In 1989, Elon Cohen and Lior Haramati invented the first audio transceiver for Voice over IP. When VoIP was invented, the quality of communications was poor and businesses didn’t take it seriously. Today, everything has changed: VoIP is booming in the world of telecommunications and technology. VoIP is now very popular and widely used by businesses, and the main reason why VoIP is so attractive to businesses is cost reduction. Now that you have a better understanding of VoIP, let’s move on to our guide on the keys to successfully transitioning your business to VoIP.
Don’t be scared to take chances and push yourself.
The technology industry is changing so rapidly that current traditional phone systems can no longer meet the needs of businesses. That’s why more and more companies are switching to VoIP in the business world today. It’s time to take the risk and opt to abandon your traditional phone system. Yes, it is natural to hesitate. However, think about the new possibilities offered by VoIP and unified communications concepts. It’s not an easy decision to make, but it will save you a lot of money and your business will grow even more. If this risk is not taken in time and you stay with the old telephony, your business could suffer.
Analyze the impact VoIP will have on certain groups within your company.
In general, there are three main stakeholders that benefit from VoIP
Employees
Since there are generally no long-distance charges for internal VoIP calls, employees are less likely to make calls this way. This has two advantages.
First, employees are more likely to call regularly, which is especially useful for communicating with customers. Email may be cheaper, but nothing beats real-time voice communication. Second, they are less dependent on web-based options for voice calls.
Executives
Managers are not interested in the technology behind VoIP. For them, it’s all about how much money their company can save with VoIP. In fact, VoIP can generate many immediate savings, and if management sees how VoIP can improve employee productivity, they can increase the value of VoIP to the company. VoIP also has the added benefit of being able to be integrated with other means of communication to provide a more complete experience and optimize business processes.
IT
Network convergence, which moves voice traffic from dedicated networks to local area networks, is a major benefit. A legacy environment is very expensive to maintain, but a parallel network saves a lot of money. IT departments can therefore enjoy the financial and operational benefits of VoIP. Another advantage is that VoIP features and upgrades can be provided by the employees themselves and do not have to be treated as help desk requests. From a financial perspective, the costs associated with MACs – moves, adds, and changes – can be significantly reduced.
Choose the deployment model that best suits your IT environment.
The major deployment models are described below.
On-premise
The most expensive model requires dedicated IT resources. Of course, it is possible to deploy VoIP in this way, but only if you have the financial resources. Even if you have this option, you may not want to take it, especially if you think IT’s role will be reduced or if you are concerned that the management of new technology will be too difficult.
Cloud model
This is the reverse of the on-premises situation: In the cloud model, the main options are management or hosting. In both cases, the IT department decides to outsource part of the VoIP system. This may be a financial decision, but it is also a decision based on experience and priorities in using available IT resources. In a hosted scenario, the VoIP service is managed from the carrier’s data center, but the local network environment remains managed by the enterprise.
Hybrid
It is the most cost-effective deployment model. The hybrid model is avoided by adding analog telephone adapters, or ATA devices, to the phones. These devices are inexpensive and allow analog phones to be converted to digital signals and connected to VoIP. While they don’t offer a true VoIP experience, they support enough basic features to make them worth using. This way, businesses can take the first step toward moving to VoIP with minimal changes while still using their traditional phone system.
Choosing the right provider.
This is particularly important for the deployment model, as a VoIP solution consists of two components. In some cases, a partner will offer both, while in others, separate solutions may be desired VoIP technology is evolving rapidly, so there are a number of affordable, high-quality solutions available There are many VoIP providers on the market that offer affordable, high-quality services. It is very important to choose a reliable VoIP provider, so be careful in this matter. Remember that choosing the right VoIP provider will help your business thrive and succeed.
About Author
Cecilia Lyman Robertson is a 44-year-old CEO at VoIP Phone Solution who enjoys networking and VoIP phone technology. She has a post-graduate degree in IT.
