You may have heard of the term VoIP, which stands for Voice over Internet Protocol and refers to the transmission of voice traffic over an internet connection.
You may also have heard of the Public Switched Telephone Network, or PSTN for short. This is the more traditional way of making calls, either landline and cellular, and works through physical phone lines, cable systems and networks.
VoIP telephony is much more versatile than PSTN as it enables voice, data and video to be transmitted to a variety of devices including smartphones, laptops, tablets and IP phones at a much lower cost. It’s also a vital component of the Modern Office, a working environment that supports employees by incorporating contemporary ways of working via digital tools and systems.
As an IT and communications specialist our VoIP system of choice is a solution called 3CX. With 600,00 customers in 190 countries, 3CX is something of a success story and we have been deploying the solution for our clients for several years now.
The reason we chose this as our preferred solution is that it’s suitable for any size of business and deployed correctly, will improve your collaboration, boost productivity, increase mobility, and enhance your customers’ experience.
What are the benefits of VoIP?
A VoIP solution can be installed on-premises or in the cloud and offers numerous benefits:
- More than one phone call can be transmitted on the same broadband phone line. This way, voice over IP can facilitate the addition of telephone lines to your business without the need for additional physical lines. This makes VoIP systems much more scalable.
- Features that are usually charged extra by telecommunication companies, such as call forwarding, caller ID or automatic redialling, are often included as standard with voice over IP technology. What’s more, they are much easier to configure and manage.
- Used with a modern communications solution, your people can take their office phone number with them wherever they go as all they need is internet access. They’ll be able to access and make use of the company phone system from their mobile device, laptop or tablet.
- A voice over IP solution provides significant cost savings over a traditional phone system. Your business will be able to take advantage of free calls and low rates for international calls and long distance.
- Your customers have the ability to connect with your business through a variety of channels.
- It’s much easier to work with your remote workers when your business has a VoIP software communications solution in place. Extensions can be added easily without any fuss and employees can be added to your company phone system no matter where they are located.
- Fax machines are an outdated device that most businesses are getting rid of. But if you still use this technology then many modern communications solutions offer fax to email, which is facilitated by VoIP.
- Whole systems are easy and cheap to implement. Without the need for extensive amounts of infrastructure, VoIP communications systems can be deployed quickly and without much cost. What’s more, with mobile apps and web clients, there’s no need for desk phones or expensive devices, making it ideal for small businesses as well as larger enterprises.
- With a broadband internet connection, a good VoIP service can provide excellent call quality with very little downtime. In the instance of internet outage, many providers support VoIP with 4G or 5G as backup.
While the benefits are clear to see, making changes to your phone system can disrupt your business. So, it’s vital that you find a partner to review your situation and offer objective advice, and then discuss and implement a clear plan to minimise disruption if a VoIP solution is right for your business.
For further information or to discuss your own situation please email us or call us on 01625 613 633.