Why Bother Switching to VoIP?

Published on 2008-12-04 19:58:03 by Alan Harten

Global village Most business owners are probably very happy with the service they are currently enjoying from their choice of telephone company. They were probably able to cut some sort of deal that allowed them extra features, and depending on the company different lower call rates for different long-distance and international locations.

The phone bill may be fairly high, but the service is good so you have to expect to pay a premium, and you probably have some extra features like call waiting, voice mail and maybe some more exotic additions like three way calling.

Complacent, Not Happy

Therefore, all in all, you would be happy, and it's true that you are receiving a fair deal. The reason that you are feeling happy, or maybe a better word would be complacent, is because you do not yet comprehend the benefits of business communications making use of Voice Over Internet Protocol or, as it is better known VoIP.

There are several solid business reasons why switching to VoIP can offer considerable financial and other benefits for business communications above the regular telephone. Your company could see particular benefits that you make large numbers of long distance or international calls, or if you make a lot of calls to mobile phones from your office landline.

China 1p a Minute

International calls are particularly cost-effective making use of VoIP telephone calls, for example a call to an Indian phone will cost 6p per minute, a landline in Italy just 2p per minute, astonishingly, calling a phone in China can cost as little as 1p.

Not only that, you can actually take your VoIP IP phone with you wherever you go, so if you are miles away, or even two continents away from the office you will still be paying pennies for your call facilities, with VoIP your location is irrelevant, you are not tied to the landline or mobile service in your home country.

This is especially effective if you have workers out on the road, allowing you to keep in contact with them at all times for extremely low rates. The same is true if you have employees that travel abroad for sales meetings are perhaps long distance truck drivers.

Businesses can benefit greatly from VoIP services if they have high volumes of long distance calls, or they want to integrate all of their computer systems together including their telephone, VoIP also makes the actual phone number very mobile allowing it to be used both inside or outside the office.

Most businesses rely heavily on phone calls to keep them up and running and in profit. Many businesses now make very large numbers of calls, often long-distance or, depending on the type of business, large numbers of international calls.

VoIP is “Local” and Flexible

The first effect of VoIP is to dramatically lower the cost of these calls; the next benefit is that VoIP is extremely flexible and very capable of interweaving with other business applications. Another advantage is that one telephone number can be used regardless of the actual location of head office or other branches.

This can also be very effective in giving a company the appearance of being “local” by simply selecting a telephone number in an area in which you require a presence. This way VoIP allows businesses to have telephone numbers in different cities or even in different countries, with VoIP, businesses only have to pay for the call at local rates.

Security is an issue that many businesses are rightly concerned about; they fear that VoIP communications can be more readily intercepted as they make use of the Internet rather than traditional phone lines. These threats are easily mitigated by making use of contingency plans and quality security that is kept up-to-date.

If the company already makes use of the Internet for business, they should already have these requirements in place, making VoIP communications very safe and hacker resistant.

High Quality Calls

If you have reasonably constant high-speed broadband connections, VoIP is effective with few dropped calls, annoying static, or voice break up. VoIP is generally more consistent in terms of quality than mobile phones, for example.

If you are concerned about call quality, a VoIP supplier will be happy to test your signal and give you a good estimate of the likely quality potential of your broadband connection, but with faster and faster speeds becoming available, this is quickly declining into an obsolete problem.

Like the computer, VoIP will not work if there is a loss of power, but luckily in the UK this is a very unusual occurrence and for those companies who are seriously concerned about power outages, they will already have backup power sources in place.

Re-Route Calls Around the World

With VoIP it is also possible to re-rout calls to another location should power go off at one venue, this is particularly useful when setting up VoIP communication in other countries where power is not as reliable. Thus if you're number in Singapore goes down it can easily be rerouted to Malaysia for staff there to answer.

Many alarm systems at company premises use telephone lines to send out an emergency signal. VoIP can be used to replace the landline with very few technical adjustments. VoIP is also capable of carrying other kinds of information such as sending and receiving faxes.

VoIP can also be used for use with many digital video recorder (DVR) devices; again, the switchover is very simple operation avoiding the need for a landline to receive updates.

Using what is known as LNP or local number portability, businesses are able to keep the same phone number so that they can keep that number consistent for advertising and other long-term phone number needs.

The Benefits of VoIP

Therefore, you can use one phone number regardless of your location in the world; you can use multiple local numbers that are redirected to one location. VoIP communications are secure; conference calls are easy to set up. All of your telephone and other related computer needs can be intertwined allowing operators to pull information such as customer records while speaking on the phone to the client.

VoIP can be used in the office or the same number can be taken with an employee as they travel across the country or across the world. No matter the distance, calls can be charged at local rates, international calls, long distance calls and calls to mobile phones can be made for a fraction of traditional telephone company rates.

These are the reasons why companies should consider making the move from outmoded telephone company landlines towards the next generation for business communication, VoIP.