being used and beware of the data trap. Choose the best plan you can afford for your business calls, text and data needs.

Keep an Eye on Your Spending

Small businesses pay an average of $550 each month in phone bills. While paying cellular bills is unavoidable, it pays to examine your spending periodically to make sure your company is getting the most value out of the plan you’ve selected. Vet your monthly bills and check whether you’re keeping in line with spending based on your billing patterns.

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