VoIP Solutions for Enterprises

VoIP technology has taken the world of enterprise communication by storm, surprising given that it has its roots in IP technology rather than telecommunication standards. Nevertheless consumers and businesses alike have embraced VoIP fairly quickly, with growth rates in most segments in the double digits.

But there are still many organizations that do not understand how VoIP can help their business and why they should invest in the technology when their current systems are functioning perfectly well. VoIP solutions for businesses has evolved considerably from their first-generation counterparts and the enterprise landscape we see today not have been possible without it.

How enterprises used to work

Throughout much of the previous century, work signified a physical place – whether it was an office, factory or some other location. Employees typically spent eight or nine hours a day in the same office or facility, working with their colleagues or groups for months or years together. Typical communication channels included face-to-face interactions, conferences or meetings, fax machines and picking up the phone to make a call.

Communication between offices located in different states or countries were restricted to office hours during the weekdays, considering the limits imposed by time zones. Enterprise phone communication systems consisted of PBX boxes and related hardware that often took up entire closets or rooms. While these solutions provided more advanced enterprise level features than was available to consumers, organizations were starting to hit the upper limits of expansion and innovation.

How enterprises function today

In today’s digital and globalized work environment, physical barriers have long since ceased to exist. With the introduction of email, instant messaging, video chat and other sophisticated technology, enterprise communication has received quite the upgrade. For many employees, ‘going to work’ no longer means driving to a physical location and sitting in a cubicle for the entire day. Workers often telecommute, work remotely and even from home either part-time or full-time.

Project teams and departments can now span multiple locations across the globe with conferencing facilities – both video and audio – acting as the glue that binds them together. Work schedules and timings are much more flexible and with mobile devices, tasks can be accomplished both inside and out of the office. With the proliferation of the public/private cloud and the associated SaaS, PaaS and IaaS business models, employees are expected to complete their work from anywhere, at any time.

How VoIP systems can help organizations

Enterprise VoIP solutions solves many of the problems faced by organizations with older PSTN based technology – the need to maintain separate networks for voice and other media, expensive carrier contracts and maintenance clauses, prohibitively expensive rates for international calls and the lack of interoperability with modern applications.

VoIP is the future of telecommunication

This is not an exaggeration and VoIP is set to become the next standard for voice communication around the world. In many industrialized nations, even traditional phone operators have started to upgrade their networks to VoIP leaving behind copper lines. Organizations may be able to delay the adoption of VoIP for a couple of years but eventually, they will have to upgrade when the older equipment stops functioning.

VoIP is cost effective

Cost-effectiveness is probably the biggest reason why the early adopters of enterprise VoIP chose to go down that route. Calls between offices and employees become free, international calls are billed at a fraction of the rate charged by carriers and since the technology is IP-based, it allows for integration with other enterprise software such as ERP or CRM systems. Voice or PBX features that were often considered luxuries that only the largest of organizations can afford are brought within the reach of small and medium enterprises, thanks to VoIP.

VoIP brings innovative new features

Features like call hunt, find me follow me, automatic and real-time voicemail transcription are just a few of the features available in enterprise VoIP solutions. Many of these are included in even the most basic packages and can significantly boost employee productivity. The ability to handle voice communications from any available device – be it a desk phone, headset connected to a laptop or a mobile device – means that work doesn’t have to stop simply because an employee is away from their desk.