Part One of our VoIP discussion assesses 4 key benefits of VoIP. Although there are many extensive reasons why VoIP is advantageous for businesses of all sizes, the following factors are important initial considerations.
4 Reasons to Make the Switch
1. Lower Costs
The bottom line is that VoIP will help cut costs – up to 40% in savings compared to traditional
phone lines. This is the most attractive aspect of the VoIP system for most businesses.
VoIP infrastructure reduces expenses. Your network can integrate voice and data, removing the need for separate lines, phone cabinets, and on-site routing equipment. Consolidating your hardware means that you’re generating savings by reducing the physical space the hardware occupies, as well as reducing the amount of equipment that you’re buying.
With just one network, your maintenance costs go down, fewer people are needed to manage it, and you only require a single internet/bandwidth provider. As digital technologies become increasingly dominant, it is redundant for businesses to sustain a traditional telephone system.
Furthermore, service costs for VoIP are generally lower than traditional phone service costs.
When voice travels over the Internet, the geography of the call is insignificant; therefore, long distance charges are often nominal or included in the basic fee – particularly in North America. Eliminating or significantly reducing long distance charges also increases savings.
VoIP compresses data for transmission, which means that more data can be sent at a time. One access line can handle more calls than a phone line. Therefore, it is easy to set up conference calls and additional phone lines, as VoIP allows multiple calls across your IP network.
2. The Mobile Worker
VoIP enables the mobile worker. With the “Find Me/Follow Me” feature, remote users can login to the VoIP system to make and receive calls as though they were in the office. “Find Me” allows users to receive calls at any location. “Follow Me” allows users to receive calls on any designated phones (which will ring either simultaneously or sequentially, depending on set-up). Employees who are travelling or working from home can easily conduct their business with Find Me/Follow Me.
VoIP has number mobility as well. A VoIP phone can use the same number from anywhere, as long as it has IP connectivity. This is another useful feature for travelling, and can even make the transition to a new office easier.
The video conferencing and real-time sharing capabilities of VoIP diminish the need to physically travel to associates and clients. This becomes useful if employees are working from home, or are on a business trip.
3. Sharing and Unified Communications
VoIP allows for unified communications, offering possibilities that traditional phone systems are unable to match. On your laptop away from the office? Receive calls on your computer. In a meeting and unable to answer your phone? Receive voicemail through your email. VoIP is all about convenience.
VoIP can share data in real-time, as well as combine real-time and non-real-time tools. This means that with VoIP, you can transfer images, video, and text. Video calling, for example, is a useful application of these capabilities.
Features are centralized, simplifying their management and access. Many of the desirable ‘extras’ such as voicemail, call waiting, and three-way calling are free. These available features enhance communication.
Since VoIP works with different data types and operates through the Internet, network application developers are able to create new, useful applications for VoIP communication. VoIP will constantly be innovating and adapting to meet business and customer needs.
4. Control
VoIP offers a greater variety of organizational options than a traditional phone line.
Businesses can track and manage the VoIP system from their computers, because VoIP uses the Internet to operate. You are able to track variables such as call volume and call time. Also, the system can be modified and updated to your specifications from any location through a browser-based administration program.
VoIP allows for more control over presence. Presence is the real-time notification of a user’s availability. Others can see whether your employees are available to communicate, and your employees have the option of putting up a ‘Busy’ notification to indicate that they do not wish to be disturbed. This functionality reduces the amount of time that is wasted calling unavailable people or answering the phone only to tell the caller that you are too busy to talk.
Stay posted for our next blog about how to avoid VoIP pitfalls. If you would like to discuss how integrating VoIP can benefit your company, please contact us.
