Technology in business is about to get faster. Some of the newer technologies, such as VoIP and cloud computing, are deploying at a rapid pace. However, thanks to a bold and visionary investment and approach by Google, new technologies are on the horizon for businesses to create operational efficiencies and service differentiation.
Tags: Technology in Business
A new kind of phone service company is emerging in the marketplace. Now, every business can choose between a traditional carrier and company that is more of a partner with you. Because Hosted VoIP Service providers supply both the phones and the phone service, they are positioned well to serve your voice communication needs. The right one can help your business soar!
More businesses are making the move to a hosted digital phone service platform and freeing themselves from the costs associated with maintaining their phone system. Cloud computing and other hosted applications are making their way into the norm as businesses look for ways to refine their cost structure and minimize investments with a high potential for technical obsolescence. Phone systems fit into this decision trend in many ways.
Tags: Technology in Business, Benefits of VoIP, Phone System Administration
Many non-profit organizations have turned to VoIP for their communication needs. These businesses range from small philanthropic organizations to large schools and districts. What are the driving factors in these organizations choosing to switch to a Voice over the Internet deployment?
Multiple Solutions – VoIP phone systems come in many shapes and sizes, which match the organizational differences in this market segment well. Larger schools and districts and large non-profit organizations typically turn to a site-based VoIP phone system and bring SIP trunks or traditional PRIs into it for dial tone. Such organizations typically have technical support on staff to handle administrative responsibilities. Smaller organizations turn to a hosted VoIP model where they only need to deploy the number of phones they need and their system is provided by the hosted provider. Administrative tasks are handled by the provider.
Economic Benefits – The large non-profits with site based systems are able to take advantage of one system covering many locations, such as a school district. Each individual location does not need its own system, as they are connected to the host via their IP network. Combining the economics of this from a capital perspective with savings they can achieve by deploying SIP trunks versus PRIs drive substantial benefit. By deploying a hosted VoIP model, smaller non-profit organizations achieve economic benefit by lowering up-front capital costs and on-going administrative expenses. They also get to take advantage of a feature set that is typically found in large, site based PBX systems. Finally, the monthly cost model can also drive savings when compared to the cost of traditional analog circuits.
Rich Feature Set – VoIP platforms deliver a rich set a features that benefit any business sector, and the non-profit organizations can take full advantage of these features. Unified messaging, auto attendants, time of day routing, and many other programmatic features are ways for non-profits to build a system to meet their unique needs. Schools can also deploy phones in the classroom for safety concerns, but the teachers can put the phones on “do not disturb” during class time, so calls to them can roll to their voicemail for handling during non-classroom time. Start-up incubators can deliver direct inward dial numbers to their tenants so these start-ups can appear to have their own phone system and communication presence.
To learn more ways VoIP phone systems can benefit your non-profit organization, feel free to contact sipVine for a no obligation consultation.
About the author: Mark Greim is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at sipVine, a provider of a variety of digital phone solutions and services. Mark has extensive experience working for start-up or entrepreneurial organizations and a passion for affordable, reliable, and purposeful technology solutions in those environments.
Many businesses are turning to a Hosted VoIP solution to free themselves from the costs of administering their phone service. These costs come from a variety of sources, whether it is in-house technician time or vendor-based phone equipment services. All can be virtually eliminated with the selection of the right hosted VoIP service provider for your business.
Many businesses are entertaining replacing their antiquated phone system with a fully featured digital phone system to enhance their communication with their customers and employees. Such an investment does not have to break the capital budget for the year and can actually pay for itself quickly. Following the trends of cloud computing, hosted email services, and external web hosting, businesses are also moving to hosted digital phone service to keep capital and maintenance costs down while receiving all the benefits of a full featured enterprise phone system.
How does this work?
Hosted Digital Phone Service providers provide a secure, centralized phone system that supports multiple clients. Good providers are able to custom configure each client’s call flow and set it up according to how the customer does business. At the customer’s site, all they need to purchase are the phones and some minor network equipment and the phones are “connected” to the host facility via the internet.
Every IP-phone has a unique identifier called a MAC address. Phone numbers / extensions are assigned to this phone and calls into the phone are directed to the address.
Hosted phone service providers can administer changes to the customer set up remotely, thus saving the business money previously spent on service calls and trip charges to perform adds, moves, and changes to the set up of their on-site system.
How does the investment generate returns?
By choosing to go with a hosted solution, businesses are avoiding spending capital on replacing their PBX. As mentioned above, the investment is only in the number of phones needed and some minor network equipment. Against this lower investment, the business can experience monthly cost savings on the phone service. Many hosted phone service providers offer “all distance” calling wrapped into one monthly rate per user. When comparing against the line fees, surcharges, and long distance costs, businesses typically can save between 20 and 40 percent from their previous provider.
Indirect benefits come from the improved functionality and flexibility of the phone system, which can improve employee production and communications with customers.
There are many features and benefits from making the investment in a digital phone service platform. Give a provider a call today and find out what they can do for you!
About the author: Mark Greim is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at sipVine, a provider of a variety of digital phone solutions and services. Mark has extensive experience working for start-up or entrepreneurial organizations and a passion for affordable, reliable, and purposeful technology solutions in those environments.
VoIP phone service offers your business many features that can improve your communications experience. If your hosted VoIP phone service provider suggests that all you need to do is plug your phones in and you’re in business, you are missing out on the opportunity to customize the service to advance your communications with your customers and employees.
