NIU

IP phones

Posted by Stacy on Saturday, April 19, 2008 4:54 PM

Anyone who has worked at a small business (or a large corporation) knows know difficult it can be to procure the perfect telephone service for the office. Often, a manager or business will spend way too much money with a regular phone service. And have you ever tried intraoffice contact using phone lines? It can be difficult to get things done because often lines are being used on outgoing calls. Suppose you, as the boss, have to talk to an employee about something important, and you are unable to leave your desk to find them in person, and you attempt to call them using the telephone system. Little do you know they are either on the phone with another client or away from their desk.

VoIP is here to change that. VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, allows you to make phone calls over an Internet connection versus over a traditional phone line. What are the advantages of such a service? VoIP technology allows you to save money on calling costs. It also eliminates aggravating phone wiring, which can clutter workspace and looks tacky. You can use this service either through a compatible computer or an IP telephones.

If you're worried about being able to use all the familiar functions of a phone such as voice mail and call waiting, worry no more. Call waiting is available for this service. In addition, you can receive voice mail as an email.

VoIP is also ideal for businesses as it can greatly decrease the wiring and complication of intraoffice and outside communication. Each employee can have their own line, and it is possible to see who is on the phone and when. And if you are concerned about you or your employees becoming competent with their ip phones, you can purchase Microsoft Response Point. It allows you to work with VoIP without spending hundreds of dollars on training and gaining expertise. It also allows you to work not only with the phone service but with email as well, streamlining your business operations.

Let's go back to our example of not being able to find the employee. Imagine the ease and convenience of being able to pull up a screen showing you the computers currently being used on the network. Now, you can see whether the employee is on the line and lo and behold, they are currently in the middle of a call and thus were unable to receive your call. With this information, you can now decide how best to approach the situation. Perhaps you can call another employee who is not busy at the moment, or, if the need is not so pressing, you can wait for them to be done. How easy is that?

Such new technology is incredible and well worth the investment. See if VoIP doesn't make a difference in your business!