How VOIP Software Can Benefit a Company Today

Business workers often have a close relationship with technology, and new advances from computers and servers to Cloud storage and digital document scanners have all made business and the transmission of data faster and more secure than ever. If a company hires IT workers and web designers as outsourced labor, then the company can get better work done with new software and hardware alike. In fact, many employees today work from home or while on business trips thanks to the Internet, and there are some proven benefits to working remotely. Meanwhile, communication is an arena that is always looking for communication solutions for customers, clients, and business partners alike. Business phone systems have certainly been used in the past, but these communication networks may cause workplace distractions with the spoken word, and old phone systems may not offer some advantages that VOIP software can. Just what is VOIP software, and how can it benefit a business?

Basics of a VOIP Software system

A VOIP software system is, according to VOIP-info, Voice Over Internet Protocol, meaning that VOIP software combines the function of a telephone with the Internet. At first, this may sound unnecessary, but there are in fact some benefits to using this communication style, and using a phone over Internet services is starting to gain popularity among business workers today. In fact, mobile VOIP is set to reach one billion uses by the end of 2018, and this industry was predicted to grow to over $76 billion in value by the end of 2015, with the number of small office or phone subscribers projected to reach $262 million in value. That would, in fact, represent a 50% increase from 2011’s numbers. And many work positions today involve communicating with other people such as customers or business clients or partners off-site, meaning that VOIP is bound to have a large role to play in the future of business communication.

It is possible to use VOIP software alongside regular phone services, but a business manager should note that VOIP offers lower prices than phone services. However, phones have not yet been made entirely obsolete by VOIP software, since VOIP does not always offer such services as 911, phone directory listings, 411, or similar phone services. There is not yet total standardization of what VOIP providers do, so a business looking for VOIP may want to check with a particular provider which services it provides. In the future, it is possible that VOIP will indeed come standard with 911 or 411 services.

A phone uses analog signals, which is different than the digital signals that the Internet uses, meaning that something must act in between them to make the conversion so that communication is possible. An ATA box, for example, may make this possible. In short, an APA box will pick up the phone’s signals and transmit them to the company’s Ethernet, which then carries the data to the router, and from there it goes to the Internet, where the user’s VOIP provider can take over. In other cases, an IP phone can handle this work, and once again carry the signals over the Internet to the VOIP provider, and the process is complete.

One may still be wondering why VOIP is better than traditional phone lines. One reason is that VOIP software is less expensive to use than traditional phone providers, and this can be crucial for call centers where a lot of employees are making phone calls for hours on end. Often, local phone providers are either a monopoly or controlled by local governments, and this can drive up the price of phone utilities. In fact, in the most generous cases, VOIP software use is completely free, and the user will pay only for the Internet itself. Some companies are known for this, and often prove popular as a result. What is more, VOIP allows a person to receive phone calls anywhere that they have an Internet connection, whereas an ordinary phone for office use is bound to its location, and cannot be used while the employee is traveling. If a call center has a solid Internet connection, VOIP can make the work there much more affordable from day to day, hours on end.