Business Phones and Mobile Networks

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The use of the Internet for business phones is quite accepted and common. It is slowly gaining acceptance across all businesses. Though pioneered by large companies that saw an immediate cut in expenditures, small and medium businesses have now latched on and are using it to increase their business. Business phones are going to a face a huge competition in terms of Internet of Things.

Internet of Things (IoT) is a system where the computing devices are interrelated with unique identifiers. Data can be transferred through them without the requirement of human to computer or human to human interaction. The end device in an IoT network can be a farm animal that has a biochip installed in it, a person with an implanted heart monitor, or even an automobile that has built in sensors in it. The thing will become a ‘thing’ in IoT when an IP address is assigned to it.

As IoT gains usage, there will be innovative ideas for providing services to different spheres of businesses in addition to business phones. The commercial models, that are emerging from IoT promise to make exponential growth in the mobile network. There will be innovation in efficiency of networks, service delivery, and other factors.

IoT will change the system in the sense that mobile phones will not primarily be used for communication. As the use cases will be varied, they will pose a challenge to the networks to make their system more efficient, agile and automated.

Starting Point

With IoT in full operation, this world will be better connected and networks have to decide their role in it. Obviously their operating framework and position in the market will be the key players. The carriers will need to focus on the network developers, service enablers and service creators.

The main focus will be on the core connectivity of the system where service level of the networks must be managed efficiently. The service enablers will create such platforms on which new services can be created. And, of course, the responsibility of the service creators will be to control the entire connectivity and the system. Mobile networks will be the core point in all these.

Networks Evolution & Business Phones

As already mentioned, just like mobile business phones are cases for broadband, there will be numerous cases for IoT. Obviously cellular will be an attractive operating base for it, as cellular is licensed spectrum in contrast to LPWAN that is an unlicensed spectrum.

To support these change it is necessary that developments are sought after in Mobile networks too. Nobody knows which case will be chosen by which industry for their communication when IoT becomes prevalent in almost every industry. The main focus of cellular technology has been on human to machine consumption. With IoT use cases, this will change and it will require fresh performance in terms of everything – cost, security, capacity, latency, reliability, uptime, etc.

Presently in the US, assuming every human being is a using a cellular device, we have some 320 million mobile connections. Add some 250 more of existing IoT devices. These numbers will pale into oblivion when some billion or more devices get connected in the next few years. Image ten or more devices for every human being, and we are talking in the range of 3-4 billion devices being connected. At least half of these will be connected through mobile networks.

With time, there will be multiple layers of technology. The challenge that has to be met by the networks is to meet this technological advancement

The Networks Evolution

Presently, the networks are evolving from GSM to LTE. The gap between them is covered by 3GPP – REL 1. With EC-GSM, it will be possible to support cases that have deep indoor coverage and also long battery life. These will be typically useful in smart buildings, smart meters and agricultural sector where small amount of data will be transferred to the network. For dealing with bigger amount of data there will be LTE-M.

With IoT, the mobile network providers are also keen to develop their system and be a part of this revolution. By 2020 5G spectrum will be there to support all these devices that will be operating on IoT technology.

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.

What is Interactive Voice Response?

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IVREvery time I called up the customer care department of my insurance firm, I was amazed at the automated voice system that guided me to the right person for resolving my issues. Now, how is it possible for a recorded voice to be played up at the right time that leads us to the right agent? It is the IVR, or Interactive Voice Response, that does the trick!

How IVR Works

IVR is an amazing technology that facilitates interaction between the communication system and the caller without any human intervention. Whenever a caller calls up a phone number of an organization, he is greeted by the IVR system reads out a menu, and asks the caller to choose his option. Based upon the response, the IVR searches its internal database to find out the exact extension within the organization for routing the call to. Thus, you and I, or for that matter any caller, can be redirected to the executive who would take care of our needs. The IVR works by asking the caller to press a key or speak particular words for executing a command.

Nowadays there is hardly any company that does not use IVR with their communication system. Companies that have to handle customer calls on a regular basis are the ones that make the most of IVR systems.