Certainly, one of the great benefits of voice over the internet comes from the fact that your phones will register and download their configuration wherever your employees office, whether it be at the home or within the four walls of the office. Many VoIP service providers offer the opportunity to save money on phone service and tout “plug and play” installation. However, digitizing your phone service platform also provides your business the chance to program the set up.
These are just a few of the ways a VoIP service can be custom configured to enhance your business communication or be molded to conform to how you do business. So, don’t settle for drop shippers wanting you to plug and play. Make sure your potential VoIP provider can customize your service to meet your needs!
About the author: Mark Greim is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at sipVine, a provider of a variety of digital phone solutions and services. Mark has extensive experience working for start-up or entrepreneurial organizations and a passion for affordable, reliable, and purposeful technology solutions in those environments.
In a week where Cisco announced the delivery of their 30 millionth VoIP phone, it is surprising to learn that only 13% of businesses have adopted a Hosted VoIP solution and small and medium business are unaware of the option to entertain a Hosted model.
Industry research indicates that VoIP applications are the model of the present, as 79% of businesses will have a VoIP application in at least one location of their business by 2013. Large enterprises are deploying VoIP at an accelerated pace. With a Hosted VoIP model, small and medium businesses can enjoy all the benefits that larger enterprises enjoy without the purchase of expensive equipment on location.
The fundamental concept behind the hosted model is that your business is outsourcing the traditional PBX and the administration of it. This significantly lessens the capital cost to deploy VoIP, as you will only need to purchase the IP Phones and some minor network equipment. Hosted providers typically charge per user and incorporate all distance calling and system administration into their fee. Thus, your business can vastly improve your communications with the features found in VoIP applications at an unexpectedly low entry price.
Some Hosted models can provide some unique approaches to disaster recovery and call quality assurance, further lessening the fear of change to routing your voice traffic over the internet. Be sure to ask your potential provider how they address these situations.
The simple message is to not to fear the unknown! Check out a hosted VoIP provider today!
About the author: Mark Greim is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at sipVine, a provider of a variety of digital phone solutions and services. Mark has extensive experience working for start-up or entrepreneurial organizations and a passion for affordable, reliable, and purposeful technology solutions in those environments.
Tags: Hosted VoIP
Every business VoIP customer enjoys numerous benefits from the features delivered by a Hosted Digital Phone Service. But, which ones mean the most? Because the features are vast, what appeals most to your company may be different from others. Perhaps the greatest appeal is the ability to customize the feature set and call flow/routing to conform to how you do business. Let the debate begin.
Normally, when I write about the features and benefits of a digital phone service, I inevitably receive comments that it’s really all about saving money. This harkens back memories of an infamous line from a political debate, “it’s the economy, stupid”. Well, certainly, businesses can save money with VoIP while enhancing their business communication patterns.
There are many more features and benefits of a digital phone service, but we’ve found that these categories have been what our customers site as being the most beneficial. The greatest part of a hosted model is that you are not investing in a phone system to receive all of these benefits. You just need to secure the VoIP phones from your provider. Therefore, the entry cost is fairly low, you can save on the monthly service, and you can take advantage of features that will help your business.
As to what feature will mean the most to your business, that is up to you!
About the author: Mark Greim is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at sipVine, a provider of a variety of digital phone solutions and services. Mark has extensive experience working for start-up or entrepreneurial organizations and a passion for affordable, reliable, and purposeful technology solutions in those environments.
One of the great advantages of a digital phone system is that your business is no longer limited by the number of analog lines you have provisioned by the phone company. The only limitation to call volume is the amount of bandwidth you have available, and VoIP calls do not take much bandwidth. This has allowed businesses to no longer worry about “over-provisioning” their phone service in fear of not having a line available for the next incoming or outgoing call. However, it does present a challenge for companies used to paging employees with instructions to pick up a call on whatever line.
Why is this? Again, in a digital phone world, calls aren’t coming in via phone lines. Calls terminate to the actual phone where the call is picked up or placed. If a company has a main incoming number that rings multiple phones, the person who actually answers the call now has that call connected to their phone via a sip trunk. So, it is not tying up a line in the traditional sense. That employee can juggle additional incoming calls, let other calls roll to others in the ring group, or let calls to their direct inward dial number roll to their voicemail.
This can take some getting used to for companies used to the traditional line approach, especially if they need to page others to pick up a call holding. The simple work around is transferring the call to the intended party. That call is then “terminated” to a new phone. But, what alternatives are available for businesses needing to place a call on hold and be picked up by another party from any phone?
At sipVine, we have these customers place callers in “park” by transferring them to a park extension. They then page the office over the phones or overhead speakers with the message that there is a call holding for a certain party on “park 1”. The intended party can pick up that call by dialing a code. We have simplified this with some features on Cisco phones, where some of the buttons are used for various “parking lots”. This provides for visibility of calls in park and for a one button pick-up for the intended party. The button basically enters the code and “transfers” it to the extension of the party automatically.
This allows for the business to take advantage of the new technology with no restrictions on incoming and outgoing calls, but also have their new phones work like they did in the past. Make sure your digital phone provider has the capability of customizing a solution to meet your call flow requirements, or you may have to conform to how their solution works.
Granted, this is a bit confusing to write about, but the solution is easy to get used to. To discuss this further for your particular business application, feel free to contact sipVine!
About the author: Mark Greim is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at sipVine, a provider of a variety of digital phone solutions and services. Mark has extensive experience working for start-up or entrepreneurial organizations and a passion for affordable, reliable, and purposeful technology solutions in those environments.
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