Business VoIP services are already being hailed as the rightful successors to the traditional phone services. Many large enterprises have already integrated VoIP into their networks and with more sophisticated, affordable VoIP solutions in the market, small and medium businesses too are planning to start using business VoIP phones. This is probably the best time for any organization to take a look at the costs and benefits of business VoIP service and determine if it is right for them.
All that’s good with a business VoIP phone….
The most well-known and compelling reason for most businesses to consider VoIP is cost savings. A business VoIP service saves costs for a company on local calls and long-distance calls, which include both domestic and international calls. In particular if the company has many branches, within the country or overseas, then it makes a lot of business sense to go in for a VoIP solution as calls to and from the same provider are often free – similar to cell phone plans.
Other than cost-savings, business VoIP service offers many sophisticated value-added services which make it attractive. For example, a business VoIP phone service does not depend on the location. Whether you are calling an employee in an office a few thousand miles away or a local client, with a business VoIP phone, no extra cables are needed which means there are no extra costs. Also, you can carry your business VoIP phone number with you when you travel. No wonder it is called a virtual number! Where a Wi-Fi network is available, you could log into it and use your business VoIP service to start making and receiving phone calls. The same facility could be extended to mobile phones, which could use the VoIP network to make calls instead of standard mobile operators.
The biggest advantage of business VoIP service over traditional phone services is the complete integrated communications solution that it offers. With a business VoIP phone, it is possible to – make cheap domestic and international voice calls; take advantage of both audio and video conferencing; have features like call forwarding and call waiting; have voice messages and fax messages sent to your email address – and much more.
What’s not so good with a business VoIP phone…
While a business may benefit considerably with the cost-savings and additional features that a business VoIP phone service offers, there are certain cost factors, which need to be taken into account.
A business VoIP service is clearly dependent on power supply, implying that if there is no power, you will not be able to make or receive phone calls. This would mean you need a UPS to keep the business VoIP phone active during power outages and you would need a back-up PSTN line, just in case of emergencies.
Quality of voice in a business VoIP service had been an issue for some time, with complaints of echoes and jitters, etc. However, with VoIP solutions becoming more stable and mainstream now, you could get fairly good quality voice even on your business VoIP phone.
A converged network carrying both voice and data could raise issues of insufficient bandwidth, especially for small and medium business who typically have only one broadband line.
For any business, moving to a business VoIP phone service may be inevitable, but choosing a proper service provider will allow the company to seek features that will bring it immediate benefits, leaving a more comprehensive implementation for later.
Resource Box: Business VoIP can save a company thousands of dollars a year, some report savings of up to 80%. For smaller businesses a look at the benefits of a Business VoIP solution helps to see the advantages this new technology enables.
