With more and more businesses opting to take advantage of the economic and operational benefits that come with moving their phone system to the cloud, VoIP phone systems have begun to set the standards for features that improve business communications and productivity. A rising tide of popularity, however, also means an increase in competition, as more and more providers try to get in on the bandwagon of VoIP service. More providers means that, for the consumer, choosing the right provider has never been more critical.
Many hosted VoIP providers may promise a lot of bells and whistles, added features and special programs that your business may not need, but in the mean time they may not be delivering the focus on call quality and dependability that's integral to a good VoIP system.
Since hosted VoIP services are delivered via your company's Internet bandwidth, it poses unique challenges in terms of call quality that many providers may not be prepared to address. If you're experiencing low call quality, your provider may try to get you to add more bandwidth or run your voice services over an additional connection. Those are both solutions that cost you a lot, and don't really involve your provider taking responsibility for their own role in call quality. Furthermore, they might not fix the problem. Even with an abundance of bandwidth, there are circumstances where voice packets can still be interrupted by data, which can lead to poor call quality.
The right VoIP provider for your business will be one who focuses on call quality and dependability. Look for a provider who deploys a device on your network to help prioritize voice packets over data, which can help keep your call quality high regardless of other bandwidth concerns. Your provider can also help diagnose more complex or technical issues that may lead to call degradation. The Internet circuit itself may be delivering inconsistent latencies, or there may be issues on the network, such as a virus that generates abnormal bandwidth consumption. Even something as simple as having too many employees streaming Pandora at the same time can affect bandwidth. A good VoIP provider can help you to find and diagnose these sorts of issues, and address them in cost-effective ways that serve your company and meet your voice service needs.
A hosted VoIP service provider who specializes in call quality understands the importance of good communication to running a business. They know that good communication is essential for you to provide the kind of customer service that you want to provide to your customers, and they also know the importance of good communication with their customers, i.e., you. So regardless of your company's VoIP needs, one thing that's absolutely indispensable is choosing the right VoIP provider for the job.
To learn more, download our free whitepaper on VoIP Voice Quality:
About the author: Mark Greim is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at sipVine, a provider of hosted VoIP phone systems and services. Mark has extensive experience working for start-up or entrepreneurial organizations and has a passion for affordable, reliable, and purposeful technology solutions in those environments.
