Phones used to be so simple. A rotary dial tabletop telephone looks like a foreign object to most people today. A phone that still needs to be plugged into a home phone jack is becoming more and more rare. While old phones and phone systems were simple, they also provided pretty limited options. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems, however, are anything but simple, and the services they provide can run an entire company.
A VoIP phone solutions company can provide a business with the technology to make voice calls using an internet broadband connection. Unlike analog phone lines, VoIP phone solutions can create several communication scenarios. The most simple may only allow the user to talk to a single person who is using the same service, but the more sophisticated VoIP platforms may allow users to call anyone with a telephone number, no matter the provider. These more advanced platforms allow users to connect to local or long distance numbers, international numbers and mobile numbers. While some VoIP phone solutions company platforms allow customers to use their current phones, other systems require a specific phone model.
All of these variations, of course, depend upon the provider and the amount that a customer pays for their service. Even without knowing it, most Americans likely use VoIP phone solutions every day. A call to the doctor’s office, for example, may include a voice answering option at the opening of the call. The menu choices that customers hear are part of the office phone solutions that VoIP technology allows.
The latest research indicates that there will be 1 billion VoIP users by the year 2017. As part of the cloud computing process, the VoIP phone solutions company options will continue to expand not only in the number of users, but the offered services as well. As network consultants continue to explore network disaster recovery planning options, the potential for expanded use of integrated services will also grow.
Selecting any new phone or IT service is a balancing act, a consideration of what current needs are as well as what a company anticipates will be their future needs. While office phone solutions may be a company’s top priority today, it is wise to make sure that the communications platform that is selected will allow future growth. For example, it is important to understand what business systems require integration with a new VoIP system before ever approaching a vendor. For instance, will customer relationship management (CRM) strategies and practices connect with the VoIP platform, or will they run separately?
More than 60% of all businesses are predicted to have at least half of all infrastructure on cloud-based platforms by the year 2018. Since the number of hosted VoIP locations and other communications services are predicted to increase significantly by the end of the year 2016, it is likely that many providers will work to create platforms that integrate many of these essential strategies.
Where is your company at in this progression? Are you moving to your second or third cloud based phone system, or are you just entering this platform? No matter where your company finds itself, it is important to make sure that all decisions are made to meet today’s requirements, as well as tomorrow’s needs.
