A Guide to Small Business VoIP Solutions
For many years, the conventional analog PBX telephone system has been utilized for office telephone systems, however, in the last few years, small businesses have been forced to switch to the much more modern electronic solution of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). In fact, this growing trend is not only based on cost-cutting benefits, but also because of the rising sophistication and ease of use of VoIP technology. VoIP provides business organizations with increased capacity and redundancy and allows them to save money that would have been required for both installation and long-distance charges. This article on small business VoIP solutions shall highlight the key difficulties small businesses face in using traditional telephone networks and how VoIP solutions can overcome these challenges.
Many small business VoIP phone system may offer a single line phone number, whereas large companies may have several different lines. A typical small business VoIP solution will have to deal with several calls simultaneously coming from multiple numbers. In order to avoid these issues, some businesses decide to go with a hosted communication system instead of using an analog telephone network. Hosted communication service providers allow companies to create one virtual phone number that is accessible to all employees using a standard computer and Internet connection. In addition to reducing communication costs, a hosted communication system may also allow small businesses to take full advantage of VoIP technology by integrating all of their communication needs into a single VoIP service instead of using multiple systems.
One of the primary features of small business VoIP services is call forwarding. This feature forwards your calls to your alternate contact, if you have one. You may want to forward your calls based on your calendar or alternate contact needs. For example, a week prior to a special event you may want to make a call to let your client know of the upcoming event. On the other hand, if you are out of the office for the week, you may want to receive messages from prospective clients.
The primary benefit of having small business voip solutions that incorporate call forwarding is that it eliminates the need for you to have a dedicated phone system. The calls that are made will always be answered by a real person. This eliminates the need for you to have a physical phone. It also eliminates the need for you to hire employees who will stand by your phone number at all times, answering calls when your partner is not available. This makes it easy to get through to your partner and clients as well as it eliminates maintenance costs associated with a traditional phone system.
Another primary benefit of many small business voip solutions is that they use voicemail. Most businesses utilize digital voice equipment in place of traditional landline phones. These systems allow you to send and receive voicemails through the computer. These messages can be saved to a virtual voice file so that the information can be played on any device. Many businesses also integrate these systems with their email systems to offer clients and customers a chance to listen to their voicemail and retrieve it at a later time.
Some small business voip phones even allow users to send and receive faxes. This can save you a lot of money on paper and ink, since you will no longer have to print out documents that you will not need. Some companies also provide IP phones for employees that have access to the internet. With the wide variety of IP phones that are available, employees can use their computers to make and receive calls anywhere in the world.
Small business voip solutions can also be used to supplement your public switched telephone network (PSTN). You can connect your PSTN to your IP phone system and then add extra phone numbers. These numbers can be made local or toll free. You will also have the ability to connect your small business voip phone system to your existing computer networks for voice and data communications.
Small businesses are increasingly using voice communications technology because of its high availability and low cost. There is a high demand for IP networks, especially in international markets where most people use the internet. VoIP offers many features that traditional phones do not offer and this is why more businesses are migrating over to VoIP. VoIP solutions have been shown to improve productivity, cut costs, enhance customer service and allow businesses to compete with larger corporations.
