Even with all the emerging technology, the phone system is often the main point of contact with your customers, second only to face-to-face meetings. Selecting a phone system that will service your customers and your business adequately is important. You should have an adequate number of lines based on your employees and your business volume, and your selection should be expandable as your business needs grow.1

Your pharmacist and pharmacy technicians will spend much of their time on the phone while multi-tasking. Most of the calls they are on will require them to be at the pharmacy-system workstation accessing data that needs to be included in the conversation. If you are not using a wireless system featuring headsets, take care to place enough phones near workstations for convenience.

A majority of incoming calls to a pharmacy that pertain to refills can be automated and answered by an interactive voice response (IVR) system. One consideration when selecting a phone system is that it has the capability to interface with an IVR system. Also, you may want to make sure that your system can interface with an on-hold music and messaging system. This will give you the ability to advertise or announce important events to your customers who call the store and are placed on hold.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Learn about McKesson's IVR solutions here.
Consult StartUpNation's Phone System Buyers Guide.
ComputerTalk's Buyers Guide for Pharmacy Technology can help you compare different systems side-by-side based on specific criteria.

REFERENCE
1. Phone Systems: A Start-Up Nation's Buyers Guide. Accessed February 15, 2013.