By the end of the 20th century, there were three separate networks. There was the voice network (old copper 'land lines'), there was the data network (modems and the beginnings of the Internet), and there was the TV network (antenna or cable). This was back at a time when most people went to the library in order to do research, the TV was something people turned on a little before and after dinner, and the phone was something that rang in the other room. These three separate systems were great. It was the eighties and Star Wars and all kinds a stuff. Problem was they were all separated. At around the beginning of the 21st century, computer scientists started to integrate these three separate networks into one (the Internet). VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is the telecommunications technology that lets users make/receive voice calls over the Internet instead of the old way. VoIP works on devices wherever there is an Internet connection, meaning desk phones, desktop computers, laptops, tablets, KIOSKs, and even plain old telephones (using a special adapter) can all be used for VoIP calling. In addition to greater mobility, VoIP offers more advanced features, a higher level of customization, and significant cost savings compared to traditional phone lines. VoIP is also referred to as Unified Communications or UC. Whereas VOIP is a technology, UC is a theoretical concept. The idea behind UC is to merge voice, video, messaging, and file sharing into one platform. A simple example of this concept is the emailing of a voicemail. The two are now said to be 'Unified'. The goal of UC is to enable your team with a single/consolidated tool (as much as possible) for collaborating across multiple channels, resulting in productivity and user experience improvements.

There are two main reasons why businesses should use VoIP. The first is lowering costs. Estimates vary but it is common for VoIP services to save your organization a lot of money on the total cost of owning your current system (meaning you see these savings in 12-24 months). For example, no more onsite tech for adds/moves/changes, reduced cabling because no more need for old telephone cable, no more need for budgeting for expensive hardware, no more long-distance charges, and other cost-cutting benefits. The second reason why businesses should use VoIP is performance and functionality. A consolidated cloud VoIP system will support your team much better and eliminate many of the things they must now do manually. It will also enable your team to work from home or anywhere else. And if you’re in the retail business, you gain important tools such as call tracking metrics/reports, call recording, and business SMS/txt.

VoIP is a complicated technology and there are many was of explaining how it works but basically VoIP phones are nothing more than little computers that connect to the server or CloudPBX. All the things we grew up with on the older land-lines, such as dial-tone and busy-tones, are now simulated using VoIP software.

White-Glove services can be especially important for certain individuals and organizations. For example, you may need white-glove services if you are not a “do-it-yourself” kind of individual. You may be the type of person who is focused on other priorities and does not have the patience to work long hours and do everything yourself. Or your business may depend heavily on customer communications where downtime can become quite expensive if you’re customers cannot reach your team members. You may also have more unique and detailed call-routing needs than the average company such as Call-Center processing, CRM software integration, business SMS, and other unified communications enhancements.

When choosing a VoIP provider, we always recommend going into it with the right questions. Is there a contract or a pay-as-you-go pricing model? What are the taxes and fees? Is the system geo-redundant? Can the provider produce a history report of uptime/downtime? Download the VoIP Buyers Guide for more information.

Maybe you shouldn't change things now. Unless of your system is showing signs of getting older and not supporting your team and customers very well. Yes sometimes change is an aggravation. However, as business leaders, we cannot afford to be reactive to the advances in business and technology. It's important for effective leadership that we be proactive about keeping up with them. With your communications system in the cloud, you no longer need to worry about your infrastructure’s ability to keep up with change because you will have outsourced that subject matter expertise. The pace of technological advancement is increasing day by day and it’s hard to catch your breath.

An example of unified communications is chatting with a co-worker or customer and then switching from chat to video meeting without using a different application. Another example includes team members annotating a document in real time while chatting and receiving a screen pop notification when a phone call comes in.

With a cloud-based hosted PBX solution, if you lose your Internet connection your communication infrastructure remains available because we can simply re-route phone calls to you mobile phone. In other words, your Internet connection is no longer a single point of failure. In addition, when your PBX resides in the cloud, you’re provided with a plethora of call routing options. For example, the system includes features like voicemail to email, and all calls can be automatically forwarded and routed to virtually any person, device, or location. In businesses where any downtime is too costly, we can install a backup Internet connection.

In the early days of VoIP, some people tried it and had spoty results. For some it worked great and others not so much. Some were left with a negative impression that this VoIP technology is not as reliable as the "land lines". But the truth is that Internet reliability and speed capabilities have been improving for years now and this is no longer a problem like it used to be. And many VoIP systems will simply re-route your calls to your mobile phone in the unusual event of your Internet connection going down.

PhoneCompany.Cloud is a reseller of communications services many of which are owned and operated by larger national organizations. This is a common practice in the industry. For example, if you were to subscribe for Spectrum Mobile services, your service is really being provided by Verizon Wireless. We deploy thoroughly vetted CloudPBX networks, currently SkySwitch and Twilio, alongside internally developed solutions to enable our clients to provide superior customer service. This translates into a 'local' service provider with the resources of a national organization and the benefit is you don't have to suffer from the poor customer service of the larger organization.

When choosing a VoIP provider, we always recommend going into it with the right questions. Is there a contract or a pay-as-you-go pricing model? What are the taxes and fees? Is the system geo-redundant? Can the provider produce a history report of uptime/downtime? What physical phones work with the system? Download our VoIP Buyers Guide for more information.