Here are five reasons to consider VoIP in your business:
1. Cost savings: VoIP calls are typically billed by the megabyte instead of by the minute, which can save thousands of dollars for organizations that make lots of long-distance or international calls. Calls between your locations and home users are essentially free calls. Services like caller ID and call forwarding are typically free to VoIP users, and generally mobile workers connecting over a virtual private network (VPN) can make calls from virtually anywhere at no additional charge.
2. Rich, integrated features: By enabling interaction between a variety of communication channels and computer systems, computer telephony integration (CTI) technologies have made possible a wide range of features. For example, employees can receive their voice mail as online .wav files and manage it either through the Web or their e-mail in-boxes.
3. Seamless communications for remote and mobile employees: With VoIP system, all of your offices can share a common office phone system—helping to increase flexibility and facilitate customer contact, simplify employee collaboration, and enhance morale by reinforcing the idea that employees at every location are as important as the employees at headquarters.
4. Simplified management: VoIP uses the same networks that support your organization’s computer infrastructure and can typically be configured through a simple Web-based console, so your IT staff can easily manage your phone system like software application and “cut the cord” on relying on another company to manage their phone system. Changes can now be done more efficiently on your schedule, not someone else’s.
5. Security: VoIP technologies use most of the same security technologies you already have in place to protect your computer infrastructure—meaning that often all you need to do is encrypt and authenticate the data stream.
