How Does VoIP Save Money?

Upgrading to a new technology – whether for personal or business use – is often an expensive proposition.

Whether it is a state-of-the-art operating system, updates to software applications or hardware upgrades (TVs, smart phones, laptops etc.), purchasing the latest generation requires more money than just sticking with existing options.

This is especially true during the early stage of technology adoption.

Contrary to the usual trends, upgrading to VoIP can actually save money even after including the cost of buying new hardware or increasing the speed of the Internet connection/bandwidth.

Users are able to pay less for the same volume of phone calls as before because VoIP providers can take advantage of existing IP networks, thus bypassing traditional phone operators around the world.

It means that users do not have to pay the phone carriers extra charges based on distance, geographical boundaries or time.

Since VoIP calls are transmitted over the public Internet – or local company intranet – operators do not have to maintain distinct infrastructure for data and phone lines.

Voice calls are treated similar to other data packets, making it easy to transmit over long distances. Consumer and business VoIP usage are two distinct categories within the industry and upgrading to VoIP can save users hundreds to thousands of dollars every year.

How Does VoIP Save Money for Home Users?

Pay less for local and international calls

Traditionally, phone operators charged phone calls separately depending on if they were made to the same area code or to numbers in other countries. In the case of VoIP calls, distance and time cease to matter.

Depending on the particular subscription plan, consumers can make unlimited national and international calls for a fixed price or pay incredibly low prices on a per call basis. Some VoIP providers even include a given number of minutes for free when users purchase the phone from them.

Freelancers, entrepreneurs and contractors

The basic features provided in a landline phone are usually not enough for freelancers and entrepreneurs who work from home. However, getting a business line was generally more expensive and not everyone could afford them.

With VoIP, these users can enjoy enhanced business functionality such as visual voicemail and call forwarding for the same price as a domestic line.

How Does VoIP Save Money for Businesses?

Long-distance charges

Nowadays even small and medium businesses may have customers, partners or suppliers in various countries across the world. Voice communication is an integral part of any enterprise and phone charges can easily run into thousands of dollars per month on a traditional line.

But with VoIP deployments, long-distance charges simply disappear. Phone calls to customers in particular countries may be offered for free (especially countries like Canada, Mexico etc.) and businesses can generally purchase bulk minutes in advance for incredibly low prices.

In addition to no international calling charges, phone calls made by employees to one another are often not charged at all. A business using VoIP doesn’t have to pay for interoffice calls even if it has multiple offices scattered across the country and some employees working from home, client locations or remote sites.

Very few organizations still function on the traditional model of one office where all employees come every day to work. VoIP allows flexibility in voice calls to mirror the new business workflows.

Call centers, sales teams, customer and tech support

Some departments like sales and tech support rely extensively on phone calls, even more than other departments such as HR. Not only do they make more phone calls on a daily basis but they also need specific features like agent queues, call parking etc.

Although business lines from a traditional phone operator offered such enhanced functionality, they were also correspondingly expensive. Each feature was charged for separately and technicians would have to configure and install new equipment in order to enable them.

VoIP not only makes this entire process simpler – they can be managed individually through online dashboards – but it is also cost effective to add them as needed and not a minute before.

This means companies do not pay for unused lines, features or capacity if they are not really making use of it. They do not have to commit to any contract beforehand and can simply provision new lines or minutes on the day it is needed.

Call centers may benefit the most from upgrading to VoIP technology. Many VoIP operators offer entire communication suites that combine all the necessary features for customer support center in one neat package.

This allows a business to create a virtual office very quickly as opposed to adding hundreds of lines to a new building specifically to house the customer service apartment.

Advanced features – videoconferencing, presence, Unified Communication etc.

In today’s world, business organizations have to be flexible, nimble and agile. They need access to advanced features such as videoconferencing or unified communication in order to operate more efficiently or effectively.

These tools are no longer a luxury that only large organizations can afford, they have become a necessity for businesses of all types and sizes.

Thanks to the speed of innovation in the VoIP industry, everyone can afford to utilize any or all of these features to compete. Conference calls can be scheduled on the fly, participants can join in even if they are only using their mobile phones and calls can be made to and from anywhere in the world.

The best part is that VoIP integrates these features at a very low cost instead of the exorbitant prices charged by legacy carriers.

Deploying such features no longer implies that the organization has to make substantial capital investment in new equipment or sign multi-year contracts with phone carriers.

VoIP vendors generally do not require contracts which means that companies can easily switch if they find a better alternative. If an organization finds that they are no longer using a feature, it can simply be dropped from the subscription plan – a move that can ultimately save thousands of dollars over the years.