Choosing a phone system is a task that should not be taken lightly. You want to choose business phones that suit your company and help to improve employee efficiency. For conference phones specifically, you want to think about the size of your conference room and the types of conferences you will be hosting. Here are a few conference phone features you should not overlook.

Bluetooth Connectivity
Bluetooth connectivity allows you to easily and quickly pair and connect mobile devices to the conference phone. With this feature, you are able to create a hybrid UC conference, allowing those in-office employees on a Bluetooth device to call in from their smartphones.

Call Recording
This vital feature is often underutilized. Call recording is important for various situations including customer disputes and employee training. With customer disputes, a review of the phone conversation can help to resolve issues quickly. For employee training, previously recorded calls can be used as examples for handing different situations. And conference calls can also benefit from call recording, allowing participants to recall information they may have missed or clarify any ambiguities from the meeting.

The call recording option should allow you to store recordings on both the phone and a USB flash drive. Always remember that before recording calls (especially over PSTN), you must obtain consent and know proper recording legislation.

External Noise Elimination
We all know how distracting background noise can be, especially during calls. Choose a conference phone that offers noise proof technology which should eliminate external sounds including typing, air conditioners, and background conversations. Clear, distraction-free calls help customers get the service and attention they need and deserve, while positively impacting productivity within the office.

This technology is especially crucial for callers with hearing impairments, sensorineural deafness, or hearing aids. Background noise may make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for these individuals to hear over the phone.

Wireless Expansion Mic Compatibility
In order to cater to the call and the size of the conference room, choosing a conference phone that works with wireless expansion microphones would be a smart choice. Because participants of the conference call may need to get up and walk around, especially during presentations, expansion microphones can be a great help.

Ideal microphone solutions will have 360-degree voice pickup and a 10-foot pickup radius, like the Yealink CPW90 Wireless Expansion Microphones. With larger conference rooms or tables, two wireless expansion microphones should suffice.

Active Speaker Feature
Some people are good at identifying different voices, most are not. To make it easier on everyone, choose a conference phone which provides an active speaker feature. This feature shows you who is speaking by identifying the caller on the phone’s interface, meaning you can simply check the phone to see who is currently speaking.

Power Saving Mode
Because it’s important to conserve energy, and not many offices need their conference phones on at all times, a power saving conference phone is a smart investment. Power saving mode will kick in when the phone has been idle for a period of time. Some conference phones even allow you to configure the office hour setting so that the phone automatically turns on power saving mode when the office is closed. The backlight will also be turned off to conserve energy and will become inactive after a designated amount of seconds.

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Tags: business communication, business phones, Conference Phone Features, Key Features, Selecting a conference phone