Making the most of Voice
The business benefits of hosted VoIP

State of the market of voice

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a protocol optimized for the transmission of voice through the Internet or other packet switched networks. VoIP is often used abstractly to refer to the actual transmission of voice (rather than the protocol implementing it).

The first IP software, released in 1995, remained with Fortune 500s and large corporations that could afford the benefits the innovative technology provided.  VoIP is now a mature, well developed offering which has hit the mass market and become popular with small/medium businesses worldwide.

Benefits of VoIP

Companies are moving to VoIP is because of the benefits. Companies are simplifying their business, leveraging low cost data lines instead of higher priced phone lines and supporting one data transport instead of two. Voice is simply another type of data. This can save businesses the phone guy service call for any changes to the system (new users, office moves, etc). Adopters also gain the enterprise features like 4 digit dialing between their offices, no long distance charges between offices, & remote dial tone to help lower costs and increase efficiency. You now have one point of contact allowing you to stay in touch as if you never left the office.  This will help save valuable time, money, increase customer satisfaction and enhance employee productivity.

The new way of delivering VoIP

With the growth of VoIP, an advanced method of delivering the technology has emerged:  concept of a hosted solution.  A hosted solution takes the phone switch out of your office and phone service is delivered across the internet as an application service.  Its the outsourcing of your voice system, lowering your costs, adding benefits and increasing your ROI.

What are the additional benefits of a hosted solution?

Switching to a hosted IP solution means no longer investing thousands of dollars into a system that requires a phone technician to drive to your site to make simple changes. Additionally, a hosted solution scales up easily for growing companies.  Under VoIP, a company could easily invest time and money into a PBX (traditional or IP based) and expand rapidly, outgrowing a system they are still financing. With a hosted solution the system grows along with the company by simply moving or adding seats and bandwidth as needed, anytime, anywhere.  You are sharing the use of an enterprise switch with enterprise capabilities. It is scalable.  You can rapidly deploy new phones at offices as you grow and just as easily scale the service back to save money in a downturn or in a changing environment. Hosted VoIP also adds disaster recovery and business continuance.  The switch is housed in a tier one facility; you have the ability to continue to use your phone system in a disaster (hurricane, building disaster).  Just move your phone to any working internet connection. You will also save money & headaches if you move. No planning a target transfer date of phone service, just move and plug in your phone at the new location with internet connectivity. This is huge. Hosted VoIP is feature rich, cost effective and the last phone system you will ever buy!

Is there a downside?

As with all innovative ventures and new technologies, VoIP had a few hurdles to overcome. 911 services were an issue but the industry has developed e911 to address the problem.  When VoIP first hit the mainstream market there was some apprehension regarding voice quality or Quality of Service (QoS). Over the past two years new high-definition voice technology has been made available surpassing the original (PSTN) phone system. Hosted IP services are also dependent on high speed connections, making some uneasy over the allocation of voice vs. data and connectivity quality. To ease apprehension, some providers are now offering a free trial of their services on a limited basis, allowing the interested a chance to get acquainted with the new system and experience its QoS and benefits.

How to stay ahead of the game?

As with all technology, know what you are buying.  Choose a respected vendor that can show maturity in the field and happy customers. A reputed vendor will also provide a Service Level Agreement (SLA) (and sometimes a period Guarantee) during implementation. Don't wait to save money.  Add increased productivity, scalability & business continuance to your voice network today.

The worldwide market for hosted voice and applications will reach $36.7 billion in 2010 (InfoTech, June 2007).  With the U.S accompanying 18% of that market, IP telephony in one form or another will give competitors the edge with its wide range of benefits and ROI opportunities. Bill Gates has suggested the PBX itself will eventually become extinct.  Today, adopting an IP telephony system may put you ahead of the game in your industry. Tomorrow your company will need to become prepared to go head-to-head with industry competitors that have one.

For more information, email us at info@slpowers.com .