Why VoIP Should Get VIP Treatment in Your Small Business

Over the past few years, an increasing number of small and midsized businesses have been dumping their traditional phone systems in favor of VoIP (voice over Internet Protocal) and IP-PBX (Internet Protocal private branch exchange). And this trend only promises to get stronger in light of the current economic climate where a small business’ flexibility, efficiency, and productivity is all the more critical to its survival.

If your small business has yet to adopt VoIP technology, you may want to give it some serious consideration. The following are some of the benefits of upgrading to a VoIP system:

Cost Savings: For many small businesses the biggest draw to VoIP is its low cost. At the most basic level, VoIP has minimal hardware requirements: a sound card, speakers and a microphone. For more advanced services you may need headsets, IP-enabled phones, and a physical IP-PBX box.

Calls made over VoIP are dramatically cheaper than those made via a PSTN phone service. Businesses can use VoIP between computers with downloadable free software like Skype or Asterisk. For more feature-rich services, there are several commerical options, such as the Asterisk Business Edition, but even the cost of these for-pay services are generally much lower than the equivalent standard phone service.

Simplicity: The combination of an IP PBX system with a VoIP telephone service allows voice and data to be handled by one set of network protocols and wiring. As a result of this unified system, your company can benefit from lowered expenses, simpler management and greater functionality in general.

Features: Many VoIP systems are rich in features. Some common features include: off-site call forwarding, extension dialing, voice-mail boxes, audio conferencing, and auto attendants to answer the phone and direct calls.

Flexibility: VoIP will give your employees the ability to work from anywhere that has a fast and reliable Internet connection. You can use VoIP to make both national and international calls from one PC to another or from a PC to a landline. You can even have a VoIP account on your mobile phone.