Loud and clear | How VoIP can help businesses communicate better and save money
“Advice Squad” is written by members of the Maine chapter of the Association for Consulting Expertise, a trade organization of 88 consultants around the state.
Prices continue to decline as high-speed Internet services become more available, which could entice some businesses to carry their telephone calls over the web. Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, can improve a company’s ability to communicate within branches and often results in lower operating costs. Deciding if VoIP is a good fit for your business requires proper planning as well as some homework and good advice.
A VoIP telephone system is designed to carry voice traffic over a high-speed Internet circuit such as DSL, cable or T-1 line, which is a dedicated high-speed phone line. The sound your voice makes is digitized and put into “packets” that have a specific marker or address affixed to each end. They are then sent out into cyberspace at the speed of light and “reconstituted” at their destination. Addressing insures that the packets are reassembled in the proper order for a normal voice conversation.
There are two basic types of VoIP services — hosted and equipment-based. Hosted VoIP is usually provided to businesses on a monthly “cost-per-seat” basis. The provider has all the necessary VoIP equipment at its location and you, the customer, either lease or buy telephones. The customer is still responsible for the high-speed Internet service. With equipment-based service, the customer buys the equipment and owns the system. Each works fine if properly set up.
Getting the best deal depends on the cost of each service and operating costs. When a business uses an Internet service for both voice and data, the voice packet must have priority over the data packet. That happens with a router that has a “quality of service” feature, or QoS, built in. That way, voice packets do not get slowed down by the simultaneous transmission of data packets, causing gaps in a conversation.
Branching out
Companies with multiple locations usually get the most benefit out of a VoIP telephone system. Typically, when trying to reach a branch office, a caller dials the phone number of that office. But with VoIP, a branch office is an extension and no different than an office down the hall, even if it’s halfway around the world. In a properly configured VoIP system, each user can tell if another user is on his or her phone or out of the office, thanks to a display on the phone.
We recently completed a project for an organization in Maine, with a main office and three other locations, where VoIP was a perfect fit. After doing a needs assessment, we decided to explore VoIP. Each location was already served by a suitable high-speed Internet service. As a quasi-governmental organization, they were able to partner with their local municipality and avoid the costs of purchasing the entire phone system.
The company bought the proper telephones and routing equipment for the branch offices and installed a high-speed circuit to the municipal office where the telephone system was located. That allowed them to reduce their number of telephone lines from 25 down to four, and the branch offices are now extensions off their new phone system. So not only did they save operating costs, they also improved the quality of their communications.
What’s more, many systems will forward calls to cell phones, Blackberries or PDAs. Since the main phone system, including voicemail, is located at the headquarters, the branch offices will not need a system of their own. They simply purchase the phones that go with the system and a QoS router. And since all incoming and outgoing calls are routed through the main office, line charges in the branches can be reduced.
Keep in mind that you need adequate bandwidth to carry your calls if you’re interested in VoIP. Some consultants recommend a separate high-speed service for voice calls, but smaller offices can manage with one properly sized high-speed circuit for both voice and data. You should also know the bandwidth requirements of the equipment you buy, as each manufacturer has different specifications. And you need a QoS router.
To find out if VoIP is for you, ask a qualified telecommunications consultant to do a needs assessment of your organization. Then you can make an informed decision about improving your firm’s ability to communicate.
Tom Wales can be reached at tom@telecomguy.com.
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