Where would your business be without the ability to communicate? Even if you give your marketers, salespeople, and other communications professionals a day off, your business will be flooded with essential communication. You cannot develop a product, build a supply chain, handle shipping, or perform virtually any business-critical activity without communicating; which puts communication tools at the top of the list of business essentials.
One of the increasingly popular communication tools businesses can use to reach customers, partners, and anyone else they want is Voice over Internet Protocol, VoIP. A great alternative to a regular landline phone, VoIP has proven beneficial for businesses of all sizes.
In this article we will explain to you:
The easiest way to look at Voice over Internet Protocol is almost the same as you do over the phone, which happens over the internet. Instead of your regular phone sending analog information over the landline, an IP phone sends digital information – data – over the internet.
When you call someone using a VoIP service, you are telling the service provider to call a specific number. When that person picks up the phone, both of your voices – the sounds you create – are converted into digital data and instantly sent to the other person, where they are decoded back into sounds you can hear again.
There are some requirements to use VoIP. You will need an internet connection – the faster the better. The quality of VoIP calls will depend significantly on the bandwidth of your connection.
You will also need a special kind of device or software to use a VoIP service. The expensive option is to buy an IP phone that looks like a regular phone, only that it is at least seventeen times better. If you don’t want to spend a lot of money on a feature-packed IP phone, you can get an ATA to analog phone adapter that serves more or less like an encoder and decoder for your VoIP needs.
As for software solutions, you can use a softphone that you install on a computer and use to make and answer calls. And if you’ve ever used Skype or Viber to make calls, you have a solid grasp on how to use VoIP on a smartphone.
The service provider’s job throughout the plan is to make sure everything runs smoothly. When you call someone, it’s your service provider that needs to make sure the call is made and data packets are exchanged.
Does your business need savings? Because if it is, at least if you use your phone a lot, it will need VoIP. If you have a line with a single number that is not infrequently used, you may not need to change the landline.
However, the more phones you use in your business, the more obvious it becomes why you need VoIP. If your business uses a dedicated branch exchange or PBX for internal communications, the savings can be enormous. But even for a small business that still has to maintain several lines for different industries like sales, customer service, marketing, VoIP is great. The ability to easily integrate with CRM solutions and helpdesk tools and be able to mine for data and insights makes VoIP more attractive to businesses.
However, if they need more than just talking on the phone, a one-man operation can take advantage of a VoIP service. A VoIP service can give you a number other than your own to use for business, and you can use it regardless of your location and even to some extent the device you use. VoIP can also significantly reduce international calling costs, an advantage that can appeal to both individuals and organizations, as well as the possibility of obtaining a phone number in another country.
VoIP isn’t all sos – it has some serious downsides related to reliability issues. If there is a problem with your internet connection, there will be a problem with your search. There may be some limitations to the usefulness of VoIP when calling emergency services, as it may not provide the operator with your location. But even so, it’s an option that is quickly taking over the world, especially the commercial part of it.
If you think VoIP is the right choice for your business’s communications needs, you’ll have plenty of service providers to choose from. Ideally, you’ll spend some time researching them and mapping the transition from traditional telephony to digital telephony.
There are many and many different service providers, but for businesses, these five are the ones that often find their way to the top of the charts.
RingCentral
RingCentral is a VoIP service provider that has a lot to offer your business no matter its size. Its flagship product, RingCentral Office, offers more than just phone services – you also get messaging on all plans and video calling services on all plans except the basic plan.
You can use RingCentral for one person or more than a thousand. Some of the services you’ll access include voicemail to text, free minutes, business SMS, team messaging and document sharing, and phone rental options. And that’s just what all plans have – advanced plans include quality of service reports, call recording, active desk service, and unlimited storage.
Access to services is determined by the plans you choose. The cheapest plan starts at $19.99 per user per month and is available for up to twenty users. Note that prices may vary.
Intermedia Unit
With great value for money and a full-fledged cloud PBX system, Intermedia’s Unite product It is one of the most desirable VoIP solutions on the market. It may not have the lowest starting price, but that doesn’t make it any less of a choice than others on the list. Just the opposite.
Why? Because every account comes with unlimited calls in the USA, Canada and Puerto Rico. In addition to video meeting and conference services with meeting notes and screen descriptions, call taking, call waiting and call recording are also available. There are also collaboration features like presence detection, one-on-one instant messaging, and contact syncing. Both packages have analytics and security and compliance features as well as many integration options.
Speaking of packages, Intermedia Unite comes in two forms – the cheaper Unite Pro and the more expensive Unite Enterprise. Pro currently starts at $27.99 per user per month.
Grasshopper
For the smallest of small and medium-sized businesses, Grasshopper It may be just the type of service they need. And if the smallest of businesses are managed via a mobile device on the go, Grasshopper becomes even more attractive.
For a solution for businesses with one to five people, Grasshopper has a lot to offer. You will be able to answer calls via a mobile or desktop app. You’ll get a business phone number, which can be a toll-free number, private number, or local number. It is possible to send text messages and forward calls over the number so that you can make more than one call at the same time. Features such as extensions, reporting, voice mail, and virtual fax are also supported.
The most basic plan is Solo – it currently starts at $26 a month when billed annually and gets you a phone number and three extensions.
ooma
Do you want to start small and grow according to your needs? ooma It’s a great choice especially if you’re planning to switch your business to a work-from-home configuration. The company proclaims that it will meet the needs of even a small business owner with its basic plan.
First of all, you won’t need any additional hardware to run Ooma. If you still want it, Ooma will help you get an IP phone, but if you don’t, you’ll be able to use the service via a mobile or desktop app. If you need a virtual receptionist, video conferencing, ring groups or call recording, you will be able to get it. Some of these features are advanced and available in the included Pro plan, but the overall impression is that they are a versatile solution.
Access to the core, essential features of the Ooma Office suite will currently set you back $19.95 per user per month.
Nextiva
If you need one place to get VoIP service, sales and CRM services, and a collaboration tool, Nextiva It may be the only address you are looking for. It offers all of these services and you can choose to bundle them together or pay for each when you find a use.
Of course, you’ll start with business phone service. With this, you can make unlimited calls within the USA and Canada. You will receive a toll free local number and at least 1000 free minutes. Features such as voicemail to email and mobile app search are included even in the most affordable package. The larger and more expensive ones add more integrations, video calling, and many more nice features.
The Essential plan currently starts at $19.95, which isn’t much, but it’s only a dollar cheaper than the Professional plan, which has a lot to offer.
let’s hug
The fact that communication is essential to doing business at a time when everything seems connected doesn’t mean you have to spend a small fortune acquiring and maintaining the proper landline infrastructure for your business. VoIP is a much better solution. Not only is it cheaper and more flexible, it can also integrate with other tools you can use to improve your business.
