Why all SaaS companies need a cloud phone system

With the changing times and so many SaaS companies going the route of having a remote team there is major disruption in the telecom industry that is generally overlooked.

This poses the question: How many companies should still be using a traditional physical phone system? Spoiler alert: The answer is none.

Let’s break this down into a few categories:

1. Remote Teams
2. Analytics
3. Integrations

Remote Teams Work Better with Cloud Phone Systems

If you are one of the many SaaS companies that has gone remote amidst Covid then you may have many desks with unused phones.

And you had never allowed your team to be remote even a couple days of the week then most likely they started using their own cell phones as their business phone after they were forced to work out of the house.

With the ability to have a phone system that can accommodate your team whether in the office or working from home, yet keep the entire team using the business phone system in the cloud, it seems like a no brainer to move to a solution like this.

Using a VoIP service such as Ring4 helps your team members effortlessly connect using their smartphones without any additional equipment. One simple app is all they have to download, and within less than a minute, they have access to a business phone line on a device they are already using.

Cloud Phone Systems Increase Profit Margins Too

Many SaaS companies are bootstrapping startups looking for any and all possibilities for streamlining their systems and processes without negatively impacting their software, customer service, delivery, etc… Cloud phones systems are cheaper than hardwired phone systems, faster to set up, allow you to scale up or downsize with ease, and are incredibly flexible.

In fact, your team could stay remote! Not only will you save money on your phone system, making your team remote permanently can save you on rent collection /mortgage repayments for the office itself as well as all the costs associated with a traditional office space. All of those funds can then be funneled back into the business to expand your team, increase salaries to tap into a wider talent pool, start purchasing advertising, or pretty much anything you want!

Analytics Empower Your Decision Making

Analytics and data is the power behind making decisions and driving growth within a SaaS company. Needless to say, you can only get basic analytics with a traditional phone system (i.e. one that isn’t in the cloud). However, the ability to connect the dots from marketing and sales efforts outside of simple calling data is extremely powerful.

This is where a business phone system in the cloud comes in. With all SaaS companies, it’s pretty much required to have product analytics in order to understand their customer base and engagement levels, the added ability to to attribute phone calls to outcomes becomes very powerful. While this is something that a traditional phone system simply cannot provide, using a VoIP system such as Ring4 makes the painstaking process of collecting data much easier.

For example, some of the data you can get and tie to your customer acquisition and retention by using a VoIP system includes:

• Number of customer service calls in a given day
• Number of calls per representative
• Time of day calls come in
• Time on phone per call

This kind of data can help you make decisions like: 

• How are my calls and messages attributing to customer acquisition or retention: The biggest reason to have a cloud-based phone is because you can finally connect the red thread from your calls and messages to attribute to your customer acquisition or even customer retention efforts.
• Whether or not to bring on more customer service representatives: A high call volume can mean you need more team members to ease hold times and expedite customer issues that much faster.
• If there are bottlenecks in your customer service: Longer call times may indicate it takes a while to satisfy customer needs. This can tell you if you need to spend more time training personnel and/or see where gaps exist in customer satisfaction.
• When you should ensure customer service reps are available to take calls: If most of your calls are coming in during morning hours, and hardly any come in during the afternoon or evening hours, you can book scheduled working hours accordingly.

• If everyone is pulling equal weight so to speak: If all calls are being routed to one or a handful of people, there is likely a reason. You can then investigate to see if you need more team members in specific departments, if some team members are not meeting expectations, or if some other factor is at play.

This is just the beginning of what analytics can tell you. The more actionable analytics you have in hand, the smoother your operations can run. You’ll have the ability to make informed decisions and in all likelihood increase revenue as a result.

Integrations Boost Your Software Value

Once you have embedded analytics and attribution setup, SaaS companies can expand growth strategies further by tacking on other tools into their growth stack. 

Integrations are a huge part of most SaaS company’s success and with the ability to now add tools and track the success of not only the tool, but their team and their customers, it opens up many new opportunities and pathways to success.

Say you’re selling eLearning software that allows course creators to add a course and sell it to students for instance. There are dozens of eLearning software companies on the market these days. The ones that are integrating with online payment software such as Stripe and Paypal are going to be looked at more favorably than ones that require a complicated third party relationship.

Consumers these days are looking for the most seamless solutions possible to their biggest pain points. You likely do the same when you are considering your own software to use in your business. The same holds true for choosing your VoIP provider. Integrations matter!

Integrations with Your VoIP Provider Are Keys to Growth As Well

When considering a VoIP or cloud phone system for your SaaS company, make sure you consider the integrations it offers as well. For example, Ring4 integrates with Slack, Google Calendar, Google Chrome, Taggg, and Zendesk (with many more to come).

With the Slack integration, you can use Ring4’s bot to create meetings and your team members can join in with one click. No matter where they are in the world, with just the smartphone they’re likely already using anyway, they can instantly connect and chat about anything going on in the company. Or you could set up individual meetings for quarterly reviews, personalized training, or just to check in and see how things are going.

The Zendesk integration allows your team members to invite customers to join them on video calls. If your customer wants a walk through of how to use your software, a demo for the software they are considering purchasing, you can instantly connect and take care of whatever they need when they need it. Instant service like this can increase customer retention, improve the number of sales closed, and improve customer satisfaction rates to boot!

Conclusion

To recap, a cloud phone system is a better choice for SaaS companies because they enable your team members to work remotely, give you access to empowering analytics, and integrate with other software that helps your company to run more efficiently. I’m sure there are many other reasons why it seems obvious that all SaaS companies should be adopting a cloud-based business phone service, but I think these three are compelling enough on their own.

If you would like to start empowering your remote team to be more efficient and streamline your operations to help with growth, check out Ring4 or any of the cloud business phone options available today.

FAQ's

1. Why is a cloud based phone system a great choice for SaaS companies?

Cloud phone systems are a great choice for SaaS companies because they enable your team members to work remotely, give you access to empowering analytics, and integrate with other software that helps your company to run more efficiently.

2. How do cloud based phone systems increase profit margins?

Cloud based phone system increase profit margins because:

• They are cheaper than hardwired phone systems, faster to set up
• They allow you to scale up or downsize with ease
• They are incredibly flexible.