Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) offers numerous benefits to businesses compared to the traditional phone system. Unlike a Private Branch Exchange (PBX) system that’s hosted in business premises, a VoIP system routes voice calls through the internet.
With internet connectivity increasingly significantly in recent years, business VoIP systems are now being utilized by more and more companies. This shift is largely attributed to the benefits that VoIP phone systems offer.
If you haven’t started using VoIP in your business, here are eight powerful benefits you’re missing out on:
1. Less Costly
A switch from the conventional PBX system to VoIP technology can help your business reduce the costs of communication, particularly if your businesses make international calls regularly. Generally, international call rates for VoIP are cheap. Communication data is converted into packets and sent through an internet protocol (IP) network.
This eliminates the limitation of having only two people using a single phone line. An IP network can be an existing internet connection or a direct IP connection from your phone service supplier.
With VoIP, you only pay a monthly fee to your internet service provider. This is different for conventional phone lines where charges are for every minute.
2. Multiple Communication Features And Formats
Although most people use VoIP for voice communication, other features appeal to businesses. VoIP phone systems allow businesses to send voice messages directly to email inboxes, call multiple phones in one instance until one person picks up, route calls, and even make group calls.
Since these features are readily available, employee productivity is enhanced significantly because they don’t have to learn new skills to use a VoIP phone system.
VoIP systems also allow businesses to pass information in multiple formats. For instance, with a VoIP system, your employees can communicate via video conferencing, voice calls, text messages, and online fax.
3. Highly Scalable
If your business is growing fast, you need a communication system that’s easy to scale to accommodate additional employees. A system that can only accommodate a limited number of communication channels can make it difficult and costly for a business to onboard new employees. The result of this is clumsy workarounds such as sharing phone sets by staff.
VoIP solves this challenge by providing a simple and inexpensive way of adding new users. Better still, businesses can expand their systems without necessarily having to install new phone lines.
4. Integration With Other Service Apps
If your business uses other service apps, you can integrate those with a VoIP phone system seamlessly. For instance, you can route voicemails to emails, record voice calls, make them accessible through customer records, or even initiate calls from different programs. This isn’t possible with traditional phone systems.
Since VoIP systems use the internet, you’ll be able to integrate analytics into the system. This enables businesses to track and refine their internal work processes, which, over time, increases employee productivity and enhances customer service.
5. Cost-Effective Infrastructure
Compared to the conventional phone system, the amount businesses spend on the software and hardware infrastructure they need to operate a VoIP system is much lower. VoIP providers offer their clients the most current hardware, ensuring they have the most up-to-date software to keep their systems running. Businesses don’t have to invest in their hardware infrastructure, which enables them to save money.
6. Businesses Enjoy Global Reach
VoIP systems make international calls extremely easy and affordable. Increasingly, businesses are discovering they can cut down on utility costs by having their employees work from home. They’re also appreciating the benefits VoIP systems play in facilitating telecommuting.
VoIP technology is extremely portable, allowing employees in different locations to connect. Using VoIP, remote employees can utilize features like voice calls, video conferencing, text messaging, fax, and data services to deliver their tasks.
VoIP services are also transferable. Conventional phone systems require businesses to assign a unique number to each line. This isn’t the case with VoIP. If a business outgrows its current needs or changes location, transferring the VoIP system is pretty easy.
7. Maximum Utilization Of Bandwidth
VoIP phone systems utilize existing bandwidth efficiently. Since 50% of voice communications consist of silence, VoIP fills the information gaps with other forms of data from users, enabling businesses to maximize their bandwidth resources. VoIP systems also compress and eliminate speech redundancies, which further improves bandwidth efficiencies.
8. Easy To Install, Configure, And Maintain
Compared to the conventional phone system, VoIP phones are easy to install. Since the installation process is basically plug-and-play, anyone can use them without needing supervision. Also, businesses don’t have to hire a technician to wire the office.
VoIP software makes adding new users extremely easy. It has a web portal that makes adding, moving, or changing system configuration straightforward. Maintenance is also simple; businesses rarely need professional support for it. This is a significant feature as businesses want to maximize time as much as they can.
Final Thoughts
VoIP phone systems are excellent innovations offering numerous benefits to businesses. Their versatility, affordability, and scalability make them a great choice for businesses, particularly those needing to call customers and employees in different geographic locations.
While VoIP systems use the internet to transmit messages, businesses can still communicate during internet downtimes because calls are forwarded to mobile phones or other gadgets. This makes VoIP systems highly reliable even when there are power outages.
