VoIP: why is it the future of business calls?

If you are a business owner, you might have heard of VoIP, but shied away from it – perhaps out of fear that it could complicate your firm’s current telephone infrastructure. However, don’t fret – VoIP isn’t as complex as its name might initially make it seem.

In fact, it can be succinctly described as initiating phone calls online rather than over a traditional phone line. Here are good reasons for your firm to consider switching to it as soon as possible.

BT is set to axe PSTN and ISDN in 2025

In the UK, there’s a certain urgency in leaping to IP-based telephone technology. That’s because the UK telecoms giant BT has announced its intent to shutter its PSTN and ISDN infrastructure, with those networks scheduled to be gradually phased out from 2020 onwards.

Minutehack explains that BT will stop accepting ISDN orders in that year. As the outdated PSTN and ISDN systems are expensive to use, you can certainly financially benefit from abandoning them soon.

You can make significant ongoing savings with VoIP

You could be pleasantly surprised by how quickly the savings stack up when you switch to VoIP. One UK-based telecoms provider, Planet Numbers, reports that a company can slash its monthly phone bill by 90% when it switches to a hosted VoIP phone service.

Of course, the money you save on communication – an obviously important and routine responsibility for your company – can then be spent on other parts of the business.

VoIP is a conveniently future-proof telephony solution

No-one can be certain what the future holds – but, with a VoIP system in place, you can be more confident that difficulties into which you do run will prove merely setbacks rather than crises.

One big reason is that, as your business grows and adds more people to its payroll, the VoIP service can be readily scaled up to accommodate this. As the Federation of Small Businesses explains, set up a digital receptionist to enhance customer service.

VoIP facilitates remote and on-the-go working

At any given time, you probably don’t have all of your workers in the office with you. After all, some workplace responsibilities can necessitate trips away from the premises, or you might have given some of your staff permission to work from home occasionally.

However, all of your employees can continue to have access to the company’s VoIP system – and, for this reason, to information already close at hand for your workers who remain on the premises.

More and more businesses are considering VoIP

In surveying over 350 businesses, the company Software Advice recently found that 57% claimed to be looking into VoIP, despite 31% still using landlines and 13% relying on mobile phones. The wide range of features available with VoIP was strengthening the respondents’ temptation to switch.

You don’t want to risk getting left behind, so consider taking up VoIP now, while your competitors are probably still mulling over what’s in it for them.