Communication is the foundation of any car dealership’s business, and a cloud-based phone system provides the most seamless, reliable, cost effective communication. Also, it’s far less hassle and allows you and your staff to work from anywhere, anytime.
But before getting too far into how awesome this is, let’s start with a short primer on what we’re talking about when we’re talking about a cloud phone system.
What Is a Cloud Phone System?
Let’s start by identifying what “the cloud” is: this is a rather poetic name that refers to a not-so-poetic collection of servers—aka, lots of computers housed in a huge warehouse—that store data and provide computer-based services. You, the user, connect to this cloud—these remote computers—through the internet.
This short video provides a basic explanation, click here.
When you work through a cloud system, you aren’t housing the servers needed to manage, maintain, run, or house the data and software needed for whatever service you’re using. You also don’t have to worry about backing up files.
In the case of cloud-based phone systems, the service provided to you is the robust functionality you need in a phone system as well as storage of all information gathered from that system.
More specifically, a cloud system can give you the ability to create a network of communication devices linked to a phone number or numbers and route and queue up calls as desired.
If it’s programmed into your system, you can also track information about every ingoing and outgoing call on those numbers, even if they’re routed to multiple locations. Of course, included with this system is the ability to make and receive phone, text, and video communication, and send and receive documents. And again, it all happens via the internet.
Now that you know the basics of what these systems are, let’s get into the upsides they provide to auto dealerships.
1. Greater Reliability and Resilience
When you have one system that all works together, everything is in one place and accessible from wherever you are. You’re also not tasked with overseeing the maintenance of on-premise servers or other equipment.
Cloud services tend to be highly reliable and more resilient in the case of a power outage or other disruption. And, since cloud services build in redundant backup, the chances of your data getting lost are extremely low.
You’re also saved from the hassle of backing up data yourself. No more external hard drives, CDs, or other items you have to store and organize.
2. A Cloud System Is Agile
You and your staff are free to roam! Wherever there is connectivity, your cloud-based system will work. It is not tethered to any one location. In this time of uncertainty and need to connect with staff and clients remotely, this type of system ensures that you’ll stay well connected.
And you can freely switch between your internet-connected devices:
- Cell phone
- Laptop
- Tablet
- Desktop
Want to jump on your touch tablet when you’re on a video call with a client, so you can walk over and show them the interior details of the car you think they’ll want to buy? You can do that. Prefer your primary desktop computer to go through all the details of your customer interactions? Yes, you can do that, too. Any device, all access.
This system is agile in another way, too: you’re no longer burdened by housing the servers, wires, and other equipment that power an in-house phone system. This saves you physical storage space as well as the electricity costs of keeping those servers running. And you don’t have to worry about maintenance contracts, meeting service people to keep your machines running well . . . and all of the other annoyances that come with having to oversee the welfare of system hardware.
3. Improves Customer Interactions
Appearances matter in sales. And client experiences are the difference between making not just one sale, but also developing a relationship with a repeat customer.
A fully integrated system that provides easy access to all the data you want and need in order to have informed interactions makes your communications smoother and more organized. In addition, like it or not, savvy shoppers appreciate and oftentimes expect communication that incorporates all the technology they use every day. This is especially true with big ticket items like cars.
This is as much about wowing clients with your up-to-date communications capabilities as it is meeting their expectations.
4. So Much Functionality
We’ve hinted at this already, but a huge benefit of using a cloud-based phone system is that it is so much more than a network of telephones. It can accommodate audio, video, text, and documents. And because it’s all done through one system, all your data and communication information is stored in the same place for easy access.
For management and owners, this means you have one place to go to oversee all of the communication, in its many forms, that’s happening in your dealership, whether you have one location or many.
Speaking of dealerships, the people behind AllComm Auto specifically considered the needs of auto dealerships and built that functionality into their system. In addition, there is the ability to customize your service, when it comes to routing, messaging, queuing, and more.
5. It’s Future Proof
Future proof is simply a fun way of saying that these systems update and develop as needed. Just like you have updates to your phone or computer programs and operating systems, a cloud-based phone system stays up to date via changes that happen automatically. What this means for you is that your system won’t be obsolete in a few years.
In addition, this is a system that can scale with your business over time.
Life Off the Cloud
Of course, you can maintain the systems you currently use. What you are likely finding, however, is that this requires patching together multiple services on your own, and maintaining every one of them. And, because these services were each created separately, they typically don’t function smoothly together. Also, outdated services are, well, outdated. There’s a reason something new came along.
Patched-together systems are not only cumbersome, but they’re not very efficient. Cobbled together auto dealership communication systems often suffer from having overlapping services and costing more than integrated services—and they don’t tend to even work that well. You’re left with headaches and a leaky system.
A newer cloud-based system, like AllComm Auto, takes into consideration all that dealerships are looking for and puts it in one efficient, cost-saving package.
Put another way, cloud-based phone systems are a solution to a problem that hits at the core of auto dealership success: good communication with your buyers.
