How to implement VoIP into your business
With mobile telecommunications moving at such a fast rate, many businesses find it difficult to keep up to speed with developments.
Consequently, many companies are unaware of the potential benefits that employing new technology could bring.
Employing a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system, for example, could provide a number of long term benefits to a small or medium-sized business.
These include lower long distance call charges, easier integration with workers and other offices and the potential to build virtual call centres.
So what is stopping companies from making these changes?
Put simply, a lack of knowledge and a lack of planning, according to an industry expert.
Dr Adam Le Gresley, head of operations at Technology Means Business said: "There is a fear of [VoIP] and a lack of knowledge about it and that's the problem."
VoIP services do not operate like normal fixed-line telephones, in that problems may not be as obvious as a broken wall socket would be, he added.
However, companies needed to realise that "there is very good customer support from voice over internet providers"; he continued.
Industry website tmcnet.com recently released a series of steps to ensure successful deployment of VoIP in new businesses.
First of all, businesses needed to assess what sort of network design they need to implement before signing up to VoIP.
Limited bandwith WAN or VPN could cause signal interruption or delays, so customers need to budget bandwith usage between sites.
Secondly, businesses should test their networks to make sure they can cope with the volume and traffic of VoIP services. Pre-deployment tools are more than capable of simulating the effects of a live service, according to the article.
After setting up a VoIP service, a pilot trial should ensure that all is working smoothly and offices can go ahead and start using their service.
The final step is the most crucial. VoIP services are evolving constantly, so careful and constant monitoring of networks is essential.
Tmcnet.com recommends using software probes to directly monitor the quality of calls and provide real time information.
After that, making changes to your existing network should be easy, not to mention cost-effective.
Back to Dr Le Gresley:
"Technology Means Business uses a VoIP system and we've seen our costs drop by almost two-thirds as a result of using that system, because they're not terribly expensive to implement,"; he says.
As long as you have a phone and a router, then everything else gets taken care of by the provider, he adds.
Investing in IP telephony doesn't need to a difficult task - the right research, a good design and a thorough provider will ensure increased connectivity for years to come.
If you would like more information on 8el's VoIP solution, please call our sales team on 0118 338 3062 or email info@8el.com.
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