VoIP—What Can It Do
For Your Business?
 With the costs of running a business mounting, more and more
companies are turning to VoIP, short for Voice over Internet
Protocol, to trim telecommunications expenses and improve productivity.
While the acronym may be clunky, VoIP technology is actually
pretty sleek and enables voice conversations to be sent through
the Internet. Specifically, sounds are compressed into data packets—just
like the data in e-mail -- and then transmitted through a packet-switched
network, aka, the Internet. With VoIP, voice and data are transmitted
over the same cable and network and handled identically, which
may be one of its most appealing advantages.
Admittedly, while many adults are still unclear on how VoIP
works and its value, kids throughout the U.S. are already convinced
of its usefulness; VoIP is the technology inside today’s
hottest video games that enables players to talk to one another
while competing. Microsoft’s Xbox Live is, in fact, among
the nation’s largest VoIP providers.
While it may be relatively new, it is a telecommunications innovation
that is here to stay. According to the Telecommunications Industry
Association, VoIP usage is expected to explode to over 19 million
users by 2007, more than double its current number of users.
The
Benefits of VoIP
Now that you know how it works, let’s
discuss why you may want to consider it for your company. In
basic terms, it can lower your phone bills, deliver a wider range
of unique services and improve employee productivity.
For the past two years, The OPAL Group has been using VoIP in
both their Pittsburgh and Cleveland offices. While the Cleveland
office relies exclusively on VoIP, the Pittsburgh office has
a traditional phone network equipped with a device that routes
calls over the Internet to the Cleveland office, which has cut
down on the expenses of interoffice communications.
“We have saved significant capital in long-distance charges
alone, but we also love the other time-saving features that have
actually improved our operations,” says Jason Fondran of
OPAL’s Cleveland office. Such features include web-based
portals for voice mail and call management, including features
that can route specific callers using Caller-ID directly to a
cell phone, or directly to voice mail, with or without ringing
the usual office phone first.
|
