Business VOIP Phone Systems have evolved into “unified communications” tools  that simplify and integrate all forms of business communications—phone calls, faxes, voice mail, e-mail, web conferencing and more- and can be delivered via any medium and to any device. For example, one can receive a voice mail and choose to access it through email or receive it as an SMS text message on a cell phone.

When considering VOIP, the overall goal should be to optimize business processes, reduce the response time, manage information flows and eliminate media dependencies. For example, an important action that takes one day to complete but is received a day late, takes two days to complete. Unified communications efforts aim to reduce that delay as much as possible.

In addition, VOIP providers rave about the following benefits:

• Ability to rout phone calls over existing data networks to avoid the need for separate voice and data networks.
• Conference calling, IVR, call forwarding, automatic redialing, and caller ID features that traditional phone systems companies normally charge extra for, are available free of charge with VOIP phone systems.
• Reduced Costs – while regular telephone calls are billed by the minute, VOIP calls are billed per megabyte (MB) sent over the Internet.
• Transmit multiple phone calls over a single broadband connection without the need to add extra lines.
• Integration with other services available over the Internet, including video, web or audio conferencing, managing corporate address book etc.

The evolution of  business VOIP service providers into unified communications systems companies has helped businesses streamline information flow and reduce response times. Human delays are also minimized or eliminated, resulting in cost savings for the business. Unified communications also allows for more direct collaboration between co-workers and with suppliers and customers. This enables possible reductions in business travel, especially with video and web conferencing, reducing an organization’s carbon footprint.

Tags: VOIP

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