Benefits of VoIP Over Traditional Telephony: Be Global – Act Local!

Business organizations have witnessed sweeping changes both internally and externally over the last several decades. Innovations in technology, economic downturns and a globally integrated marketplace have combined to produce dramatic changes in the way businesses function and organize themselves.

Thanks to cloud technology, VoIP, the mobile revolution and other technology trends, enterprises are no longer confined to one state, country or even continent. It is not uncommon to find companies that have headquarters in one nation, and several offices in another continent even as they sell products and services in yet another market. Distance, location or geography have ceased to become obstacles.

Global challenges and local solutions

Nevertheless a globalized world does not mean that local differences completely disappear. Setting up and maintaining a business phone system that can deal with a constantly mobile workforce can be a challenge. Bridging the distance between employees who work together – though they are separated by thousands of miles – is no easy task.

With traditional phone systems, assigning new numbers when an employee moves to another location can take considerable time. If the employee is temporarily moving to a new project for say two months or so, it may not even be worthwhile to initiate the change. However the business will incur substantial long-distance charges in the meantime. There are other situations where it may be necessary for a business to enable local settings for an international number such as to enable emergency dialing, allow routing of calls etc.

How can VoIP help?

Since VoIP systems are IP-based, they are extremely flexible and can be configured on the fly as per the needs of the organization.

Multiple locations

Suppose an employee is assigned to a new project in another country but only for a short period. In this case, it is possible for the user or manager to configure a different location for that particular number. Once a new location is assigned, the dial plan, ringtone and other aspects will change accordingly so that the number behaves exactly like a local one. Depending on the vendor and the subscription plan, organizations are not limited to only one or two locations. It is generally possible to create as many locations as needed by the company.

Routing calls

Another advantage of being able to change/assign the location for a number is to enable inbound and outbound calling rules. Some rules may come into play for local numbers or for incoming international calls only. Similarly, the user may set up specific rules to forward calls depending upon the timezone, the day of the week etc. This way, colleagues or customers who are not aware of the actual location of the employee can still reach them conveniently.

Emergency calls

In many countries it is mandatory for VoIP providers to include emergency calling in all their plans. But employees using international numbers may not be able to reach local emergency services directly. Since the organization is able to designate the number as a local one, calls to the fire or police department can be routed to the appropriate destination.

There are very few enterprises whose business is confined to the immediate vicinity. Thus having a phone system that can adapt easily to changes is quickly becoming a necessity for most organizations, irrespective of size.