What is VOIP?

So we are going to keep this short and sweet as the question, ‘What is VoIP’, can suddenly become very technical.

Although you may never have heard of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) there is an excellent chance you are or have already used it within the consumer world. If you have ever used Skype, Google Hangouts or Facetime, then you will undoubtedly have been using VoIP.

VoIP uses internet connectivity instead of the old fashioned telephone line.

Using any common Broadband service with enough bandwidth can reduce costs immediately and remove the tether of a traditional office based telephony system.

VoIP is used in many large enterprise businesses as it offers them a large cost saving when they have many international offices. Calls between offices are carried via the internet so have no additional cost to the one already incurred to allow each business location access to the Internet. Many of the larger Enterprises are likely to have some form of hybrid system in place, using traditional lines locally and VoIP to enable office to office calls for free.

VoIP is now available to all businesses and should be considered for any Small Medium Business (SMB) when looking at implementing or replacing a phone system.

VoIP can provide many features for a growing business that traditional systems which use telephone lines (such as ISDN and physical Phone Branch Exchange (PBX) hardware on premise) cannot easily deliver.

1. Reduced cost
2. Flexibility
3. Ease of Management
4. Enhanced Usability

VoIP can be purchase using physical hardware in a hybrid mix on a site or can use cloud-based systems, like Ring Central, which MirrorSphere use.

A Cloud-based VoIP solution helps financially as there is no capital outlay, and you can scale up and down as required.

You don’t even need to purchase the traditional physical phones, you could issue soft-phones (software programmes which allow the user to make calls on a range of devices) to all staff or perhaps purchase a single physical phone for the reception desk.

Another immediate cost reduction can be the removal of additional phone lines. You only need the one line that is providing your internet. None if you are not using broadband, but a leased line.

The Mobile Application provides enhanced features, like starting a conference call with up to six over callers, video conferencing and sending a fax.

The soft-phone application is available for both Windows and Mac devices. It provides all the same features as the Mobile Application with a couple of usability enhancements.

Traditional Desk, cordless and conference phones are available from VOIP providers, whether cloud or on premise.

In the newest release, 8.1 due shortly, it will provide hot desking on some of the VOIP phones, like this Polycom. A user can sign in and then their extension and calls for them will be sent to that phone for the duration of their stay.

VoIP can allow for flexible working, with employees being able to use their mobile phone or an app on a laptop to make and receive internal calls as though they were still in the office. Accessing cloud-based VoIp offerings can save businesses money on high mobile phone charges, while allowing employees to hot-desk with full flexibility and ease. Soft-phones also help those who operate a hot desk environment within their business.

Cloud VoIP programmes can offer easy management in terms of reporting, billing and configuration. You can implementing an auto-receptionist to managing end users devices, be that physical phones or soft-phones.

With physical phones, a phone is assigned an extension number, and that phone can be moved from desk to desk, just by disconnecting it from the network point and reconnecting it.

Most VoIP enabled systems, either on premise or cloud based, have an interface to allow easy assignment of phones and extension to users. Always check the interface before signing up to a particular provider as some systems are far easier to use and have had lots of development to ensure that the management interface is intuitive compared to other providers.

The difference between the Cloud Interface of Ring Central and the On-premise system is striking. With an eight week update cycle on Ring Central, to the totally manual update, if one is available, for the on-premise shows how fast system can change.

Reporting can be very detailed and can show calls as they are happening and also provides a daily summary of inbound and outbound traffic. I will do another blog on that in the future.

Restrictions can also be imposed directly from the cloud interface. like premium numbers can be banned or all or some international numbers.

This will also help ensure that employees do not need to use mobile phones (either personal or business) and allows all outgoing calls be made from the business number or the employee’s direct dial number.

Cloud providers also offer additional features, like the ability to have a local phone number assigned and displayed during calls.

Do not forget that when having hardware onsite, new features or updates can be a costly exercise, whereas Cloud offerings provide improvements every 8 weeks or so.

A new law introduced on the 16th May 2016, states that any unsolicited calls must display a number. If your business is a marketing or sales driven organisation, then having a central number is now becoming essential. If you are using a mobile phone, either private or provided by the company, that phone number is exposed. Additionally, a recipient may be hesitant about taking a call from an unrecognised mobile number.

A phone system such as Ring Central allows you to have a non-geographical number or a local number. From our experience, when dealing with local businesses, it is more likely that the call is answered if it comes from a number local to the customer.

Having a single number displayed when calling provides a single contactable number for your customers to use and can stop customers calling just one particular person for help on a particular topic, which can lead to customer frustration if that person is unavailable.

A single published phone number can provide a very professional appearance to your existing and future customers and can provide an auto-receptionist to direct calls to the correct department.

Phones are still a core component of any business, and having a system that is cost-effective, flexible and easy for your employees to use and manage makes it a very compelling proposition.

If you are in the market for a new phone system, whether this is your first or a replacement, do not overlook cloud based PBX VoIP systems.

For more Information on choosing a new Telephone system, visit our IT Project and Services page and let us know there..