10 Things That Instantly Become Easier When You Switch to Business VoIP
VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is rapidly replacing traditional phone services. The ability to make telephone calls over the internet has existed for a while now. You may not even realize how often you use it in your personal life. Video calling services such as Skype and Whatsapp use VoIP. So do Messenger and Google Voice. Business VoIP is also on the rise, with many companies switching from landline systems. Why? Simply put, VoIP makes communicating so much easier.
Voice over Internet Protocol makes running your business easier in so many ways. You will find that you have better quality phone service with more options, less hardware, better scalability, flexibility, and mobility, all while the greater affordability heightens your profit margin. That should appeal to any business owner. Do you want to know more about how VoIP makes running your business easier? Read on.
10 Things That Instantly Become Easier When You Switch to Business VoIP
1. VoIP’s Lower Overall Cost Makes Turning a Profit Much Easier
Every business exists to make money. Even nonprofits seek to control costs to avoid loss. Compared to traditional landline networks, Voice over Internet Protocol delivers incredible savings. Experts estimate the average POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) set up to make local or domestic calls costs approximately $50/month per line. By comparison, VoIP systems run the average business as little as $20/month per line under the same conditions, and is usually a flat rate with no surcharges
2. Eliminating the Need for a PBX Makes Starting Up Your Business Far Easier
A private branch exchange, or PBX, is the physical hardware that networks a plain old telephone system. Calling it expensive is an understatement. Depending on the size of your business (number of employees and lines needed), a PBX can run well into the tens of thousands of dollars to purchase and install. It’s the type of expense a business will usually amortize over many years, but there is still a sizable initial outlay.
VoIP, on the other hand, only requires a broadband connection. There is no need for a PBX. The cost of purchasing, installing, maintaining, and upgrading all that hardware vanishes. You and your employees can connect computers, cell phones, tablets, and other internet-capable devices to your VoIP business network, greatly easing the cost of getting your operation underway. Further, because VoIP reconfigures voice signals into tiny data packets, you save on bandwidth, as well.
3. The Lack of Hardware Eases the Process of Upgrading to a VoIP Network
If your business already runs on a PBX, transitioning to a VoIP may seem complicated and time-consuming. In fact, it’s rather simple. A SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) trunk allows you to use VoIP over your existing PBX. SIP trunk software is easy to install and precludes the need to purchase more hardware. Once a SIP trunk is activated within your PBX, you can wean your business off its POTS at your own speed and convenience.
4. VoIP Makes Moving Your Business Easier and More Affordable
An unintended consequence of growing your business can be outgrowing your existing offices. A move may become necessary. In addition to workstations, filing cabinets, conference tables and chairs, reception desks and chairs, supply room shelving, and supplies themselves, your telephone network must also be moved. Unfortunately, that means uninstalling it from your existing office suite and reinstalling it in the new one. It’s a complicated, expensive process.
Your former landlord may bill you for cleaning up all the wiring left behind, since it isn’t feasible to transfer it to your new digs. Then, you’ll be billed for the wiring necessary for your new location. Typical PBX installations can range from $500-$2,000 per user. Your VoIP network only requires the ethernet cables to connect desktop computers to broadband lines. Laptops and cell phones operate from wireless routers. Moving a VoIP network is much easier.
5. Numerous Functionality Options Can Simplify Your Operation
VoIP systems are highly adaptable. They’re easy to tailor to your needs and those of each employee. For example, can you use an automated attendant to direct incoming calls, provide directions, and/or answer frequently asked questions? One can easily be added and programmed. Would you like your voicemail transcribed to be read when listening isn’t an option? What about organizing your time more efficiently by scheduling call-forwarding? Those are possible, too. The options are only limited by your imagination.
6. You Can Easily Expand or Scale Down Your VoIP Network
VoIP networks are inherently designed for scalability. It doesn’t matter whether they are hosted locally or in the cloud. You can quickly add or subtract users as needed, or reconfigure options to a certain department or employee’s needs. You needn’t call out technicians to accommodate a sudden expansion or end up paying for hardware that you no longer use. Your IT person can make any adjustments you require with little time and effort.
7. A VoIP Network Encourages Multitasking
VoIP isn’t all talk. Internet telephony includes the ability to transmit documents and data within your own network and to others. Documents can be faxed over your VoIP network. Emails and text messages can be sent. Data can be stored in the cloud. Whether you wish to communicate by voice, written word, or charted data, it can be accomplished on the same network.
8. A VoIP Network Makes Travelling on Business Like Not Leaving the Office
As well as scalability, business VoIP is inherently mobile. This is not just about the ability to call forward. You can take calls to your direct line while sitting in an airport waiting area or a beach on the far side of the world. If you don’t know where you’ll be at a given moment, it’s no concern. Your VoIP line can be set to ring your desk, laptop, and cell phone, with the first device to respond taking the call.
9. A VoIP Network Also Makes Staying in the Office Like Traveling
Voice over Internet Protocol challenges the old adage that you can’t be in two places at once. Imagine there is an important conference you need to attend but there is also pressing business at the office that only you can handle. The ability of VoIP to make voice and video calls, as well as transfer important documents and data, means you can link to that conference via the internet while managing the crisis at the office.
10. Training New Employees to Use Your VoIP Network is Much Easier
Many supervisors dread the prospect of having to break in a new hire. Training a new employee can be arduous, especially if they lack technological savvy. A complicated phone system only adds to the difficulty. The simplicity of use built into a VoIP network means less time will be spent getting that new technophobe up to speed and more on getting things done.
When you combine the lowered costs that business VoIP provides, from cheaper flat rates to savings on installation and hardware, with the ease of use, scalability, flexibility, and mobility that Voice over Internet Protocol offers, it’s also easy to see why VoIP networks are making the plain old telephone system obsolete. All that remains is to find the right VoIP network for your business. Contact VoIP Virtual to help you with that. It’s our specialty.
