Many small businesses tend to lag behind their larger counterparts in their use of new technology. Those that do may be doomed, not only to remain small and fail to realize the growth that their initial potential may have promised, but also to lag behind their smaller competitors. In fact a VoIP small business solution can not only save small businesses money, but also significantly increase their communications efficiency.
It is a proven fact that technology can contribute a great deal to growth, irrespective of the size of the company involved, and even a single VoIP network can give a small business a competitive edge.
Not only can a small business VoIP solution dramatically reduce the size of a phone bill to the company concerned, it can also help to reduce the phone bills of their customers. A VoIP subscriber can select any area code it wants to use, so that if the majority of their customers operate from New York, the business can offer these customers calls at the local rate, even if that business is located in Los Angeles.
In fact this type of small business solution to communication costs can allow them to offer toll free numbers to their more important customers, a service hitherto only economically feasible to larger companies. How’s that for a competitive edge? In many businesses image is everything and this VoIP small business solution to competing with the big boys is a massive incentive to adopting this new technology.
This is not all that a VoIP small business solution offers, however. There is also the advantage that the provision of VoIP telephones to sales personnel allows them to communicate with head office, and every other company employee issued with a VoIP handset, free of charge irrespective of distance.
Because the VoIP small business solution to telecommunications, like all other VoIP applications, involves communication via the internet, such communication can be made using software and hardware suitable for IP use such as PC, laptop, palm computers, PDAs, Bluetooth and any other technology suitable for packetized internet transfer and reception. By use of VoIP small business solution technology, small businesses can at last compete with networked corporate companies in speed and flexibility of communication.
Conference calls integrating other web-based voice and video presentation technologies can be arranged at the click of a button, and customers can be impressed with corporate technology at small business prices.
A VoIP small business solution is available for any medium to small company structure, and simple networked systems can easily be incorporated due to the intrinsic internet and web-related technologies involved. This makes facilities available to small businesses which previously had been the domain only of the large corporations that could afford them.
With a customized VoIP small business solution, companies of any size can tick off communication as one more step towards not only competing with large corporations, but getting ahead of their peers with respect to communications efficiency, image and speed of response to requests and enquiries.
After all, if you can communicate with a colleague in Japan quicker and at lower cost than your competitor can with Boston, what chance does he have? A VoIP small business solution designed specifically for you can achieve this as standard – it is not an expensive option!
By: Peter Nisbet
Posts Tagged ‘Voip Applications’
VoIP Small Business Solution
February 17th, 2010How To Choose A VoIP Broadband Phone Service
February 16th, 2010
Internet technology is constantly introducing new and better ways to communicate with others around the world, and making telephone calls using VoIP technology is one of those advancements. VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol, and it allows a computer user who is connected to the internet through a high-speed terminal to make telephone calls to another computer or telephone without using a standard telephone company.
Essentially, there are two kinds of VoIP applications to consider, either hardware or software based. If you choose the software solution, you’ll have to have your computer turned on in order to both make and receive telephone calls, but the only equipment you’ll need is a microphone and speakers connected to your computer.
If you choose the hardware solution instead, you’ll be using a converter box called an ATA that will be attached to your high-speed internet connection. Your telephone can then be plugged into the ATA. The converter box takes the analog signal from your phone and converts it to a digital signal to be sent over the internet in data packets, which are then reassembled on the other end of the telephone connection. By using a hardware VoIP solution, you computer does not have to be on in order for you to make and receive telephone calls, although your Internet connection will have to be active. Many VoIP service providers are including the ATA at very low cost or even for free in some cases.
In order to make use of VoIP technology for placing internet telephone calls, you will need to subscribe to a service plan provided by one of the major VoIP companies in business today. The service plans are usually very inexpensive, often providing for unlimited long-distance telephone calling for as little as $25 per month. You can even save more by choosing a calling plan that places a limit on the amount of minutes used each month, bringing your total cost down to as low as $15 a month.
In addition to domestic long-distance phone calling, many VoIP providers also allow you to make international telephone calls to persons outside of their subscriber base for a per minute fee, sometimes as low as $.10 to $.15 per minute. Some providers even allow free long-distance telephone calling as long as it is carried out between individuals in their own subscriber base.
If you choose to use a hardware VoIP solution, you can expect to spend some time on the phone with customer support in order to get your system up and running correctly, but most likely you’ll be able to experience uninterrupted service from that point on. Also you can expect voice quality to be excellent in most cases, often rivaling that of land line telephones.
When you consider all the advantages of using VoIP technology to place telephone calls over the internet, it’s no wonder that so many consumers are turning to VoIP for their long-distance telephone calling needs.
By: Steadman Issenburg
What You Need To Know About VoIP Broadband Telephone Service
January 28th, 2010
If you haven’t heard much about VoIP before now, you certainly will in the future due to its rapid emergence as a major communications technology. VoIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol, and it basically is the ability to make telephone calls over the internet to either a receiving computer or telephone.
For years standard telephone lines have used a circuit switching network to transfer telephone calls, but VoIP technology uses something called packet switching instead where audio is converted into packets of data that are sent over the internet and reassembled on the other end by the person’s computer or telephone. If a high-speed internet connection is used, a conversation can take place that easily compares to a regular telephone call in sound quality.
All of this may sound like a very new technology, but in reality it’s not. Programs that make use of VoIP technology were springing up on the internet more than ten years ago, although they were much less capable than those that are available today. Also every year continues to bring higher standards of quality for VoIP applications, and it will no doubt be a viable technology for many years to come.
A good example of the use of VoIP technology is instant messaging programs. If you have used an instant messaging program that is voice enabled, where you can communicate by audio, video and chat, it is in large part due to VoIP. This is because VoIP is able to integrate audio, video, data, e-mail, and more simultaneously. Although most consumers will use VoIP for telephone calls initially, many businesses are already finding expanded uses for VoIP technology.
Several telephone companies are realizing the potential for VoIP services and so companies like Sprint, Verizon, AOL and others are now offering VoIP plans to consumers. One of the distinct advantages of buying a VoIP solution is that it costs significantly less than most standard telephone services. In fact, most service plans will allow you to make unlimited long-distance telephone calls on your VoIP plan for very inexpensive rates. And the subscription rates are usually free of many of the taxes and regulatory fees that often accompany your local telephone bill.
Another major advantage of many of the current VoIP subscription plans that are available is that they often include extra features such as call waiting, call forwarding, three-way calling, voice mail and much more. Quite often, these extra services cost more when included by your local telephone service, but VoIP plans usually include them at no extra charge. Another interesting side benefit is that many providers will allow you to select a new area code and phone number for your VoIP calls, so if you have family or friends in a distant town, they can call you for free on a number that is local to them.
Hopefully this information on VoIP technology will help you understand more about how it works and how it can be beneficial for you.
By: Steadman Issenburg
