What are the Benefits of VoIP?

04 Mar 2021 What are the Benefits of VoIP?

If you’re not using VoIP yet, you may not know just how beneficial it could be for your business. It’s understandable; fashions in technology seem to change as often as the wind, so the benefits of VoIP may have passed you by. After all, smart glasses and 3D TVs were both supposed to be the next big thing.

VoIP isn’t a fad, though. It’s here to stay. The ancient PSTN and ISDN networks are due to be shut down and replaced by VoIP nationwide in just a few years. This blog aims to de-mystify some of the buzz around VoIP, giving a simple and straightforward overview of its key benefits.

VoIP is cheaper!

Since VoIP works over the internet, it is inherently cheaper to run than the traditional copper PSTN and ISDN networks. Our phone systems, for example, include all mobile and standard-rate calls in your monthly rental package.

But what about support and maintenance costs? Traditional on-site systems usually require expensive support contracts to cover the cost of an engineer visit. These contracts often run into the hundreds each month, and can represent a huge proportion of your overall telecoms spend.

VoIP systems put a stop to this. With Cloud systems, of course, there’s no hardware hosted on your site so you’ll never have to pay for an engineer visit. This extends to on-site VoIP systems as well; since they’re connected to the internet, the vast majority of support can be carried out remotely. Engineers will only ever have to visit your site in the event of a hardware failure. It’s a win-win! You’ll gain access to vastly reduced call costs, as well as entirely removing the need for a separate maintenance contract.

Unrivalled availability and reliability.

We all know that cloud services offer supreme reliability. Working over the internet means that VoIP systems can be provided as a service over the cloud. This is an inherent advantage over analogue and ISDN. It simply isn’t possible to disconnect an ISDN system from the copper phone network, so the bulky and complex hardware must live in your office.

This means that ISDN systems are vulnerable to site-wide problems like power cuts. Cloud-based systems like ours are entirely insulated from any problems in your office, making them available from any internet connection. Our systems are hosted in multiple data centres, ensuring industry-leading availability and reliability.

This is not to ignore on-site VoIP systems. While any on-site server is vulnerable to a power cut or internet outage, VoIP systems can be networked with systems in other offices. This means that if one office drops offline, calls are automatically re-routed to your other offices, ensuring nothing gets missed.

Built-in remote working support.

VoIP systems have come into their own during the Covid-19 pandemic. Just a few years ago, working from home meant either giving your personal number to colleagues and clients, or incurring costly forwarding charges.

Cloud services like ours can be used from anywhere in the world. The system just doesn’t care whether you’re in the office, at home, or in a cafe. Nor does it care whether you’re connecting from a mobile, tablet, laptop or desktop. The real beauty of VoIP is that apps deliver all features to all devices. Working from home for the day? Just sign in to your app on your PC or mobile and all calls will be routed straight to you.

Use local, national and international numbers.

Do you want to expand your presence and attract business from new areas? A new phone number is a fantastic business tool, giving all your customers a local number to call. This is only a practical solution thanks to VoIP. By removing the link between your system and a physical phone line, VoIP allows you to use numbers from any locality.

This even includes international numbers. Being able to offer international customers a cheap local-rate number to call is an enormous bonus. International numbers are available from just a few pounds a month, depending on country, and route to your teams in the same way as any other numbers.

Promote inter-office collaboration

VoIP systems can network with equivalents on other sites, allowing workload to be shared and increasing the reliability of your organisation’s phone lines. Similarly, with a cloud service every user in your business connects to the same system. This makes multi-site management simpler than it’s ever been with ISDN or analogue systems.

Contact your colleagues at other sites just by dialling their extension. There’s no need to call the switchboard or anyone’s direct dial just because you’re not in the same building. This brings phenomenal improvements to cross-site collaboration, improving the effectiveness of your customer service.

Unlimited scalability

The capacity of VoIP systems, even those hosted on-site does not compare to their older ISDN counterparts. ISDN has limited capacity in terms of the type of phone line and number of ports on the server itself, VoIP has no such limits.

Our on-site VoIP servers support more than a hundred users each, with the option to simply plug more servers in to instantly upgrade your capacity. This unique modular architecture allows your system to scale as far as it needs to, together with systems on other sites, without any significant configuration work.

The capacity of cloud systems is practically unlimited. Need more users? Just add them. Auto-provisioning systems take care of the rest, giving you a new extension ready for use at the press of a button.

We believe VoIP is one of the most important advances in business communications since the internet itself. It’s a bold claim, we know, but hopefully this blog has helped you understand why we feel this way.

Want to find out more? Speak to our team on 0115 896 88 60 or check out our website to arrange a free consultation.