If you own a business or work for a large company, you are familiar with the buzz that comes along with a VoIP phone system. This type of phone system is the most modern in today’s world and can do wonders for your business. If you are looking for more information about this type of phone system, or are looking to incorporate it into your business, this article will give you all that information and more.
A VoIP Phone System – What is it?
VoIP stands for voice over internet protocol and is a device that uses the internet instead of wires, to provide outstanding telephone services. In turn, this gives you greater mobility, interoperability, and even connectivity. This type of phone system is connected to an IP system, which uses a local area network, also known as the internet.
To put things into perspective, most traditional phone lines use the PSTN network, which is a physical wire that can transfer sound to different telephone lines. The special thing about the VoIP system is that it can convert phone signals into digital signals, which are then transferred across the internet and turned into audio. This type of system can allow users to make phone calls and receive phone calls, from any mobile device, business phone line, or landline.
VoIP phone systems offer key features such as:
- Easy install and setup for your business
- Simple scaling
- Virtual phone numbers that follow you and your employees wherever business is being conducted
- Wide availability and economical implementation
- Simple integration with other software applications
- Range of device options for businesses to utilize
- Seamless set up on existing internet connections
Types of VoIP Phones Your Business Can Purchase
When looking into which VoIP phone to choose, there are many questions your business needs to answer. First and foremost, is the manufacturer and model compatible with your current communications system? Even though most IP phones can be manually configured, some modern software solutions like 3CX offer plug & play configuration that eliminates all the hard work of integrating new phone systems.
Next, it’s important to understand what features do you need in your phone system? Most employees will work well with a standard, reasonably priced IP phone. Top administrators can also benefit from a more advanced VoIP telephone, which will allow them to save time and communicate more efficiently from one device.
All in all, you need to decide if your chosen VoIP phone is future-proof. You might be tempted to stick to your used devices, but make sure they are a newer generation and likely to last with software updates for an extended period of time.
Hard Phones
Hardware VoIP phones look very similar to traditional phones or landline phones. However, they are developed to make calls over your internet connection rather than a traditional PSTN phone service. The basic features that these phones include are the traditional call functionality, such as making and receiving calls, voicemail, and conference calling. If you look to upgrade this traditional phone a bit more, you can allow it to access contacts, configure BLFs (Busy Lamp Fields) and even hold video calls.
Hard phones are the most similar to traditional phones because they sit on your desk or in a conference room and can be used for direct calls, conference calls, accessing voicemail, and making communications through handsets, headsets, Bluetooth, and speakerphones
Softphones
On the other hand, Softphones come as software applications, which are used on your computer, tablet, or smartphone. This software application will behave exactly like a normal IP telephone, and provide regular functions such as making and receiving calls, as well as some more advanced features such as video conferencing or instant messaging. Most business communication solutions include softphone apps, making them an affordable solution for most businesses. All that’s needed with a softphone is the inbuilt speakers or microphone of the device or a headset.
How These VoIP Phones Work
Many years ago, office phones and traditional phone lines were wired to an on-premise PBX. This was a bulky machine that would handle all call routings to ensure that all communications reached their proper destinations. With the advancements in VoIP phones, its features far exceeded those available on other systems.
Since these phone systems can process a basic telephone call through the internet, or even the cloud, this technology will bring together the internet and communications through one source. Because of this, no additional copper wiring is needed to use your VoIP business phone service. Your phone number can stay the same as before, so there is no worry about changing it.
Now, making a VoIP phone call is simple because all you need to do is pick up whatever device you want and dial a number. The technology is designed to make it simple, not more complicated. This same idea applies to receive a VoIP phone call, all you need to do is treat it like any other phone service.
The nature of IP telephones enables them to be much more cost-effective because your businesses will be able to make use of free telephone calls with reduced rates for long-distance and international calls. Additionally, this type of phone system makes communications more flexible and accessible to all employees. By switching, your office phone systems can be managed online, and employees can take their business phone number with them on their mobile phone with softphone apps, in order to enable greater remote working potential and enhanced communications and mobility for employees.
Benefits of a VoIP Phone System
Many of the features of a VoIP phone service speak for themselves, but there are a few that really stand out.
- You can use your existing Internet connection, which is ideal for most companies. Other business phones require dedicated copper wiring separate from the computer network connection, but not VoIP phones.
- There is the ability to link to user accounts, not to phone numbers, which then will allow you to switch between simultaneous calls on a given account.
- VoIP phone systems can give companies easy access to advanced voicemail features.
- There is a higher quality audio range, which is twice that of traditional phone systems.
Some other features that are just as great as those listed above are the standard keypad dial keys, volume adjustment, loudspeaker, redial, transfer, and mute keys. This phone system also has USB ports, BFL keys, built-in headset keys for automatic switching between devices, and all the menu and navigation options for the configuration of settings.
Looking at Your Business Needs Before Purchasing This Phone System
Just as we have stated before, you need to make sure that this type of phone system is aligned with your business needs. There are many choices when buying and configuring your business VoIP service. Making sure you have the best VoIP provider, phones, and features, gives you more determination to run your business.
Depending on your business needs you can choose from, cordless phones, limited cables, and maybe even Bluetooth functions. The display is further away from the user, so a brightly lit readable display could make a difference for employees if this is something that’s important. It’s important to also take note of the reputation for quality that each brand represents and look at their customer service rating.
Switching phone systems doesn’t have to be hard, and in fact, setting up a virtual phone system is so easy, you can set it up yourself.
The good news is that you are not alone in this journey, because there are many businesses that are making the change as well. With the help of your VoIP service provider, you and your business will be guided to success. VoIP specialists can help you select the perfect phone system for your company, increasing your business sales little by little.