Features Galore

There are a variety of IVR systems available in the market and while shopping for an IVR, you will be presented with IVR’s that differ in terms of complexity and sophistication. For instance, there is one IVR that wants the user to only press a particular key to get connected to a particular department. Others ask the user to provide multiple inputs for carrying out a particular operation such as in banks and medical diagnosis centers. Intelligent systems can be established by combining the power of knowledge based systems with IVR.

Other Uses of IVR

There are many companies that even use the IVR to conduct polls and surveys; these surveys or polls can be conducted on thousands of people. All the questions are pre-recorded and the answers can be in the form of a simple yes or no. Thus organizations are often able to build a huge repository of information without using huge manpower or time. The latest form of IVR is also available with TTS or Text to Speech where the commands can be interpreted from the voiced response of the callers. Some experts believe that such technology will soon replace the use of keyboards or keypad in the near future.

How You Can Use IVR

It is very easy to integrate an IVR with your organization’s telephone system, especially if you are using the latest VoIP or IP based business phone systems. There are intelligent interfaces built for using IVR with IP-PBX and related applications.

Some intelligent systems that have been built using IVR are:

  • Stock and bank balances as well as transfers
  • Polls and surveys
  • Intelligent call routing in offices
  • Forwarding in call centers
  • Order entry transactions
  • Information lookup based on selection
  • There are pre-recorded responses that are used by IVR for different situations, keypad command and also the feature to record the voice for future use. The IVR system also uses CTI to display all details of the caller to the answering executive. This helps save enormous time in asking boring and repetitive questions, and impressing the client with information on your fingertips.

IVR has made it possible to reduce the waiting time for customers and route the incoming traffic in an intelligent manner by modern phone systems. It is also amazing to see how IVR helps to meet the customer needs and stabilized the fluctuating customer satisfaction level.

About PhoneAM

At PhoneAM, 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.

PhoneAmerica Corporation is a leading supplier of advanced telecommunication systems for small and large business environments. A total service company, PhoneAmerica serves 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.

Please 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

Considering A New Phone System? Do Your Homework First.

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Communication system is a vital aspect for maintaining smooth business operations. An efficient communication system can really improve your business and boost profits. The world is moving away from the old PSTN system. Internet based VoIP is the new paradigm in office communications.

Prior to choosing a phone system, several factors need to be considered like technology, telephony features, security etc. Now, this implies that you have to do your homework before buying a new phone system which fulfils all the communication needs of your company.

IP telephony systems are gaining popularity among business organizations as it offers amazing telephony features, uses the latest Internet based telecommunication technology and robust security. Let us look at some of the features that are being used by this latest telephony system.

Type of phone system that suits your business:

VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is the technology that is put to use by an IP telephone system. Depending on the number of users in your organization, you can either opt for the on-premise VoIP system or a hosted VoIP system. It has been proven that it is economical and convenient for companies with more than 25 users to choose an on-premise VoIP system that involves the installation of an IP-PBX such as IPedge, or Strata CIX  from Toshiba. If you have less than 25 users, a cloud based or hosted VoIP such as VIPedge is ideal. You start with a small number and keep on adding users as you gain confidence.

Now, you have to decide the IP telephone system that suits your business communication needs and budget.

Reason for looking a new phone system:

Other than dialling and receiving calls, modern day phone systems are expected to cater to several other communication needs of a company. You have to have good reasons to replace your old telephone systems and more often than not it would be the inability of your old phone system to offer advanced telephony features like voicemail, auto-attendant, find-me-follow me, voicemail-to-email etc. There are several companies that are offering VoIP services and you will have to make a list of all your communication needs before you subscribe with any one of them.

Phone system should integrate with other business systems:

It is known that a VoIP phone system has the ability to integrate with business applications such as ERP, MIS, CRM platform. Some VoIP systems also offer API’s for integration with software of your choice.

At the outset, you have to understand what integration is and what pieces of your software and/or application you want to integrate. Instead of worrying about technology, look at it from usage point of view – you want to show your accounts receivable to your clients? You need to integrate your accounting or ERP system. You want your and your colleague’s schedules to be integrated? Simple. Integrate your Outlook or similar Time Management software.

