For many years we’ve lived in a world in which our telephones have been connected to cables, a world in which we’ll have all seen an Openreach van at the end of the drive and likely been through the tedious process of getting a new line or lines added to an office building or property. With Voice over IP (VoIP) based telephone systems growing more popular, let us tell you a little about the benefits and flexibility a VoIP telephone system could bring your organisation…

What is VoIP?
What exactly is VoIP? It stands for Voice over Internet Protocol, which in simple terms means it uses an data connection to make voice calls, rather than just the traditional exchange lines we’ll all be familiar with.

Worried you’ll be taking a trip back in time to when you used to have to choose between the phone and internet or face that horrible screeching modem noise? VoIP systems allow you to make and take calls on a dedicated service or even whilst also browsing the web or doing whatever it is you need to do on your office computers; all you need is a solid internet connection and you’re away!

The benefits of VoIP
1. Cost
VoIP systems tend to be cheaper than their traditional counterparts. This is because your calls are routed more cheaply and the cost for multiple lines and considerable infrastructure is diminished. Your system could be simpler, and as a result, more cost effective to run.

2. Portability
Do you have sales staff on the road? Perhaps you’ve got people working from home or in several different locations? No matter what your situation, you know that staying in touch with colleagues, employees, and customers is vital.

With VoIP you can do just that; all you need is an internet connection. Take your VoIP phone or application with you wherever you go and you’ll be able to make and receive calls just as you would if you were in the office. There’s no need to give out an office number and then a mobile number for when you’re away, just one number for one person. Simple.

Whilst it might be most people’s worst nightmare to take your office phone with you for that summer break in the South of France, you could even do that (if you wanted to!).

3. Multifunctional
It’s the age old problem; you need to get employees from various different locations together for a meeting. The problem is that with the cost and time associated with travel during business hours it’s not feasible to do it as often as you’d like, or perhaps even at all.

VoIP will be able to answer this issue, and most others. There’s far too many features to a VoIP handset for us to bore you with now but rest assured, from conference calling to caller ID and caller handling, a VoIP system should have all the functionality you need.

4. Scale up or down
VoIP, allows you to add, remove, or reassign lines quickly and easily, which is great if you have an ever growing workforce, or in times when staff need to be cut back. Having the right number of numbers for your exact needs is just another reason your system could turn out to cost you less.

If you’d like to find out more about how a VoIP phone system could help your business, or to discuss your requirements give a member of our team a call on 0808 2020 411.