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Can VoIP Work for Your Company?

VoIP phone systems are going main stream among businesses of all types and sizes, and are on track to replace the traditional PBX. The reasons are clear: in addition to cost savings, VoIP phone systems offer powerful capabilities that improve productivity, efficiency and management to help businesses become more responsive and competitive.

VoIP systems send voice calls over data networks using the Internet Protocol (IP) – the same technology that moves text and images around the Internet. These phone systems convert voice conversations into data, which is compressed and organized into packets, then prioritized for routing over the network. The packets are sent over data networks until they reach their destination, where they are arranged into their original sequence, decompressed and turned back into voice for the recipient.

Why Change?

As many businesses have discovered, VoIP solutions not only slash local and long distance bills, they also provide far greater functionality. All communications – voice messages, faxes and e-mails – may be stored in a universal mailbox that can be accessed anytime from a phone or PC. Remote telephone access can be used to play back voice messages and reroute fax and email messages to any person anywhere. Users can even have email messages read to them using text-to-speech technology.

If you manage a PBX phone system, you may have grown weary of the expense and hassle of relying on a vendor to take care of common moves, adds, and changes. VoIP phone systems make it easy and economical to move people around. It’s often as easy as plugging the phone into a wall jack at another location. The move is recognized by the VoIP system automatically.

Many businesses find it difficult to access the information their phone systems generate. With a click of the mouse, you can access the VoIP system’s browser-based management reports. Call detail records are saved in a single database, enabling information at any location to be easily and conveniently gathered. In addition to being able to track calls and improve customer service, this kind of reporting can help you quantify the cost savings of the VoIP phone system.

Your business is a good candidate for a VoIP solution if it currently has separate voice and data networks, as well as separate personnel and budgets for maintaining these services.

If your business seeks simplicity and ease of use to increase productivity and contain costs, or if it incurs extra expense when integrating new office employees, remote staff, or teleworkers into the current phone system, a VoIP solution makes all this fairly easy to handle through a web browser.

If your business wants to become more competitive by better managing calls and capturing every opportunity when the phones ring, a VoIP solution offers essential features such as voice mail, auto attendant and automatic call distribution with intelligent routing. With easy access to management information, you can measure personnel performance, customer satisfaction, spending, and return on investment.

Getting it Right

It is important to make the right decision when evaluating VoIP solutions. You’ve been using tried-and-true features with your current telephone system, so ensure that the new system will continue to support what you need. Make sure the VoIP solution you select can do it all now, or can be upgraded in the future when you grow and need important new capabilities.

Determine how the new system would transform work in your company. Is there support for real-time collaboration, presence, plug-and-work for remote employees, and multimedia communications? How can these capabilities improve how your business operates?

Also look for location transparency, integration with mobile devices, and visual access to call handling features.

After you have researched and narrowed down the number of vendors, schedule a demonstration and meet the people you will be partnering with for the life of your new system. If the performance of the VoIP solution meets your expectations and the price is right, you’re now ready to negotiate a timetable for the VoIP deployment – Cloud, Premises, or Hybrid – that best supports your organization’s requirements.

Let PhoneAmerica step you through the VoIP deployment options, recommend the best approach for your business model, map projected savings, and manage the roll out for you.  Contact us today at (610) 296-2850.

 

10 VoIP Industry Trends

In VoIP industry trends, we will look at the industries where VoIP is used effectively.

IP telephony or VoIP is now used extensively in organizations for the convenience and efficiency it provides. Apart from the reduction in overall telephone bills, there are other important reasons that are attracting business to VoIP.

The cost and feature advantages of VoIP have attracted a number of businesses to implement and switch over completely from PSTN. Let us see which industries are using VoIP effectively, and have benefited from the technology.

Hotel Industry

In hotels, guests check-in from all over the world. It is natural that they need to make international calls. With PSTN most guests were subject to horrendous bills. With VoIP, the hotels are able to provide much less expensive call rates for international calls. Hotels are generally voice heavy in communication. They can use VoIP extensively for their own calls. Hotels are one of the most effective users of VoIP and comes right top of VoIP industry trends.

Sales and Distribution

In sales and distribution, communication is very important. Especially in logistics where one needs to keep track of what is going on in in real time, VoIP proves very useful. With auto attendant services, while someone is managing one area, they can hold the call from another area. Apart from this, it VoIP has minimized their call costs to nearly half or less enabling more communication.

Education Sector

Good communication is imperative to any institution. With VoIP, the cost to communicate with the various departments has reduced. Also, one does not have to call the PBX system to get to another department. VoIP has made things simpler for the teachers, students, and associates. Now, schools can arrange for exam preparation series over the phone and they will not be costly.

Real Estate

Although they mainly work with engineers and contractors, realtor too need to communicate. They need to be accessible to their clients. When clients need any information, they will want to reach their real estate agent. This is possible with VoIP, and communication has become affordable and cheaper. With ‘Find Me Follow Me’ feature, a client can reach their agent anytime, anywhere. Even the agents can be assured that they will not miss any call.

Legal Services

Legal services are also voice heavy. Lawyers need to talk to their clients to understand the case. By adopting VoIP, legal services have become more flexible as they can call their clients and gather information from different sources. With VoIP, even a small legal firm will be able to manage their communication like big corporate companies. As in other industries, VoIP does lead to costs saving in a big way. Legal Service does need aa lot of voice communication, and leads the pack of VoIP industry trends.

Financial Sector

Financial and banking sector is always in need to call people, either their customers or others in the industry. VoIP has made all these communications, faster, easier, and less expensive.

Healthcare Industries

VoIP comes with different features like virtual receptionist, voicemail transcription, paperless fax, all of which are very useful in Healthcare industries. Whether it’s a big hospital or a small nursing home, VoIP has reduced their telecom costs and made their patient interaction faster. Thus, they can offer better services to their clients.

Insurance Sector

This sector needs calling clients and prospects regularly. Thus, with VoIP, the cost of calling is reduced.

Consulting Services

Consulting services also need regular interaction with customers. VoIP has made this easier as now calling customers will not be an issue. You now have the capability to interact more with your clients and enhance your business.

Information Technology

Finally, this list will be incomplete if it is not mentioned that Information technology has been benefitted by VoIP services. It’s true that VoIP needs IT services, but the reverse holds good as well. One of the largest employers of people, IT services are spread around the world and communication, including video calls are very common. With development spread across multiple office, manager need to be on their toes to meet delivery deadlines. VoIP helps in this through virtual conferences and video conferences. This helps project managers stay on top of their work.

About PhoneAM

At Phone America, we have the knowledge and experience to prepare a blueprint for your shift to VoIP. Call us today and we will guide you through the whole process.

Phone America Corporation is a leading supplier of advanced telecom systems for small and large businesses. We serve as a single point of contact for today’s growing communication needs, offering a wide range of telephone equipment, wiring, surveillance systems, telephone cost accounting systems, and voice processing systems.

Call (800) 836-3601 for a free evaluation of your current system and the system you will need to carry your business into the FUTURE.