Does your business need to look into VOIP providers? You might think the answer is no but it’s hard for a business to go wrong making the leap to VOIP these days. VOIP stands for Voice Over IP, essentially voice calls over the internet, and it outperforms traditional telephony in many important ways.
So what can VOIP offer your company that regular business phone service plans can’t? Here are five good answers:
Lower cost
The cost of choosing VOIP and providing the bandwidth is relatively little compared to the cost of maintaining phone lines and outdated infrastructure. That means that companies that provide VOIP service can and do charge far less than a phone company charges for equivalent service. The result is a lower bill for your business for the same, and often better, functionality.
Free long distance
You might notice that when you send an email, it doesn’t matter whether the recipient is in the next office over or halfway across the world. The cost of transmitting data around the world using internet technology is simply not a significant factor and there is no added fee for long distance calls.
Easy voicemail and extension setup
With a VOIP setup your telephone system is easy to manage and adding extensions or voice mailboxes is easy. Gone will be the days of struggling to set new offices or departments with phone equipment – and gone will be the added cost.
Faster, more reliable communication
Dedicated VOIP servers are located in secure data centers and have backup servers in case of any technical problem. VOIP service is highly reliable and offers high speed communication – with less “echo” or delay time on very long distance calls.
Better features
VoIP is a digital technology, not analog, like traditional phone systems. Analog systems change slowly and only with tremendous effort. As an example, look how long basic home phone service has gone between significant upgrades, such as the change from rotary dialing to touch-tone. As with other digital systems, VoIP service can usually be enhanced through programming, not modifying the underlying technology. VoIP phones offer a whole host of features not typically available with analog phones. And hosted VoIP providers add features frequently, usually with no cost or upgrading needed from users.
Is VOIP a must for business in the 21st century? It’s rapidly becoming one. Although your company can survive without VOIP, you will be paying more for communication than your competitors and you will be a world behind when it comes to conference calls, long distance or video calls.
Have you looked into VOIP providers for your business? What’s the deciding factor for you?
