Voice over IP (VoIP) was developed in order to provide access to voice communication in any place around the world.  Many businesses are turning to IP phones for benefits such as cost savings, multiperson phone calls, real-time communication, cheap user hardware and software and abundant features for call management.

“Five or 10 years ago, early adopters were willing to accept poor quality to be on the cutting edge, but now, the quality has caught up with the demand,” says John Putnam, vice president of direct sales at PowerNet Global (News - Alert), in a recent interview with Smart Business. “Today, you have low cost, good quality and a lot of features that people with older phone systems didn’t have and are now necessary in order to be competitive in the marketplace.”

One of the most appealing features of IP phones is unified communications, which combines e-mail, fax and voicemail into a centralized location. With IP-based phone systems, voicemails can be converted to a WAV (News - Alert) file and e-mailed to you, enabling employees to organize and retrieve information quickly. From a contact management standpoint, IP phones allow for a record of incoming and outgoing calls in your system, including missed calls that didn’t leave a voicemail.

Another added benefit of IP phones for businesses is its mobile ability. Employees can telecommute or travel and still be in the office without actually being in the office. Business IP phones can route calls to either an IP-based phone or a cell phone, making travel time more productive.

Additionally, the ability to easily transfer calls to a different location provides better disaster recovery options. Taking VoIP handsets and relocating them to a place where there is Internet connectivity allows for companies to easily power back up and run as quickly as possible.

According to Putnam, the next big thing is cell phone integration, in which mobile employees can push a button on their phones or cell phones to forward calls from the office to their cell phones.

Unified communications also offer digital recordings, which can be beneficial for training purposes and allowing employees to more easily take advantage of each other’s experiences. Recorded conversations can also be used as part of contract negotiations or for a dispute on the collections side.

“Recorded calls and digital voicemails also create an easily transferred reference if someone else is working that account because of turnover or employee absence,” said Putnam.

Yealink is a provider of IP phone and VoIP communication solutions characterized by high performance, easy deployment and affordable price. It benefits customers from flexibility and broad interoperability with major IP-PBX (News - Alert), softswitch and IMS providers in the market.

SIP Print is a provider of innovative yet affordable telecommunications solutions offering seamless integration, maximum performance and efficiency and regulatory compliance for its customers. Its call recording systems are designed to meet the business needs of contact centers, SMBs and enterprise organizations with unique and practical solutions for screen capture, workforce management, quality assurance and speech analytics – all interoperable with many of today’s most popular phone systems and devices.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Visit Yealink and SIP Print (News - Alert) at ITEXPO Austin 2012, happening now in Austin, TX.  Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO (News - Alert). Follow us on Twitter.