VoIP is often touted as offering significant money-saving opportunities to the businesses that adopt it, but what effect can it really have on your budget and does it actually live up to the hype? Here are some of the ways that reductions can be made by companies choosing to harness VoIP.
Infrastructure
VoIP is delivered digitally via an internet connection, with the greater bandwidth available via modern fibre services allowing for multiple calls to be handled simultaneously by a single landline. This means that your company will not need to pay as much for line rental, because fewer lines will be required to service the same number of end users.
In addition, the internal hardware required for VoIP is far less complicated and costly than that which is required to use an analogue service. Hosted VoIP allows for all sorts of advanced features that would normally have to be handled locally via a PBX, but since this can be carried out remotely by a third party, such on-site hardware will not be necessary.
This not only relieves your business of the burden of paying for the equipment and its installation, but also removes long-term maintenance costs, along with the inevitable need for an eventual upgrade.
Calling
While most analogue landline services require that you pay per minute for voice calls made to other landline numbers and even more if you are ringing through to a mobile, VoIP can help slash these expenses significantly.
VoIP-to-VoIP calls are typically free of charge, while you can enjoy reduced rates to standard landline and mobile numbers because an IP-based service is still able to link back in with the traditional PSTN. The availability of mobile VoIP apps and services means that even making calls to remote workers can be relatively inexpensive.
If you can offer customers an affordable or free way to get in contact while reducing the expense associated with internal calling made between two or more sites, your business will be more attractive and you will also reduce costs.
Productivity
One of the oft overlooked benefits of VoIP is that it allows members of staff to become far more productive, no matter where they happen to be located.
Being able to make VoIP calls from the office, from a mobile or via an internet connection at home makes them easier to contact and allows for a more flexible and dynamic approach to working, which will improve morale and ensure that everyone is at the top of their game.
Meanwhile, VoIP also allows for advanced A/V conferencing, where both voice and video combine in an engaging mix that makes it seem as if multiple parties are in the same room, even if they are sitting half way around the world. This has the added cost-saving benefit of requiring less travel, since meetings can be held at any time and in any place.
You will not be paying for fuel, flights, hotels and all the other aspects that were previously necessary, while staff will be able to use the time that would usually have been consumed with getting from A to B on more productive matters.
VoIP is from head to toe a great money-saving solution for enterprises that are feeling the pinch in these financially troubling times, bringing together advanced digital communications services that have a lower impact on budgets than the platforms they replace.
Companies of all sizes can benefit from adopting VoIP, but those that refrain from making the leap might find themselves at a competitive disadvantage to forward-thinking rivals that were willing to commit to a change at the very core of the way that they handle communication.
Daisy are a leading provider of VoIP telephone systems. Find out more on their website.