VoIP has now become the standard form of voice communications for businesses around the world. This is because it brings many benefits over traditional phone systems, including lower equipment costs, lower call rates, and less maintenance.
According to a report by Finances Online, you can save approximately 90% on all international calls and 30% on phone bills. Above all, it is flexible, scalable, and adaptable!
VoIP Technology- How Does it Work?
VoIP has become the top communication solution of many businesses, and its adoption is expected to rise in the foreseeable future.
With tech giants like Apple and Uber recently announcing their expansion of WiFi and VoIP calling, and the anticipation that our technological abilities will become 32x more advanced by 2025, businesses are seeing the immense benefits of VoIP.
If the tech giants making the switch now doesn’t convince you, consider that a report by Global Market Insights says VOIP will see its highest growth rate in the next five years – about 15%.
Let’s see how VoIP technology works for businesses:
It’s no secret that the cost of standard phone systems has been on the rise, making it the prime concern of businesses for quite some time. This is why businesses of all sizes across the U.S. are jumping on board with this “less is more” idea with VoIP solutions and recognizing it as the best business communication tool.
VoIP gives businesses the power to make and receive phone calls. They also have the option of having a virtual phone number.
These numbers are not aligned with a particular set, which means you can connect it to any device, be it laptop, mobile, landline, or computer.
Also, you don’t have to plug in PBX or any other equipment to make connections. Connect with your IP phone, and you are done! IP devices will use your high-speed Internet to establish a secure and high-quality connection.
VoIP to VoIP Calls:
While for users it’s the same as how you make a simple call, the common difference is:
Many VoIP-to-VoIP calls don’t require phone numbers as long as both parties use the same app. You need to tap on the person’s profile and choose ‘call.’ The device will be a softphone or an IP phone.
Let’s consider this through a table- how your actions are translated by different components of Voice over Internet Protocol:
VOIP-to-PSTN Calls:
What’s the one thing that makes VoIP more viable for business is if you can also connect it through phone landlines (PSTN). Because let’s accept that most people are still using traditional carriers. That’s when VoIP Gateway comes in!
When you call the VoIP system, your digital voice travels through the Internet and reaches the gateway. At the gateway, it gets converted into multiplexed voice samples and reaches the PSTN-connected landline devices. The same happens at the speaker’s end.
Top 7 Advantages of VoIP Technology
- Complete Flexibility
- Built-in Backup system
- Cost Reduction
- Subscription-based Payments
- Cost-effective
- Hardware
- Efficient portability
- Easy to Manage, Access, and Troubleshoot
1. Complete Flexibility:
VoIP gives you complete freedom to control networks by choosing tools that adhere to your company’s needs. In addition, the providers offer various free features like call waiting, call transferring, three-way calling, caller ID, for which other traditional phone providers will charge extra.
2. Built-in Backup System:
Without having a virtual phone system, your business might be at risk of losing telephone services because of unexpected incidents. The unforeseen expenses can come as impromptu repairs and the loss of non-working hours.
On the other hand, VoIP lets you minimize the impact on the business by redirecting such calls and pre-setting the routing plans for the above scenario.
3. Cost Reduction:
VoIP is cost-effective because you are using an already-existing Internet connection. However, switching to a VoIP system also means that:
- You don’t have to pay for long and international calls.
- You don’t have to worry about maintenance, upgrades, or other costs.
- You can scale your VoIP system as per your business needs.
- There’s more savings on the TCO, Total Cost of Ownership.
4. Subscription-Based Payments:
Cloud-based systems are offered through subscription or SaaS. This means that you can subscribe/unsubscribe to VoIP according to your business needs.
5. Cost-Effective Hardware:
VoIP also has affordable hardware and software. To an extent, you might need a router and computer (which you already have); at the most, you need a microphone or handset for your business.
This also means that the equipment required to support the service is pre-set in the device, and you don’t have to buy anything. All you need is to subscribe to the service!
6. Efficient Portability:
If you think switching to VoIP for business is tricky and complicated, you are wrong. It’s simple! You can easily switch to an IP phone without changing your existing number.
7. Easy to Manage, Access, and Troubleshoot:
Also, you don’t have to get into the fuss of extra wiring and installations. Troubleshooting and maintaining the VoIP is easy, too, as the voice to digital signal transfers occurs in the software only.
