7 Ways VoIP Can Make Your Business Easier and More Cost-Effective

Sam O’Brien

By Sam O’Brien

For years, business communications networks have relied on landline phones. Despite the fact that they can be cumbersome to install and maintain, not to mention expensive, they’ve been a necessity due to a lack of viable alternatives.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has changed all this, providing a cheaper and more reliable phone system than the traditional landline-based services. Millions of people enjoy significant savings after switching their company systems to internet-based VoIP — and that number continues to grow each year.

Here are seven of the best reasons for your business to make the switch to VoIP technology.

1. Reduced call costs. It’s one of the most attractive traits of VoIP systems: the cost of call bills is significantly lower than those of landline systems. Monthly contracts are cheaper than those found on analog or ISDN line rentals, and many businesses have seen their external call costs drop significantly after switching to VoIP systems.

What’s more, some providers offer free VoIP-to-VoIP calls. This means internal calls don’t need to cost your company anything. This includes international calls between your remote workers operating from multiple static IP addresses. Companies that have switched systems have reported a 78% reduction in call expenditure compared with ISDN systems.

2. Simpler and cheaper hardware. Standard landline phones have earned themselves a bad reputation for being expensive and time-consuming to install. This is due to high package prices and complicated hardware. In this respect, VoIP offers a breath of fresh air for users.

Certain VoIP packages offer handsets for free, with any extra features being offered at an agreeable price. These are only with select providers, however, so it’s wise to look at different offers before deciding which provider is best for your company.

This hardware not only gives a more agreeable price than landline providers would, but also offers better reliability once the system has been fine-tuned. VoIP users report better call quality and more reliable service than landline systems, and say that the installation of such hardware was easy. VoIP systems run solely off the company’s internet connection, which makes them easy to move around and reconfigure and marks a contrast to the bulky equipment needed to run landline systems.

3. Easier business expansion and management. VoIP presents opportunities for new and growing businesses, as setting up a new user on your network is easy. The handsets that come with VoIP systems are much cheaper and easier to set up than landline packages, and new users are added by using an online portal.

The system can also be controlled by your computer or your phone, meaning you can change your options with ease. Porting over information such as phone numbers to the new system is simple, and easier than on landline systems. Also, with internal management handled via a dashboard, you’re able to oversee the phone system, your personal options and manage users from your phone or your computer.

4. More up-to-date software. With landline phone systems, businesses often find that updating their software is complicated and expensive. And, by the time they have installed it, the software could already be out of date. Installation is simpler on VoIP, although tweaking can be needed for optimal performance.

As it’s a cloud-based system, VoIP software can often be rolled out across the company rather than individually. This being said, providers still offer extensive support systems via online portals or …