Deploy, maintain and support for phone system:

It is important to decide upon whether to go for deployment, maintenance and support or to outsource the operations and maintenance to a service providing company. If the company has a skilled IT team then it can deploy as well as maintain the system without any hassles. If not, it is better to consider a hosted VoIP service provider that provides all the necessary support.

Service provider:

If one opts for outsourcing the VoIP support it is essential to figure out who is going to provide support to the phone system. It is to be ensured that the VoIP provider understands the communication needs of the company. Again if the organization is planning to go for both VoIP and PSTN service, the phone system vendor must know this so that they can offer a proper solution and integrate the two.

Total cost of ownership:

Everyone is aware of the fact that switching to VoIP can save a good amount of money. However, it is important to look at the total cost involved for owning a VoIP phone system. The price factor has to be analyzed in a proper manner so that the company stays within the allocated budget. One needs to know what savings will be realized in the long run if the company opts to migrate to a VoIP system. As the business grows, the organization will tend to add users to the system, upgrade the system with new features and at that particular time, the savings may have to be recalculated.

About PhoneAM

At PhoneAM, 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.

PhoneAmerica Corporation is a leading supplier of advanced telecommunication systems for small and large business environments. A total service company, PhoneAmerica serves 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.

Please 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.

IP vs Digital Phones

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A communication system is the heart of success for any business, no matter the type or size of the company. Telephones are the essential bridges for communication between you and your clients. The company has to make sure that their executives are easily available or accessible to the customers whenever required.

Today, there are normally two communication choices available to choose from. One is the IP phone system and the other is digital phones.

IP Business Phones

IP phones are phones that send voice data over the Internet. IP phones are also referred to as VoIP system (Voice over Internet Protocol). It is basically a combination of hardware and software that enables voice communication to take place over the Internet network. The voice is transmitted in the form of data packets using IP rather than traditional transmission techniques that use PSTN circuits.

Digital Business Phones

Digital business phones are the traditional type of phone system that makes calls through the phone line or PSTN. PSTN is the wired phone system over which telephone calls are made. This type of phone relies on circuit switching. To make a call from one phone to another, the call is routed through a number of switches operating at various locations.

Comparison Between IP Phones and Digital Phones

Cost Factors

Initial installation cost of IP phones might be higher compared to digital phones. But, in the long run, IP phones save a good amount of money. Because the communication medium is the Internet, the call rates are generally lower or sometimes free – as decided by the data plan you choose. To switch to IP phone network, some additional hardware is required.

Installation cost of digital phones is lower compared to IP phones but the call rates are on the higher side. The call rates in digital phones are roughly 40% higher for local and long distance calls and up to 90% more on international calls. Again, in terms of running costs, digital end devices consume a little more power. IP phones end devices mostly get power from the Ethernet connection. Although some costs are incurred for installation, network and other functionalities, IP phones save a lot in running costs and thus have a better return on investment.

Portability Option

IP phones are more portable compared to digital phones. IP phones can be moved from one table to another without affecting the connection or the extension number. Even if the office is shifted to a different place, simply plugging the power and Ethernet cable will start up the system with same number and extensions. All you need an Internet connection. In case of digital phone system, shifting is not possible without the help of the phone service provider.

Management and Maintenance

Remote access is possible in IP-based phones and hence technical issues can be solved without the service provider being physically present at the site. With digital phones, it is mandatory for the service personnel to visit the site first and then rectify the issues that have occurred.

Bandwidth

In case of IP phones, the bandwidth is shared between phones and computers in the office. As a result, the system may get slow and affect the performance. So, if the Internet connectivity fails, the phones will not work. Digital phones have advantage over IP phones as separate lines are provided for them and therefore remain unaffected with problems in the Internet. However, precautions are available for IP phone systems such as back-up Internet connections.

Choosing between IP and Digital Business Phone System

Choosing your business phone system depends on the need and specification of the company. If a large number of phone calls are made and you have a well-equipped network infrastructure, it is beneficial to go for the IP phone system.

About PhoneAM

PhoneAmerica Corporation is a leading supplier of advanced telecommunication systems for small and large business environments. A total service company, PhoneAmerica serves 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.

Please 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.