With that, we’d like to introduce you to VoIP.

What Is VoIP?

VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is a telephone system that uses your business’ Internet connection to fuel its telephone system. Rather than paying the antiquated telephone company an arm and a leg, you can now use your existing Internet connection to host a dynamic and reliable telephone platform. There are different tiers of VoIP, but today’s most cost effective, and popular, is a VoIP platform that is hosted in the cloud. 

What is Voice over Internet Protocol?

Traditionally, telephones work by sending electricity through the phone wires and phone lines and having it converted back into sound. Today, they have figured out how to do the same process through the Internet. Sounds are sent as data packets over Internet wires and then they are unpacked to make sounds again. VoIP is the product that has come from this innovation. Basically, where you once had to have an expensive business telephone system hardwired to your place of business, you can now do the same for a fraction of the cost by using your company’s bandwidth to send and receive calls.

How Does VoIP Work to Save Me Money?

VoIP presents several options that work to save your business money. They include:

You’re Paying for One Less Thing

Your business telephone system has worked, but the cost is high. Of course, you’ve needed it, but today, VoIP offers just as much in the way of features as a dedicated telephone system, but it does it through your Internet connection; a service that you almost assuredly have and use regularly. 

VoIP is Easier

Since VoIP is delivered via your Internet connection, your staff no longer needs additional infrastructure--such as a wired connection for every phone--to be able to make calls. You can scale your hosted VoIP solution up and back as you need. What’s more, for many solutions you can utilize your staff’s personal devices as reliable work phones through the use of a mobile app. That’s much easier.

VoIP is More Efficient

Most VoIP solutions enable you to provide them with an auto attendant feature that provides directions to callers. This reduces the time that people need to be on the phone. Clients get connected with the person they are calling, while employees won’t need to deal with their phone ringing and causing interruptions.

There are many other benefits to VoIP solution. If you would like to learn more about implementing VoIP and saving money in the process, reach out to Coleman Technologies at (604) 513-9428!

VoIP and Conferencing

Every business needs to have a telephone system, that much is understood. Traditional telephone companies haven’t invested in their infrastructure and it shows. While some telephone companies have started updating their systems, the functionality that the modern business needs necessitates interactive capabilities. This is where a VoIP solution comes in. For a fraction of the cost of a traditional telephone system, companies can use their existing Internet connection to run an enterprise-level telephone system that has all the features they need. 

A base Voice over Internet Protocol solution comes with some of the features you most expect out of a business phone system such as call forwarding, voicemail, call routing, and more; but, when you expand a VoIP solution, you can get very powerful tools such as conferencing, instant messaging, and even video chat solutions. Hosted in the cloud or on dedicated local hardware, VoIP is one of the strongest and most cost-effective communications tools you can get for the modern business. 

Email

Most businesses use an email system for business correspondence. Some even use commercially available solutions. This isn’t ideal as there is plenty of information exchanged in the course of business that would be sensitive in nature. That’s why we believe that it is important for a business to use business-grade email. There are quite a few different options to choose from as businesses can opt to host their own email, or select a cloud-hosted solution. 

If security is a concern--and it almost always should be--a locally-hosted server could be the way to go. Today’s cloud-based email platforms, especially those that come with high-end productivity suites, are created with advanced tools like built-in encryption and artificial intelligence. These tools go a long way toward making the cloud-hosted email a viable selection for the modern business. 

Messaging and Collaboration

No matter what communication solutions a business chooses, it has to be able to fuel increases in productivity. Today, there are cloud-based productivity suites on the market that provide people the ability to work together in real time. This collaborative growth is a main component of the development of new and exciting productivity software.

In fact, the need for organizations to maximize their resources on projects has pushed software developers to begin to create better collaborative software. New software with hundreds of third-party software integrations, real time instant messaging, and other great features are revolutionizing project management. 

With more people working together from different locations, and more businesses outsourcing key parts of their operations, communications are going to continue to be one of the most important aspects of the business landscape going forward. If you would like to talk to an IT professional about which new communications tool would be a good fit for your business--and, how these tools will save your company money--call the IT experts at Coleman Technologies today at (604) 513-9428.

“VoIP is Too Expensive”
Businesses often think that VoIP is more expensive than your typical telephone bill, but this isn’t necessarily the case. The purpose of VoIP is to actually reduce the costs of your telephone bill by eliminating unnecessary services and the costs associated with them. VoIP does this because it uses your Internet connection rather than a phone connection, meaning that you don’t have to have phone lines all over your office just to give each of your employees phones on their desks. All you need to use a VoIP solution is a headset or handset and a desktop/mobile app hooked up to the Internet.

“VoIP Isn’t Reliable Enough”
In reality, VoIP is only as reliable as your Internet connection. If your Internet connection isn’t reliable, then you have a problem as is, so why not use it as an opportunity to both improve connectivity and communications all in one?

“VoIP is More Trouble Than It’s Worth”
Considering that VoIP would be replacing your current telephone setup, it’s reasonable to suspect that the amount of effort put into this implementation would be considerable. However, that’s simply not the case--VoIP requires minimal setup, as it uses your existing network infrastructure. All you’re doing is connecting your phones to the Internet, which takes no time at all.

“VoIP Doesn’t Sound Good Enough”
VoIP often doesn’t sound any different from your typical phone line connection, and if it doesn’t sound as great as you want it to, chances are it’s (once again) an issue with your Internet connection--not necessarily anything wrong with the VoIP service itself.

“VoIP Isn’t the Right Fit”
VoIP can be the perfect fit for your business precisely due to just how customizable it is to your business’ specific needs. You can mix and match the additional features you desire to save money in the long run. All of the features from any old phone company would be a considerably larger investment, and some VoIP features aren’t even offered by your standard phone company in the first place.

VoIP is simply too good a solution to not implement or at least consider. If you want to hear more about VoIP, our IT professionals would be happy to assist you. To learn more, reach out to us at (604) 513-9428.