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You've heard the hype about VoIP but exactly what is it? Well, VoIP or Voice over IP is a set of rules, often called protocols, which describe the steps required for sending voice over an IP network or more accurately, a network which uses TCP/IP for communication. Due to the proliferation of the Internet, TCP/IP (Transmission control protocol / Internet Protocol) has become common place in both the business, home network and International networks. Originally designed by the military to provide a robust communications network, it now affects everyone, whether they know it or not. Obviously there are many protocols that utilise the Internet - email uses one, browsing the web is another and VoIP is a new addition for voice. So why do we need it? You've probably benefited from plugging your laptop in at a customers office and everything works, or plugging it in at home and accessing office emails. Now you can do the same with telephony! Firstly, you no longer need extensive cabling in your office to support your phone systems, just use your existing network. Because it uses standard protocols it now can integrate with your other applications like Outlook or CRM packages - so when you receive a call you can see the associated contact details of the person calling, or click on a name to call the person. Also you can seamlessly work from home. If someone calls your office extension your VoIP phone rings next to your home computer - and because your computer uses a VPN (virtual private network) to access your office you can bring up all the required documents while conversing with your client, and they will never know you are sitting at home! The total-cost-of-ownership comes right down. You can backup your telephone system to allow quick recovery should failure occur. And because it runs on a server you can quickly install it on another machine and your up and running again. Support becomes easier because it is managed via a standard Windows interface. And for the first time you can get your phone system to do exactly what you need it to. If you are a 5 user company it is still the solution for you because the costs are license based, where with 'old fashioned' phone systems you need to buy a system which can go up to 20 users but you only need it for 5, VoIP systems can still scale far beyond that, but up front costs for small businesses are small - the cost of a low-specification server and 5 licenses. Those with multiple offices can dramatically bring down their intra-office communications by using the Internet or leased lines for their voice data. In fact, as far as we know, there is no advantages to the 'old fashioned' box on the wall telephone systems. Why not call us to arrange for us to visit you to demonstrate what is available, or alternatively come to our offices and see just how far you can go with a VoIP telephony system.
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