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Many small to medium-size businesses have been rapidly migrating to Voice over IP (Internet Protocol) systems in order to save on toll charges, simplify phone system management and maintenance, and usher in new productivity-enhancing applications. Benefits have been expanding to offer new integrated applications that include video conferencing, presence-aware communication, integrated customer service support and more.
As proprietary PBX telephone vendors phase out analog systems, networks must converge, and this convergence is quickly becoming the standard for business communications. With VoIP, data and voice traffic use the same transport infrastructure, where voice is simply digital data that is routed across the network.
Voice Replacing Phased Out PBX
As early as 2003, leading analyst groups like Gartner, Synergy and Forrester predicted that PBX manufacturers would discontinue development and support of their PBX products. The old systems have become increasingly more expensive to maintain and update, and many businesses want the additional advantages inherent to converged IP networks.
- Organizations that use analog PBX systems are presented with a number of problems, including:
- The cost of and rigidity of separate voice and data networks
- Limited or non-existent integration between communications and business applications
- Inflexible, proprietary platforms fail to adapt to emerging customer and business
- Complex telephone devices that impede employee productivity
Smaller companies, in particular, can justify equipment costs for new phone handsets and integrated messaging systems because the number of phones and users they have is minimal.
Why VoIP?
VoIP allows companies to bypass long distance tolls associated with the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). This factor alone has been the primary migration driver for the past several years. For companies that maintain LAN, WAN, and telecom group internally, converged networks also greatly reduce operational costs. At larger companies, telecom and IT departments used to support these three different networking groups. IP convergence, however, allows LAN, WAN, and telecom to merge. Convergence combines the network team with the telecom team, treating voice as a network application, and opening up opportunities for additional services like
- Video conferencing solutions
- Meeting and collaboration solutions
- Media streaming
At the user level, companies are using both wired Ethernet and Wi-Fi SIP phones to connect to the VPN or a VoIP service to place calls which bypass tolls. Some remote workers have eliminated land lines completely, utilizing softphone to send and receive calls via laptop and internet connection.
Extended VoIP Benefits
With VoIP, it’s easy to add voice and data functionality without the need for hardware add-ons. IP phones easily connect to the LAN, eliminating dedicated PBX voice wiring and hardware. As a result, businesses spend less money and time scheduling phone company appointments for service, changes, and fixes. VoIP offers
- One unified network for voice and data applications
- Voice integration with desktop productivity applications
- Simplified administration and maintenance for moving, adding, changing and deleting users (MACD)
As the organization grows, distributed offices can be connected via LAN or WAN. Home and remote users with Internet connectivity can easily access the main corporate system, which includes customer data, contacts, collaboration tools, and extended application information. Users can leverage “corporate” features such as Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) routing, chat and IM, video conferencing, real-time presence and more. As a result, employees become much more responsive to customer, partner and supplier demands.
Since the system is IP-based it remains flexible, scalable and open to new innovation and capability as the business grows and needs change. |
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