Imagine your traditional phone system as an old station wagon—it’s reliable, but not exactly full of features. What if you could upgrade to a sleek, high-performance sports car—or a VoIP phone system?
It’s fast, it’s versatile, and it’s packed with modern conveniences ready to take your communication highway by storm. Buckle up for the ride as we explore five unique benefits VoIP brings to the fast lane of today’s business world.
Remember dial up internet? Me too. VoIP was first introduced when internet speeds and bandwidth were low. And guess what? It didn’t work that well. The proliferation of VoIP really began when Internet Service Providers started offering low-cost, high-speed internet that it requires to operate reliably.
VoIP works by taking your analog voice signal and converting it to a digital voice signal. It then compresses it and off it goes on your high-speed internet connection. Your VoIP provider receives this voice signal and is able to connect it to other telephone networks.
What Are VoIP Phone Systems?
VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is a technology that allows users to make and receive phone calls over the Internet instead of traditional telephone lines. This means that instead of using traditional copper wires, VoIP utilizes digital signals that are transmitted over the Internet.
The cutting-edge technology of VoIP hasn’t gone unnoticed in today’s business world. Here are 5 unique benefits that VoIP phone systems offer your company.
- Cost Efficiency
VoIP systems provide a significant return on investment (ROI) through cost efficiency. Traditional telephone systems require a large upfront investment in infrastructure, including expensive hardware and installation costs.
However, VoIP operates on pre-existing internet infrastructure, eliminating the need for substantial capital expenditure. The only necessary hardware is a VoIP-enabled device (a headset or smartphone). Plus, long-distance calls are also significantly cheaper compared to traditional telephony rates.
- Advanced Features and Flexibility
VoIP systems offer a wide range of advanced features that traditional phone systems do not. These include:
Voicemail-to-email transcription
Call forwarding and routing
Virtual faxing
Video conferencing capabilities
And more!
- Mobility and Remote Work
VoIP phone systems allow for seamless communication from anywhere with an internet connection. This makes remote work and mobility a breeze since employees can use their VoIP-enabled devices to stay connected to the office at all times.
- Enhanced Call Quality and Reliability
With VoIP, calls are transmitted in high definition over the internet, resulting in superior call quality. And since VoIP systems rely on redundant internet connections, they also offer increased reliability compared to traditional phone lines.
- Scalability
As your company grows, you can add more lines and features to accommodate your expanding communication needs without any significant infrastructure changes. This scalability allows for a seamless transition and eliminates the need to invest in new equipment or hardware.
- Easy to Manage
VoIP phone systems are designed for straightforward use. Administrators and employees can adopt fast and will learn new features as they go, without feeling like they need a degree in telecommunications.
Employees who are used to a traditional phone system will find that VoIP phone systems are easy to operate. They were designed for two users in mind. The first user in mind is the ‘change is hard’ user. For them, VoIP systems were built to emulate certain functions of the traditional system that you’re coming from. The feature Call Park was designed for users that are used to ‘multiple lines’ with visual indicators on their phones.
The second user is the ‘change is exciting’ user. VoIP phone systems provide user level access like never before (of course only if your administrator permits it). Some users want more control over their phone and extension. Changing your answering rules, running your own reports, adjusting time frames and perhaps even uploading your own hold music are all things that are easily accomplished with VoIP.
Administrator access and programming has changed drastically. The ease of moves adds and changes have opened many doors for VoIP. Administrators now have the power to perform phone system changes without the fear they are going to take the whole system down.
Most traditional phone systems make it difficult (and sometimes dangerous) to make changes. Unless you have an extremely responsive partner, those changes could take days and cost you every time. With VoIP, changes are at your fingertips and better yet, free! Even if you rely on your VoIP partner for small changes, they should not be charging for simple requests because of the simplicity. Of course, every vendor is different.
- Effective Communication
Because of the robust features a VoIP phone system offers, the communication within your business will be more effective. For example, you can have a phone call be sent to your desk phone for the first few rings, then to your mobile phone, tablet, or laptop if the call goes unanswered – or how about have them all ring simultaneously?
You will never miss important phone calls and you’ll spend less time checking your voicemail. With your employees working from a range of locations such as their home, within the office, or around the world, effective communication is crucial to the success of your business.
- Easy Setup
A major benefit of VoIP phone systems are that they are incredibly easy to install. There is no need to have a technician running phone wire throughout your office. Instead, IP phones are virtually plug-and-play and use your existing ethernet (Cat5 or Cat6) wiring instead of their own dedicated connection. Can you use dedicated ethernet? Sure. But you don’t need to.
Setup can be handled a couple different ways. The physical installation of the desk phones and the appropriate network equipment varies depending on your chosen VoIP provider. Some of the ‘larger’ providers will program your phones remotely and ship them to your office. They rely on the customer to plug in the phones properly and mostly remain hands off. If required, these providers will send you their VoIP gateway or router, preprogrammed, and ask the customer to get it online for them to access it remotely. As far as training, many of them will send a ‘how-to’ guide, but will not provide any hands-on training or host virtual training sessions. This may work for an office of two or three phones, but is rarely welcomed by bigger businesses.
The second school of thought with a VoIP phone system setup is something typically offered by your local VoIP providers. Plenty of local VoIP providers offer their in-house technicians and network engineers to perform the custom programming, installation and training at the customer location or locations. Questions and thoughts related to your phone system normally present themselves during an installation. Without a physical presence, those thoughts typically get lost in the shuffle of your day to day activities. With the experts there, often times for multiple days in a row, your system can truly be customized and optimized for each of your users.
- Simplified Conferencing
Conferencing with a traditional phone system is not easy and you will most likely have to pay additional costs for any significant size conference call. VoIP phone systems offer conferencing at an affordable rate and can be bundled with your other VoIP line items. Pricing depends on your provider, but conferencing calling is usually a per minute rate and depends on the number of callers.
Competing for the conference line can be avoided as well. One telephone number can be designated as a conference bridge. Then, multiple sessions or rooms can be created with unique passwords to hold multiple conference calls at the same time.
Video conferencing with a VoIP system is almost a standard feature these days. Instant or scheduled video meetings with screen share capabilities over a browser cannot get much easier for your users. Businesses large and small have a constant need for conference calls and face-to-face interactions with each other and their customers. VoIP phone systems help relieve the burden of third-party.
- Third-Party Integration
Some VoIP providers are not naive to the fact that your team lives in other applications. These applications include CRMs, ERPs and other collaboration software. Some examples include:
- Salesforce
- Microsoft Dynamics
- Microsoft Teams
- ConnectWise
- NetSuite
Even though VoIP phone systems offer certain features that these business applications offer as well, VoIP providers that have integrations to these third-party solutions are much better equipped to provide the custom programming they tout.
Changing your workflow is challenging to a business and not well-received by users. A VoIP phone system should create an easier flow between the existing applications used. Instead of conforming to a VoIP providers way of doing things, combine the power of each to maximize efficiencies.
Users will acquire more functionality, features, and dependability when shifting to a VoIP phone system.
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