The traditional landline isn’t nearly as necessary as it once was. Today we have a range of options to put in its place. And with more of us collaborating remotely via The Cloud than ever before, a cloud telephone system seems befitting. If you’ve ever been curious about cloud telephones or asked yourself “how does a VoIP telephone system work?” then read on to learn how and see what it can do for your business.
What is VoIP?
VoIP stands for voice over internet protocol. It’s essentially the technical term for “internet phone.” For a range of reasons, VoIP is becoming more and more popular, with many companies ditching their regular landlines altogether. Plus, with the big ISDN switch-off imminent, there’s even more of an incentive to move now. To understand it better, it’s important to know how it works compared to traditional landlines.
How does a VoIP telephone system work?
With your regular, analogue landline, the phone connects to the rest of the telephone network via something called a PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network). With VoIP, your voice gets turned into data which is then sent to one of several different data centres before being forwarded on to the recipient. The speaker’s voice generates electrical signals. These are passed along the wire and then turned into audio at the other end for the receiver.
What’s more, when your VoIP solution is fully hosted, then your provider takes care of your entire solution. Watch the video below to get an overview of how hosted VoIP with Novem works.
VoIP benefits
– Cost savings
There are all sorts of reasons why VoIP can save a business money. Firstly, it allows for the consolidation of phone services; office, mobile, and data services, which are all handled by the data network. Not only this, but as we’ll see below, VoIP can unify communications and simplify operations, improving business efficiency and thereby improving a business’s bottom line. Additionally, when VoIP is hosted – something Novem can help with as you’ll see below – the burden for IT support is reduced for a business as the management and maintenance is handled by your provider. Conduct business oversees? With VoIP, international calls cost much less too. So, it could be worth it for that reason alone if you do a lot of international business.
– Better call quality
VoIP’s alternative technology to the analogue wires of PSTN is much clearer than your regular telephone call. Some report it to sound as though someone’s in the room next door.
– Easily make calls from any location on any device
Unlike a landline, a business’s VoIP telephone can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection. All the more relevant in today’s world of remote and mobile work.
– Unified Communications
This is a concept that can revolutionise your business’s productivity, efficiency, customer service, marketing, sales, and more. It involves integrating all your communication channels into one dashboard. Email, social, voicemail, helpdesk, etc. can be viewed as one and have different channels influence and communicate with each other. For example, the sales team could take a prospecting call and then have the result recorded in their CRM whilst automatically setting up a follow-up meeting in the sales rep’s outlook. Without a VoIP telephone system, employees would have to do this manually.
Whilst VoIP telephony solutions can be a transformation of your team’s communications, they can still come with potential pitfalls if not implemented correctly. With Novem’s Hosted VoIP solutions, we can take care of the entire process. From implementation to maintenance, thereby removing any potential headaches. If you would like to see what hosted VoIP can do for your business, use the meeting booker below to talk to a hosted VoIP expert today.