4Com Review: Is a 4Com Phone System Right for Your Business?

What is 4Com and what does it offer?

4Com is a specialist provider of business telephone solutions. The company was established in 1999, and is now one of the fastest growing telecommunications providers in the UK.

The telephone system provider is a renowned and well-respected business with a great ethos. They’ve also been named in the Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For five years in a row.

4Com has a broad range of telephone solutions, making it the perfect choice for small and larger businesses alike.

But its flagship product is HiHi3 – a VoIP phone-come-tablet that offers the latest in telephony technology.

The HiHi3 desk phone is intuitive and customisable

What is HiHi3?

HiHi3 is a portable, customisable business phone that takes team communication to the next level. Google-certified and featuring an Android operating system, HD video, and full access to the Google Play store, you could mistake it for a tablet – if it wasn’t for the phone handset that sits left of the screen.

HiHi3’s previous iterations, HiHi and HiHi2, were also quality desk phones, but 4Com’s now going all-out on getting HiHi3 into as many offices (both corporate and home-based) as possible. And we have to say that we’re really impressed by this latest model. Read on for our review, and check out the video below for a quick demonstration of how HiHi video calls work.

What are the benefits of investing in HiHi3?

Face-to-face business meetings

For businesses that operate across multiple offices, or between offices, homes, and remote locations, a low quality Skype or Hangout video call can hinder collaboration. With HiHi3 phones, colleagues can benefit from in-device HD video calls, allowing for uninterrupted, clear conversation. The fact that you can do this from your desk phone is currently pretty unique in the world of VoIP systems, which tend to offer desktop or mobile app-based video conferencing platforms.

Take your HiHi3 anywhere

HiHi3 combines the powers of tablet and telephony technology – quite literally. This means you can detach your tablet from the telephone unit and use it independently.  Whether you take it home with you, out on a job, or move it around as you hot desk,  you’ll always have your saved contacts and call history to hand.

Your mobile phone can become your HiHi3 extension

With the HiHi Connect app, you can use your mobile phone as an extension of your HiHi3. Open the app, and you’ll have all your contacts and call history in front of you. This means you have multiple options when it comes to keeping in touch with colleagues, clients, and stakeholders.

Get your customers involved, too

HiHi3 takes away the need to have multiple communication systems in place at the same time. Instead of using Skype or Hangout to stay in touch with customers, encourage them to download HiHi There.  Every time you set up a meeting using the app, they’ll be sent a joining code to use when it’s time for the meeting.

VoIP and traditional phone systems

4Com also offers a wide selection of excellent business VoIP and traditional phone systems to choose from.

Typical features of their products include:

• Voicemail with email notifications, redirects and welcome messages
• Call recording that is simple to implement for both training and legal purposes
• Call reporting to help improve call flow and reduce the number of dropped calls
• Hold messages to create a lasting impression and take advantage of the marketing opportunity
• Caller ID so you can see the full history of the person calling and provide a more personal service

This is by no means an exhaustive list – the more hi-spec phones have a whole host of special features you wouldn’t even know exist.

For a list of the best business VoIP providers, see our page.

Why choose 4Com?

There are plenty of business telephone suppliers in the UK, so what makes 4Com stand out? How has it gone from strength to strength since day one?

Let’s take a look at the key benefits 4Com can offer:

✓ Easy installation and plenty of support

When telephones form such an integral part of your business, it’s easy to postpone change for fear of disruption. Fortunately, 4Com’s got installing new systems down to a fine art – it’s really quick and will cause you little disturbance, and no downtime.

4Com has a dedicated UK-based call centre, and all staff have extensive training and telecoms experience – in fact, 4Com engineers have an average length of service of over seven years.

✓ Wealth of telephones experience

4Com’s experience not only means it can offer tailored support, it also means it develops unique technologies. Products like the HiHi3 take into account everything 4Com has learned about how businesses use phones.

✓ Great company ethos

It’s clear that 4Com has an excellent culture at its core, and this translates into excellent customer service. Not only are employees motivated and positive, but they also communicate effectively between departments, meaning your issues are usually resolved as quickly as possible.

4Com’s staff also take on lots of crazy challenges in order to raise money for charity. From a purely business point of view, this might not affect you directly. But partnering with a good company with honest values just feels… well, good, doesn’t it?

✓ Flexibility and scalability

A small business with three employees? Great. A 100-person strong call-centre? No problem.

4Com is serious when it says that its solutions offer real value to businesses of all shapes and sizes. More importantly, it knows that businesses need a phone system that will grow as they do. 4Com’s systems all fit the bill.

Want more provider reviews? Give our review of XLN a read.

4Com pricing

As you’d expect, tailored solutions come with a tailored price. 4Com is tight-lipped when it comes to how much the HiHi3 and its other systems cost, preferring instead to offer bespoke quotes based on the size of your business, the features you want, and the hardware you need. So, it’s really difficult for us to provide you with a figure.

As such, you’ll need to get in touch with 4Com’s sales team to work out how much a 4Com system will cost for you. That said, we’ve got a better solution: our free quote-finding service. Instead of sinking hours into researching the best companies, contacting them, providing all your information, and getting quotes, simply answer a few questions about what you need.

We’ll do the leg work and match you up with the phone system companies we think are the best fit for your business. They’ll then be in touch directly with no-obligation quotes tailored to you. It’s a quick and easy way to find and compare the best systems for your team.

How We Reviewed 4com

What other phone systems could you consider?