Hosted Business Office VoIP Phone System
Business VoIP, Office VoIP and hosted VoIP
Like many successful businesses, you are faced with spiralling phone bills… And increasing support and maintenance costs for your IT and telephone network.
If you switch your phone calls to VoIP technology, you can merge voice and data, boosting staff productivity and enhancing customer service. Moreover, you don’t have to jettison your existing voice system to do so.
As the price of high speed Internet connections come down, it’s well worth taking a fresh look at your long term plans for your phone and IT Network. One way of reducing your bills is to use your IT Network for phone calls between branches and use the Internet for external calls. This is known as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).
What is Business VoIP?
Voice over IP is a technology that allows you to make business quality telephone calls using an Internet connection instead of a regular (Digital or analogue) phone line.
VoIP can be integrated with your current voice system. There is no need to make a radical change unless you want to upgrade entirely. This way you can retain any return on previous investment. It also gives you control allowing you to migrate to this new technology at your own pace.
Business Drivers for Office VoIP
Control: The ability to measure, analyse and control costs. This includes typical essential usage, wastage as well as managing to prevent fraud.
Simplicity and flexibility: You can increase or relocate your staff team and have them accessible quickly, easily and cheaply. Calls can be transferred across all networked sites.
Flexible working and Mobility: Integrating your mobile or home working employees as well as partners and suppliers, greatly reduces internal administration activity and costs.
Business Continuity: If a critical incident occurs within any of your current sites your customers, clients, or suppliers can still contact you on the same telephone numbers. This facility is of major benefit to your company disaster planning, risk management and recovery.
New Office: It makes sense to update your technology if you relocate to new premises.
Simplisity will guide you through the flock of suppliers and vendors. Because we work with so many different suppliers, you can rest assured that we have your interests at heart. We are not trying to make one solution fit all, we respond to your individual needs… call us now!
Hosted Voip?
VoIP applications currently provide capabilities such as voice mail, instant messaging, service management, and presence management. These services are delivered with the performance, features and uniformity expected from enterprise-wide applications.
Calls can be recorded, played back and stored. You can listen to the last three calls your customer made before they left you and went to your competitors to understand where improvements are needed to your service. You could even listen to these calls from a PC.
There are two types of VoIP systems. It is very common to use a combination because some of your offices may be different to others. Simplisity will help you to define the most economical and appropriate for your business.
Conventional VoIPThis integrates your current phone system (Key system or PBX) onto IP infrastructure to support your Voice applications. This avoids any drastic change and gives your business a stepping stone to move forward as you adopt the new technology. Office to office calls, your outbound calls, your Internet traffic etc can still share the same connection with guaranteed availability and “up” time. Benefits:
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Hosted IP TelephonyReplaces the local equipment at your premises. The service is centralised in the telecommunications network. You then access this service using a wide range of connection options (e.g. ADSL). This is an ideal solution for a new office. The features are the same as the VoIP service except that instead of connecting your existing telecoms equipment, the service extends through to your users’ desktops. Your lines and offices connect directly to the network. This means you no longer have to invest in phone systems or maintain on-site equipment. Instead, the network provider will maintain and upgrade the service for you. Benefits:
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Is VoIP suitable for everyone?
This is a very big question and for 9 out of 10 the answer is yes. It really depends on where you want to go and what you want to achieve for your business.
We host open days and regularly speak at conferences. Contact us now and we'll happily invite you along. Alternatively, why not drop us a quick call now. you'll get to hear the quality first hand.
But Buyer Beware. here is the reality and the Questions you shouldn't ask.
Something you get free is worth every penny you paid for it!
Or rather, it could not be more apt than with internet telephony because making calls over the net and VoIP are two very different things. Business telephony is worlds away from a consumer wanting to call friends over the net for a quick chat..
Key Questions! Do not embarrass any salesmen by asking the following:
There are many hidden issues that VoIP suppliers won't always admit. Below are a series of questions that will save you time and expense now. We strongly encourage you to ask a network provider before you commit your business to this technology. It has taken us a long time to get here and Simplisity can answer the following. see how you get on..
- How can you guarantee I'll get business grade telephone calls? One of the most important questions you need to ask. the implications for your business if your top customer gets a bad line with poor call quality. We are amazed at how anyone could offer a guarantee when the majority of the call goes over a public internet..a service they cannot control or influence. There may be some sites where this will suffice. but you really need some quality of service guarantee. How can any network give a guarantee of quality over a public network such as the Internet?
- 999 Calls? By law, you must provide the facility for a 999 emergency call to be made. How can a 999 call be made when some VoIP services do not work in the event of power failure?
- Broadband connections: ADSL still uses BT to deliver the final stage of service to you. BT currently have a 48hr fix on ADSL problems and faults. Could your business go without connectivity for this amount of time? How do they propose to give you a business quality solution with these repair times? We have the answers, but does anyone else?
- Security: What is the real cost to include security? This should be included as part of the overall business justification. Please beware of headline savings. You will make a substantial saving, but do not compromise your security.
- Costs and savings: Are handsets available at £20 per seat level. Are your savings guaranteed in any way?
- Demonstrations: Ask any potential supplier for a demonstration at 4pm when the Internet is at its busiest (USA wakes up). Going to a demonstration centre is fine, however, it will not truly represent the final solution. Demonstration centres are built not to fail or compromise the sale.
What about quality?
The telephone is a rare breed of device. We naturally assume the telephone will never need any maintenance and will always work. with perfect clarity. every time. While the benefits of switching to VoIP are compelling, there is always going to be some doubt in an IT manager's mind that it could be a major risk to change their traditional phone system.
Of course any network provider is just as good as the equipment they use to build it. Simplisity only partner with IP networks that use "carrier grade" equipment with ingrained network resilience.
A major factor behind VoIP call performance is that it must be set up so voice is prioritised. With voice, the slightest delay or echo will be audible. Voice must take precedence.
We have a range of voice quality guarantees. There is no alternative for a business. Talk to Simplisity now on 01923 200000