VoIP - the Future of Business Communications
VoIP - The Future of Business Communications
As soon as the telephone was invented, the business world shifted forever. A prime example is it’s use within stock exchanges in places such as New York. Another example would be shipping companies using phones to check up on warehousing situations and goods being delivered and sent out. As a efficient and convenient methods of communicating, phones were picked up by all industries with fervour. As telephone technologies advanced throughout the twentieth century, mobility became the primary concern.
First appearing in Japan in the late 70s, mobile phones soon caught on to the extent that have becomne ubiquitous. Today a new technology promises to render cell phones and all other forms of telephony obsolete. This new technology is known as Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP for short. VoIP takes communication to the next level by digitizing the caller’s voice and sending it over the Internet to the other caller. VoIP can thsu combine existing phone and internet communications into a single entity.
VoIP has been present in prototypical form since the 1980s, but recently free VoIP computer-to-computer software has been released. Skype is probably the best known VoIP application on the market. The program allows users to talk to one another for free, without charges or costs of any kind. This has resulted in many people choosing to simply cancel their regular phone service altogether and only use Skype for their phone needs.
Meanwhile, in the world of business, VoIP has managed to change how companies and corporations communicate with their customer base. Larger companies in particular have had their business models overhauled thanks to VoIP technology. For example, before VoIP companies had to install a private branch exchange or PBX in order to handle internal and external call volumes. But this was always seen as a worthy investment if the PBX boosted productivity.
With VoIP, businesses do not have to install a physical exchange. With VoIP, a PBX can now be hosted either on the companies physical server or virtually with a hosting company. In effect the business outsources hosting their exchange system, but they still have all the benefits that it offers. In addition, integrating VoIP enabled telephones like the Mitel 5324 with Internet service drastically reduces their communications costs, which means that businesses have more capital with which to invest, use for expansion, or spend on marketing or research and development.
Rearranging the cost of communications is only one step though. VoIP can revolutionize how employees talk to one another during the day. For example, integrating phone services entirely within the internal computer system effectively transforms a computer into an all-in-one information centre. Employees now have access to crucial data without wasting time trying to balance a phone on one ear and try to follow whatever is happening on the computer screen.
Lower communications costs means that a business can now charge lower prices in order to gain an edge over competitor companies. As the technology matures and becomes more of an option for practical applications, VoIP will change how people around the world communicate.