It is all very good to throw around the term VoIP with a broad understanding of what it means, but before you make a decision as to whether to upgrade to a hosted VoIP solution, it is important you understand exactly what VoIP means for your business and how VoIP can make a difference in your everyday business operations.
VoIP stands for “Voice over Internet Protocol” which in more basic terms refers to the transmission (incoming and outgoing) of voice traffic over a broadband IP based network. In layman’s terms it is another way of saying that your office’s broadband connection is utilised to make and take voice calls. As a general rule, broadband connections in and out of businesses are underutilised, so by sharing the connection between data and voice offers numerous benefits.
Whilst business grade VoIP may be a new catch phrase and hot topic, VoIP technology is far from a new technology. As far back as 13 years ago – 1998 – VoIP providers were handling over 1% of all call traffic in the USA alone. 2 years later this figure had already increased to 3% of call volume. Today thankfully, technology has improved VoIP capabilities even more. Faster download and upload speeds, better handset technology and better office infrastructure have meant that more often than not, it is impossible to tell if someone is using a traditional PBX system or a VoIP PBX.
Read more on how voip is used in our hosted PBX solution.