You don’t have to travel far to hear lots of talk about modern advances in telecommunications. Maybe in the offices of your business, employees are wondering if they will ever benefit from the wonders of digital technologies? Let’s connect to an emerging new type of phone system VoIP, to see how it could save you money, improve efficiency and show off a professional image.
Our guide to VoIP starts with the obvious question; what is it? Voice over Internet Protocol enables internal and external telephone calls to be made and received via an internet-protocol network. No national providers, no crackly landlines, no hassle. Better still, no high-priced calls. In fact, in many cases, phone calls between VoIP phones are free, due to their negligible cost. Unlike traditional landline calls, an identifiable ‘packet’ of digital audio data is sent to the receiver and reassembled at their end, to provide the information needed to have the communication. VoIP can slash your telephone bills, including international calls, to a fraction of its current burden.
One of the many advantages of installing a VoIP phone system is that you would be future-proofing your business and this saves money in the long run. Also, traditional landlines do not receive updates, unlike VoIP. This means your phone system is always running at optimum efficiency. Tradition has it that analogue phone lines are sold to businesses in bundles. This means you pay for lines that are surplus to requirements. This is inefficient and uneconomical. Step forward the portable genius of VoIP. Moving upstairs to the Director’s office? No problem, you simply take the same VoIP phone number with you. Want your sales team to make and receive calls via their tablets on the move? How about the new Director cutting deals from a sun-soaked beach? All whilst making huge cost savings? Thought so. Say hello to your new best friend, VoIP.
There are two regular VoIP options; ‘on premises’ or ‘cloud-based’. There is no need to fear this technological language, as the choice is clear. The former means that all hardware needs to stay on your premises and you would need expert staff to undertake regular maintenance. This could cost you big chunks of time and money and could make you question whether a change has done you good. A cost-effective alternative is operating VoIP via the Cloud. Quick and easy to setup, configuring a hosted VoIP service avoids the capital expenditure and storage issues of on-premises systems. You will need to check that your corporate internet connection is suitable for VoIP and all the extra traffic that will be coming your way, now that you have everything in place to turbocharge your sales. VoIP brings your business to the technological frontline, showing customers and competitors alike that you are trading with efficiency and excellence in mind.