We discuss how a VoIP phone system at your law firm can improve profits & productivity.
Imagine you're a litigator stuck in court and you need to check a voicemail. Maybe you're a business manager at a law firm and you're looking to increase revenue. Maybe you’re the resident IT manager and you know there's a better way to tie your communication channels together.
We frequently hear of situations like these from folks working with law firms. When it comes to your business, your profitability, and customer service, the way you communicate can make a drastic difference. In today's connected world, a phone is more than just a phone; it's a business tool that can give your firm a competitive edge when it comes to client service, mobility, collaboration, and billings.
In any of those cases, and any other similar case, an upgrade of your firm's telecommunications to a VoIP phone system might be just the thing to help. Internet telephony using VoIP technology has been around for decades, and services using this tech have improved drastically as broadband services have become more widely available and reliable. Simply put, VoIP phone systems help law firms with increased flexibility that traditional phone services lack.
How VoIP phone systems help law firms.
There's several ways a VoIP phone system can help your law firm improve, ranging from better productivity, to a higher level of client service, to increased profitability. Here's the top 7 ways a VoIP phone system used in a law firm can help.
1 - Reduce Monthly Costs by Lower the phone carrier bill
Everyone likes to reduce costs, right? With VoIP Phone service, you can eliminate both local & long distance phone bills. It's one flat price, no matter where you call. In our experience, it is very common for law firms to have multiple analog lines from years of hiring which can add up over time.
When you eliminate your analog lines or T1 Lines and upgrade to a VoIP phone system, most folks routinely save a fair amount of money every month.
It is also common to reduce costs by eliminating 3rd party conference calling services.
2 - Increase billable revenue by capturing more billable time
VoIP technology captures every billable second that attorneys, paralegals, and assistants spend on the phone talking to clients. Let's break down how this works:
- Your call logs are automatically maintained. No one has to remember their call lengths or time, since the software tied to your VoIP service does that automatically for you.
- The business manager can easily review these logs through a desktop dashboard and determine who gets billed and who doesn't. This system is easy and virtually anyone can use it.
- All the account codes your firm uses can be tied directly into the system. Again, nice and easy.
- Mobile apps can ensure that even if you're taking a call on the road, on the golf course, or at the court house, your information is still tracked and remembered. No matter where you go, you're still tied into the system.
- Most VoIP options can integrate with time tracking and billing software. Your accounting and project management will be more streamlined and easier to maintain with all the pieces of tech "talking to each other".
3 - When in court easily retrieve your client voicemails
Attorneys who are in court, in traffic, at home, or anywhere with a reliable internet or data connection can access their voicemail easily, safely, and discreetly with VoIP Phone technology. Here's how:
- Voicemails are sent to your email inbox in the form of a .wav audio file. As long as you can pull up your email, you can listen to your voicemail. A .wav file can be played on virtually any desktop, laptop, or mobile device, so you can always check your voicemail.
- Voicemails can also be transcribed to email so you can quietly scroll through your voicemail in the form of a chunk of text. Attorneys in certain practices, such as personal injury or criminal law, know how crucial it is to respond quickly to messages (and get the client who's searching for representation now).
- Mobile Apps are available for iPhones and Droids to manage your voicemail inbox very quickly and easily
4 - Drastically improved Conference Calling capability
I'm sure you're already paying for a costly, 3rd party conference call provider. VoIP can eliminate the need for that entirely.
- VoIP systems allow for unlimited connections. Anyone, from anywhere, can call in and connect to your call.
- VoIP features a built-in conference bridge so you'll have everything you need to start a conference.
- Conference calls, just like normal calls, can be tracked, and if necessary, recorded for future transcription or depositions. You can completely eliminate the 'he said / she said' and give yourself more effective negotiation with real-time recording of conference calls.
- Conference calls can be exported as .mp3 or .wav files. Meaning the files can be sent, shared, archived, or included in case management software.
5 - Communicate faster if you are a law firm with multi-locations or remote employees
With a VoIP phone system, your staff can work from anywhere and still stay in touch with the office. Sick days, personal days, and working vacations are never an issue with VoIP.
- VoIP phones integrate multiple location law firms with 3 digit intercom to any IP Phone extension and easily put clients on hold and pick up at the other location instantaneously
- You can cut down on the need for receptionist duties across locations since VoIP can link multi-site offices, eliminating redundancies.
- Calls can route to attorneys on the road when it is appropriate
6 - VoIP Phone Systems at a law firm are easy to administer and support
You can manage the entire system from anywhere via a web portal. And when I say anywhere, I mean anywhere. The office, at home, on the road, on vacation… it doesn't matter, you can easily administer the entire VoIP system provided you have an internet connection.
If you need to shut down early or open up late (and indicate this with an outgoing voice mail), change user's names on extensions as people join or leave the firm, or move offices, it can all be done online on any connected device.
You don't need to worry yourself about complicated programming, phone trees, or calling a specialist to handle something simple.
Also, your firm no longer is held prisoner to a specific phone dealer to support your system.
7 - Never experience downtime even during internet or power outages
You might wonder what happens to a VoIP system if the power goes out or what happens to VoIP when the internet goes down. Since VoIP isn't like traditional phone service, and requires a steady internet connection and power supply, a lot of people get worried about down time.
Rest easy. Natural disasters, power or internet service interruptions, and inaccessible locations are no longer a barrier to maintaining steady phone service. VoIP ensures you're always connected. Because internet telephony is in the cloud, the system is always up. Your calls can be routed to voicemail, other office locations, cell phones, or any other plethora of options to ensure your customers never hear a busy signal.
VoIP phone technology is robust, easy to use and less expensive.
Your firm and your customers deserve the best when it comes to communication. VoIP enables your firm to not only provide a steady and reliable communication platform between you and your customers, it also helps your firm create more billable hours, and streamline operations, especially for multi-site facilities.
To learn more about implementing a VoIP phone system at your law office, and the various ways it can help your business, click here to contact us online, or contact me directly at or give me a call at (908) 378-1217.
By Damon Finaldi
President, Tele-Data Solutions
E-mail: damon@tele-datasolutions.com | Direct Line: (908) 378-1217
I’m the general manager at Tele-Data Solutions. I love helping my customers and creating the best working environment for my team members to grow and to thrive. I grew up with the telecom business and have seen the evolution of phones—from the analog world to IP—and the huge positive impact it can have on a business.
