Is VoIP the best Solution for my business?
You may have wondered, is VoIP the best Solution for my business?
VoIP or Voice over the Internet Protocol is the ability to make calls using the internet as a backbone. Calls are sent digitally over the internet. It makes a lot of sense to switch to VoIP for multitude of reasons.
For consumers, cost savings is the primary driver and increasingly people on the move are opting to rely on mobile devices or mobile VoIP apps rather than landlines.
However, when upgrading to new technology, business organizations must balance a variety of factors.
An enterprise must calculate the TCO (total cost of ownership) for any new project including the initial, upfront investment as well as ongoing monthly expenses.
New technology must be proven or standardized if a business has to afford to take risks and it is fairly understandable that many organizations would wait before switching over to VoIP completely.
However, every year the benefits of VoIP keeps growing along with the pace of VoIP adoption among businesses.
So, is VoIP Here to Stay?
There were legitimate concerns during the early days of VoIP regarding the long-term viability of the new technology.
VoIP may have been dismissed as just a passing fad or as a system that is only suitable for a few businesses in certain industries e.g. Call centers.
In the past few years with the increase in speed of the Internet and faster Mobile Networks i.e. 3G and 4G, VoIP has become firmly established in both the enterprise and consumer space. The technology has become standardized and is widely implemented across businesses of all sizes and in every type of industry.
It will be extremely difficult to maintain their existing analog phone systems and businesses that do not switch to VoIP will find it increasingly and fewer people will be available for maintenance or repairs.
Compatible parts will also become expensive to find and or companies that are willing to provide new services.
Most analysts would recommend switching to VoIP right away rather than getting an analog replacement if an organization’s PBX system is reaching its end of life.
Does VoIP Makes Economic Sense?
In a globalized business environment, few organizations can afford to have high call costs especially when a lot of the calls involve international fees. Reducing costs is another compelling reason for businesses to choose VoIP
With VoIP, calls between employees are free and international calls are only a fraction of the rates than are regularly charged by traditional phone operators.
To compete effectively and be profitable with businesses across the world, organizations are looking to improve their margins farther by implementing cost-cutting measures which may not have been necessary a decade ago.
It makes sense for business processes to be more efficient and streamlined especially in a recessionary economic environment.
Does VoIP Improves Productivity?
Let’s suppose an organization still has a functioning phone system and is highly profitable and maybe they do not see the need to cut costs, even such companies are increasingly transitioning to VoIP because the technology offers immense benefits in terms of collaboration, productivity and efficiency.
VoIP integrate easily with enterprise or web applications so that employees do not have to switch between multiple devices in their daily workflows.
Project teams and departments and any available employee can assist clients or partners by taking advantage of group inboxes for email and voicemail.
Many employees use a personal or a work issued mobile phone for their business purposes and the use of a VoIP mobile app means that employees remain accessible even if they’re not at their desk.
Is VoIP Efficient?
Since VoIP routes voice calls over the internet data network that is already being used to transmit other forms of media thus eliminating the need to maintain two separate networks.
For organizations that use hosted VoIP services such as C-Tel, there is no need for maintenance contracts since everything is taken care of by the provider.
With Hosted Cloud VoIP Services such as C-Tel, businesses do not have to worry about upgrading obsolete systems or tying up financial reserves for capital investment every few years.
When any trouble arises, the organization can rely on us the provider to identify and fix the problem. Quite often, the problem can be resolved in a few minutes or hours and there is no need to wait for days until a technician shows up at the office.
Security patches or software updates can be delivered and installed through the cloud automatically.
Read more about why VoIP is a good idea and what benefits it brings to a business.
Since VoIP is based on the Internet rather than telecommunication standards, innovative new features are incorporated into the technology on a regular basis.
Voicemail to email features, Call transfers, Digital Assistant, multi device ring etc. are important and sometimes necessary features for employees that juggle multiple devices or who work from home/client sites.
Employees being chained to their desks are long gone and most organizations want to provide more flexibility to their workers in terms of work hours and locations.
VoIP can scale quickly as the business grows or shrinks and is better able to support the new environment.
There is no reason to delay switching to a technology for the majority of businesses, that will influence the shape of business over the next couple of decades.
For more information or to implement a VoIP Cloud based System in your business Contact C-Tel on 09-2830880 or www.c-tel.co.nz