Customers demand the ability to contact the right person in your pharmacy quickly, easily and reliably. And pharmacists need to be able to organise themselves so that they can make the calls they need to without interfering with customer's calls. This means that how your telephone system handles your internal and external calls needs to be exact but also expandable flexible so that it can change as you and your business changes.
It's not often that it becomes possible to improve your operations and also directly save money but the new cloud-base telephone systems made possible by VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) do just that.
Pick only the features and services you need
Send calls where you want with advanced call routing
IVR to direct calls to where they can best be answered
Voipfone's service is full of sophisticated features once only found on corporate switchboards. Our control panel allows you to pick just the features and services you need and control them yourself from your PC or mobile - from anywhere.
Send your incoming calls exactly where you want them to go, when you want them to go there - automatically. Send calls to any other number on your PBX or even outside it. Call Routing is a very powerful tool; Voipfone makes it very simple to use.
Our Interactive Voice Response System gives your customers the ability to direct their call to where it can best be answered and allows you to customise the announcements as you like.
Voipfone is the only telephone company to win the Institute of Customer Services, Customer Focus Award. Our support team are UK nationals - when you're stuck, we're here to help.
Try our service for FREE - without risk or commitment.
When you sign up, we'll give you a free incoming 056 telephone number so that people can call you from ordinary telephones, 5 minutes of free calls so you can test our call quality to landlines and mobiles and a free software telephone if you haven't got a VoIP phone yet.
But that isn't all, we also include many extra services for FREE (such as call diverts and web calls), as standard, with any Voipfone account!
With these modern systems it's possible to link pharmacies simply, to enable mobile and home working, to have PBX switchboard functionality only previously available to large corporates but for a fraction of the cost and many other versatile and useful features.
But it's far better to hear from a pharmacist who has already successfully migrated to the Voipfone cloud:
Since August 2006 (Escentual) and June 2010 (Central Pharmacy), we have relied on a VoIP (Voice over IP) telephony solution from Voipfone (www.voipfone.co.uk) for both internal communication and integration with public telephone services.
This service is built on an increasingly popular technology in VoIP, providing a level of functionality that would bring significantly higher costs if sourced from a 'traditional' telephony provider such as BT.
Pharmacy Migration
Central Pharmacy was, until May 2010, using a BT-sold ISDN phone system. This allowed for internal calling and the mapping of external numbers to internal extensions. This cost the company an average of £253 each month. Under the new system, the Pharmacy has two extra extensions (in the staff kitchen and a third, cordless handset in the Dispensary), a call queuing system for customers and a handful of other, rudimentary systems; the monthly cost in August 2010 was £87.77: 35% of the previous system's cost.
The initial hardware purchase for the new system was high. Ordinary telephones are not compatible, so 7 Snom 300 VoIP telephones were purchased for a total cost of £699.16. Snom products are widely regarded as especially reliable and of high build quality. Escentual has been using the same model since 2006 and is yet to replace any.
Since the initial implementation, a cordless Snom M3 has been added to the Dispensary (with its own extension) and a call queuing system has been added. These changes required no engineering work and no callouts from Voipfone and, other than the delivery of the phone unit itself, were completed in a matter of hours.
Pros and Cons
Below is a brief precis of the benefits and drawbacks to the implemented system in comparison to the previous BT ISDN option.
Advantages
Regular costs are significantly lower.
Reconfiguration is much faster and can be performed by user.
No fixed contract.
Greater functionality for lower cost.
Stability; should the company move premises, it would only have to attach the phones to an internet connection to instantly restore all telephony services.
Disadvantages
High initial outlay.
Reliance on internet connection; a poor internet connection will result in poor service, and a loss of internet connection will result in no service.
This includes both fixed and variable (i.e. call) costs, and is an average figure taken from the Jan-Apr 2010 billing period. This includes both fixed and variable (i.e. call) costs, and is an exact monthly billing.
Richard Coupe
Since writing this review, Escentual has added many more telephones, features and service to his Voipfone service and continues to save money and prosper.
If you like to learn how Voipfone can help pharmacies, please browse our web site or call us on 0345 868 5555.
New technology can seem confusing at first, but don't worry, we are here to help!
Your call, email or chat will be handled by one of our real live
customer services representatives - no AI, no bots!
You can speak to one of our Customer Service representatives by calling our dedicated Customer service line on 0345 868 5555 and we will be happy to answer any questions you have.
Log in to your online control panel to configure your services. With Voipfone's online control panel you can manage your account in real time, from your PC anywhere in the world.
You can try our service for FREE - without risk or commitment. Firstly, we'll give you a free incoming 056 telephone number so that people can call you from ordinary telephones.
