Top softphone features you must have in your VoIP softphone such as call hold, call transfer, messaging, video/audio calling, auto provisioning, WebRTC, etc.
Organizations around the world are in the midst of a revolution – as business operations evolve in response to changing customer needs, market fluctuations, and a transformation that tilts towards remote work.
Forbes predicts that 50% of the corporate workforce in the US will be working remotely in the near future. Moreover, with the rise of co-working spaces, the concept of having an assigned desk in an office has fallen by the wayside. Softphones are emerging as an evolutionary technology for these on-the-go employees, as it enables them to carry their business phones in their pocket.
Professional communication has emerged as a priority for organizations, as they strive to seamlessly service their customers and keep their employees connected. This means their communication channels should be consistent, reliable, secure, agile, and uninterrupted. Besides verbal communication, enterprises are also increasingly deploying video calling, instant messaging, presence, and cloud-based provisioning tools to enable robust collaboration among their workforce, clients, customers, and partners.
In order to meet these multiple communication requirements, enterprises are upgrading their legacy phone systems with collaborative solutions to develop secure, streamlined, and productive communication across the company. VoIP Softphones, or mobile dialers, are emerging as a next-generation solution that is helping businesses to collaborate efficiently.
A softphone is a device-agnostic app that can be downloaded on diverse devices and allows users to make and receive phone calls over the Internet. The interface of a softphone typically looks like a traditional telephone dial pad, besides displaying useful additional information like the caller’s identity, contact information, and history. Other than the calling function, softphones also allow users to access the other features in their VoIP service package – including video conferencing, team messaging tools, and analytics of recent call activity – in a single dashboard.
A softphone is not a standalone solution. Instead, it is directly connected to your VoIP business phone system, allowing you to access your business phone on your laptop, desktop computer, tablet, or mobile phone. This removes the requirement of investing in expensive hard phone equipment. Softphones enable users to make VoIP calls over diverse web browsers, including Google Chrome, Safari, and Firefox.
How Does a Softphone Work?
Softphones are integrated with three key features that are turning it into a must-have solution for enterprises:
– Customization to meet every enterprise’s unique needs.
– Best-in-class user experiences.
– Supports a multi-generational workforce.
Most softphones come equipped with SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) that supports VoIP calls and enables networks to send/receive data associated over the internet. SIP softphones make voice calling possible over internet-connected devices, using a softphone client that offers the user interface for VoIP and SIP phone calls.
VOIP is a translation tool that allows audio to be connected over the internet, providing a basic platform that makes softphones possible. A softphone communicates with another device when both endpoints support the same VoIP Protocol. Both endpoints must have at least one common codec.
Being a software, softphones can be installed on desktops, laptops, and mobile phones, or accessed via cloud computing. This makes them fully portable and usable wherever there is an internet connection. Softphones also come with deep integrations with CRM software, thus providing enhanced customer service experiences from a computer.
To use a softphone, you need four basic assets:
– A high-bandwidth internet connection.
– An internet-enabled device, which could be a desktop computer, laptop, tablet, or mobile phone.
– A VoIP headset.
– A VoIP service provider/ IP-PBX.
The process of deploying a softphone is simple. You need to install the softphone application on your device, and you are set to use it, if you have a high quality, reliable, and secure internet network. Softphones enable users to from a computer to a phone line, from a mobile phone to a computer, or between any internet-enabled devices that have the softphone app. A softphone runs on most devices and platforms – Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, Linux, Android, and iOS – as well as from a web browser.
Why do you need a VoIP service provider/ IP-PBX for softphones? It offers the underlying service that carries the calling functionality. Every softphone is registered and assigned a unique number under a specific provider. While the basic softphone functionality remains the same, the extended features vary from provider to provider. So, it’s up to an organization to choose the right VoIP service provider according to their business requirements.
Similarly, softphones can also be used with IP-PBX to access calling and other functionalities. It is configured into the softphone, and the functionalities are inherited and work along with other advanced features of the softphone.
Top 18 Features of a Softphone
Softphones come packed with unique features. From an easy-to-use interface to built-in caller settings, users can customize a softphone’s features to fit their business needs. Most VoIP mobile dialers also include standard telephony features like mute, hold, transfer, and flash, along with other unique collaborative communication features.
No matter which softphone you use, it should come with these essential features:
Contact directory: Every softphone comes with an inbuilt contact directory. A good way to test out a new softphone is to find out how simple it is to import existing contacts and create new ones.
Extension dialing: Business softphones are required to be as functional and easy-to-use as desk phones. One of the features they offer is the ability to connect coworkers via extension dialing. This is an especially useful feature for joining conferences.
Call transfer: What makes a good business-grade softphone stand out is its ability to easily transfer calls, be it to another extension, an outside line, or to the same line on a different device.
Call hold: Besides managing calls, softphones also display how long a call has been on hold so that the end-user knows who to address first.
Caller ID: This is an essential feature, as it lets users know who is calling on their business number. Softphones provide detailed caller ID information – ranging from a number, name, place of call origin, and more.
Three-way conferencing: This is not the same as a conference bridge. With three-way conferencing softphones enable a third person to join a regular call. However, not all softphones have this feature, and all browsers don’t support it either.
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