VoIP technology is gradually becoming more and more prevalent across UK businesses, and it’s not hard to see why, with VoIP saving companies, on average, 70% on call and subscription costs. What’s more, with VoIP you can make calls on the go, engage in remote working, manage everything via a computer app, and so much more.
Knowing which VoIP provider to go with can be very tricky, especially if you are not even 100% sure as to what exactly VoIP is!
In this article, we’ll explain exactly how to find a great VoIP provider.
What Is VoIP?
VoIP is a protocol used for sending voice data over the Internet. As a business owner, all you really need to know is that “it” is identical in function to the standard old-fashioned analogue phone system used for a century in the UK.
By using the power of the Internet, service providers can give business owners access to PBXs without the business having to invest in any of the hardware themselves. An employee can use a “hardphone” at work and an app on their phone giving them access to the same outgoing and incoming calls – they can make company calls from anywhere.
One-man-bands can set up complex callflows with IVR menus (press 1 for sales, 2 for support, etc), giving the impression of a large and professional call centre without even needing one.
AS you can see, VoIP provides a great number of benefits, with prices greatly less than that of traditional landline setups.
1) Know Your Rates
Providers vary greatly in cost. Ranging from £5 per user all the way up to £30 per user. What’s most important to know is what you are getting at the price. For example, SureVoIP offers a simple VoIP line with no special features for £5 per month for one person. At Ballscoigne, we offer our entire range of PBX features for £5.99 per user per month.
Other providers will offer some of their PBX features for around £5 a month, and others cost far more. Usually, we would say to start off with less features, and then pay for more when you need them, but with Ballscoigne, you can really set and forget.
2) Look for Versatile Dialing Options
One of the best things about VoIP systems is that they offer many ways to make calls. Their most basic function is to mimic a traditional PBX, in which employees call and communicate using telephones and headsets in their most basic form. Some VoIP systems allow you to connect to your existing phones, while others offer great VoIP phones that give you access to many features.
Softphones are another option that is unique to VoIP systems. Softphone is what it looks like: software that runs on your PC and uses a connected microphone and headphones or speakers to mimic the features of your phone. Many of these applications offer a set of features that you cannot get from a traditional telephone system, such as calendar integration, team messaging, and collaboration, and the ability to send and receive files during a call.
3) Don’t Settle for Second-Class Support
As with most products, the after-sales service you receive is very important to the smooth functioning of your VoIP service.
Live chat is another popular option. Several providers offer 24/7 live chat support. If you’re a global business with 24/7 needs, you should find a service provider who can answer your questions quickly (or at least in a timely manner).
However, be careful when adding features to your phone system, especially with the custom integrations mentioned above. You can be attractive, but you should expect to increase your price. Just because your supplier offers good customer support, the supplier does not mean that you have integrated your VoIP. And even if you do this, it is unlikely that you support a integration system that has developed a customer.
Take a look at every component of your audio communication system and make sure you know when you read yourself. If you also develop custom integration, then search for premium support options is a great idea. Yes, there are additional costs, but if you have the expertise available for both growth and day-to-day operations, you can make a big profit.
4) Familiarise Yourself With Call Management
As VoIP platforms mature, their feature sets are likely to be tailored to a specific audience. This means you don’t have to find the same skills in products that compete directly. If your organization invests in VoIP because of the “brains” of its software, make sure the product includes the knowledge your business needs. Call management is an area that deserves special attention because it is an umbrella term for almost everything the system can do with frequent phone calls. For example, suppose you have multiple calls coming to a certain set of phone numbers (such as a service desk) or you are calling the system at a specific time of year (holiday calls). In this case, you may need call waiting, where VoIP can intelligently distribute calls to extensions based on availability, geographic location, or other features. Another example is extension management, where the system assigns assignments to individual users and manages a names folder integrated with your network department’s network folder.
5) Make Sure You Can Get Fraud Prevention
Fraud in telecoms is one of the most devastating crimes there is. In the past, if you were successfully targeted by fraudsters, you would almost certainly be out of pocket tens of thousands of pounds. Luckily, fraud prevention is more common nowadays, where hard spending limits are set to ensure you do not lose too much money in a fraudulant attack.
Our VoIP service comes with adjustable fraud prevention settings, which means your daily and monthly spending is capped to prevent overspending due to fraud. If limits are too stringent, they can be adjusted at any time by simply sending an email or live chat message.
Careful attention and security are essential for any cloud service associated with your business. Fighting vectors change daily. For internet-connected applications such as VoIP, which serves as a place for your business communications, a complete security system is even more important. Work closely with vendors to determine where to charge for data over cloud-based services and, if possible, negotiate your security plan and contract.
Search for services that provide encryption at the end-to-end, both when data is passing and when it is resting. Search for advanced research options, mainly multidisciplinary research in biometrics. Such systems are important as an increasing number of cyber attacks focus specifically on VoIP systems.
Behind your firewall, talk to your IT staff and make sure security is the most important thing there. Make sure your home network hardware has VoIP and has a company-level security plan in place, and make sure they are turned on. For example, VoIP traffic is often divided into virtual local area networks (VLANs) because having a dedicated network for voice traffic means that data from other network applications cannot block the volume. But VLAN is also good for storing VoIP conversations as long as it is configured with IT in mind. To learn more, check out this list of actions and things that will not happen when it comes to storing your VoIP messages.
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