5 Future VoIP Trends to Watch with VoIP
- Improved Quality of Service
- Smarter VoIP Assistant
- Increased Unified Communications
- IoT with VoIP
- Omnichannel Support
1. Improved Quality of Service:
Customers switching to 5G enables devices to assume that the latest technological advancements are the same as the previous ones, with only faster Internet connectivity. Not really! There’s so much more to it, especially with the VoIP calls.
While the 5G enabled devices handle high usages better than the 4G, they also ensure improved reliability, superior network availability, better packet prioritization, and whatnot. Using 5G for customized business communications through VoIP will improve packet loss during the data transfer, call jitters, and increase network capacity.
2. Smarter VoIP Assistant:
Virtual assistance has always been on the rise, with millions of people using Alexa, Siri, and OK Google every day. With the continual advancements in language processing, you can expect these virtual assistants to be more intelligent to respond to the user’s more complicated queries. Now imagine what virtual assistants can do to VoIP.
VoIP, with the help of virtual assistance, you can automate mundane tasks like sending voicemails, routing calls to agents, and more. Some virtual assistants also can collect information about customers and provide personalized services to your clients. You can even use them to record meetings and transcribe them when needed.
3. Increased Unified Communications:
Remote work has taken unified communications to new heights, with in-person meetings replaced with VoIP calls and videoconferencing. Although businesses can access their data, audio, video through any internet-configured device, cloud-based UC platforms are more scalable and are less likely to become obsolete.
4. VoIP in IoT:
VoIP is more than just sending video packets and voices; you can expect this service to remain relevant by ensuring that all the receiving points like speakers and cameras should connect with other devices. That’s when IoT and VoIP come together.
While IoT will connect to all internet-capable devices to exchange data, VoIP will help in data capturing and transmission.
5. Omnichannel Support:
The flexibility of VoIP will help you deliver customer-centric communication strategies with ease. As VoIP calls are in the form of data packets, the new technology will convert this omnichannel approach to a unified customer experience. In addition, you can further use this data in searchable and actionable text, enabling seamless communication between customers and businesses.
Popular VoIP Features:
Depending upon your business needs, here are the six essential VoIP features that are available with cloud telephony:
1. Mobile/Desktop Support:
With cloud integration, you will not miss any calls when you are away from the office. In addition, some VoIP service providers offer app integration for your mobile and computer devices. This makes telecommunications easy and accessible.
2. Auto Attendant:
Doesn’t it look professional when you call a business, and the company greets you with a phone menu- like press1 for sales, 2 for support? That’s an auto attendant! In addition, it helps in directing the callers to a respective department/person. You can even forward these calls to your voicemail or anywhere outside your business premises.
3. HD Call Quality:
There’s nothing worse than voice echoing and in-call disturbances, but with VoIP, not anymore! The HD quality of VoIP technology makes phone calls sound clear. Some headsets also have noise-canceling capabilities, which improve the call quality for long-distance communications.
4. Call Encryption:
Since calls are transferred in data packets through the Internet, VoIP is safe and secure. Moreover, IP systems have built-in security to stop hackers from doing any inappropriate thing to your calls.
5. Unified Communication Support:
VoIP will increase your team’s workflow through unified communications; you can integrate everything with one system. This makes communications with each other and with customers easy and streamlined.
Here are some key features within the unified communication platform:
- Team chats
- Screen sharing
- Conference calling
- Mobile and desktop integration
- Instant Messaging
6. Call Recording:
Get your phone system to record calls between staff and your customers; this will help you improve the areas of your team. Plus, the call recording is safe and is undetectable to other parties. You also don’t need any extra hardware like cassette recorders and any PBX system.
Conclusion:
VoIP brings many tangible benefits to businesses. On the one hand, a small business can take most VoIP as a cost-saving solution to the traditional communication system. But, on the other hand, big industries can use this to increase efficiency and sales.
That said, VoIP could be the most standard technology for businesses, and a whopping number of companies are already moving to it.
So, with our compilation of trends and benefits, you will get a better idea of how you can get the most of this system to get more business benefits.
This content is originally published at Hackernoon on June 18, 2021.
