Business VoIP for the Future

In an effort to accommodate virtual businesses, Ohio.net, a telephony and data services business, recently began to utilize business VoIP.

Business VoIP allows users to talk in digital form rather than having to use your traditional telephone networks offering multiple benefits including increased efficiency and dramatically reduced costs.

According to Alex Desberg, who is currently the development spearhead of a VoIP product line for Ohio.net, business VoIP can take on different meanings depending on the consumer.

“We define VoIP as delivering voice services across a network. It could be Internet-based, it could be private-network based. Such services have been strategically designed to replace traditional telephone services,” Desberg stated in an interview with Smart Business.

Amongst the various benefits business VoIP offers, a release from traditional telecom is the most important. Desberg says that most people choose to remain in contracts with telephone networks often leaving them to be forced to upgrade or repair any technical issues.

According to Desberg, however, “A VoIP system is more of a service-based model: as long as you are subscribed to the service you can take advantage of all the upgrades, changes and benefits that the provider offers.”

In addition, a business VoIP system allows companies to move away from operating in one location to allow employees to working remotely instead. Desberg says that by eliminating the need for a facility, you get rid of extra expenses that would have been used on rent, electricity and the cost of commuting.

As reported earlier by virtual-pbx, although savings vary, most companies report at least a 35 percent reduction in cost with an 80 percent overall savings.

Unlike traditional telephone systems, with a business VoIP system it doesn’t matter how many locations a company has. Business VoIP allows companies to use only a single provider for the service rather than hiring multiple providers with different contracts and bills.

Although business VoIP solutions allow for more efficiency and are cost-effective, businesses must follow three rules first when implementing the platform, as noted by Desberg:

1. Select the right hardware. Quality hardware on a quality network creates a vast difference to the end user’s experience.
2. Make training mandatory. This will ensure that everyone knows how to correctly use the platform along with having the proper resources in case of emergency.
3. Have a go-team available. If any problems arise when the technology is implemented, the go-team can take care of the issue immediately.

As technologies like business VoIP continue to grow and change, Desberg notes the importance of companies being able to adopt and grow alongside this technology.

“Five or six years ago, we didn’t even have that on the radar. Most people thought that VoIP would just replace landlines,” Desberg commented. “Now companies have field teams that are armed with smartphones but still need a VoIP system so that they look like legitimate enterprises, rather than giving everyone’s cell phone number to do business.”

Edited by Jamie Epstein