About a month ago I launched a project to update my basic business communication systems. I took my time and looked at options and was surprised how complicated it was to accomplish these basic tasks.
The goals were:
- Simplify and improve voice telephone quality
- integrate SMS and MMX texting for desktop use and automatic inclusion in CRM system client contact logs
- Diversify among providers to increase reliability in the event of crash, signal failure, or future change in services
- Lower overall costs.
Accomplished so far:
- Use of wireless headset (Jabra 45h about $65) improved the quality of voice calls
- Ported of expensive old number from cellular to Google Voice where it now forwards to my cell phone at no additional cost
- Reduced Verizon Wireless data plan by $65 per month with only one line now
Still to accomplish:
- Forwarding of an otherwise unused business number to a phone service without a large ongoing fee. Alternately, I might open a Google Fi or Ooma account. (I ruled out RingCentral and similar services as too expensive for the value received).
- Manually entering clients’ text numbers as email addresses with domain extension (for example 8562379199@vzwpix.com) into my contact list
Still under consideration:
- Upgrading to .CPA domain and email for increased security at a cost of $225 per year (more importantly, the public perception of increased security)
