The Improvement of Business VoIP

VoIP usage in general, and especially Business VoIP, has increased significantly in recent years. VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol and is the technology used for voice communication over a broadband internet connection.

When VoIP first came onto the market its usage consisted of people talking through their computers to one another. The quality was poor and was widely thought of as not being appropriate for business use. Not only that, the service was also inadequate with no extras on top of simply making and receiving calls. All this meant that businesses rarely chose VoIP and it was mostly used by home users looking for a cheap way to speak to family and friends.

This situation is much changed now though. More recently more advanced ways of using VoIP have materialised, with VoIP adapters and VoIP phones coming onto the market. VoIP adapters allow users to use their existing phones to speak through their computers, while VoIP phones are a telephone like piece of equipment that use the internet connection (as all VoIP does) to communicate. The user experience is identical to that of a telephone user. These are much more appropriate to businesses. The quality of VoIP has been massively improved as well. This makes calls with quality VoIP providers indistinguishable from those made using a telephone.

There are many features now available through VoIP providers that make the technology more viable for businesses. The most significant are voicemail and call forwarding. Voicemail is not possible with computer to computer VoIP, but is necessary for many businesses. Call forwarding means many calls can be made simultaneously within a business and calls can be passed from one member of staff to another. Other services now available include caller ID, call waiting and call blocking. All these mean that the service can be more efficient and more businesses feel that VoIP meets their requirements.

The future of VoIP looks good, with quality and services likely to see further improvements. More and more providers are coming onto the market, making it a more competitive area and improving the quality. It has been predicted by In-Stat that 79% of American businesses will be using VoIP by 2013. This estimation shows how much business VoIP has increased in recent years and the continued advancement of the technology. It is very possible that VoIP will soon overtake regular telephones, both for personal and business use. Turning to business VoIP no longer has a negative impact on businesses. The main positive is that significant savings can be made compared with traditional telephones. With many VoIP providers the quality and service is now on a par with telephone providers and it is cheaper, so it is easy to see why so many businesses are switching to VoIP.

Andrew Marshall (c)