Phone lines have been with us for quite a while, over a century in fact, so it’s no surprise VoIP phone lines are appearing as an alternative. By 2025, phones lines as we know them will be gone, replaced with a digital alternative that is far more glamorous. The name of this alternative? Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP for short.
BT are turning off the old PSTN analogue phone line network in 2025. This is driving part of the big switch over from PSTN and ISDN to SIP.
Additionally a lot of businesses have realised that they can gain a number of benefits from working with a VoIP provider to move their phone lines from analogue to digital. Industry analysis shows that small and medium -sized businesses are driving the move to make calls over the internet at quite a rate.
You might be asking what exactly is in it for me? Well here are just some of the benefits:
The great news is that unlike traditional analogue phone lines the internet doesn’t care whether the call you are placing it to someone down the road, or on the other side of the world. In addition, any phone calls you make within the company will cost you almost nothing. So, your monthly phone bill will drop, and this will mean that with cost no longer being an issue your employees will be able to make the calls they need to whenever it is necessary. You can choose a cloud-based solution from a provider which will give you the latest updates when they are available, and no maintenance issues, or if you would prefer you could keep your own kit – you will still make big savings.
If you need to add more people to your team the flexibility is there. No waiting for 60 days, with the flick of a switch you can add additional lines to your set up to accommodate those new employees. VoIP gives you the flexibility to have the number of phone lines that you need, you won’t need to add in extra lines “just in case” at the start. You are completely in control.
You have the ability to scale your business up or down to suit your needs, and in addition VoIP makes it easier for you to make your office more flexible to suit the needs of your employees. Put simply, cloud-based offer your business a much more flexible working environment; you can carry a virtual telephone line with you to any location so there will no longer be any missed messages because they have gone to your office, which is now as big as you could want it to be; there are no limits. All that you need is for your team to be able to access Wi-Fi. The number of mobile workers has increased dramatically over the last couple of years and if you want to stay ahead then you need to grow with it.
Not only can you make calls with the internet, but you can of course send data, and with your whole team being able to use applications at the same time you have the perfect way to talk on the phone and share documents simultaneously.
There is no longer any need to use a separate service in order to conduct virtual meetings. It can all be done via VoIP and any number of people can join the same call with ease. If you are already using Cloud apps, like Skype, then you will find that it is very easy to integrate. Ultimately, you get access to the latest tech, with more features, and overall there is less maintenance.
BT are hoping to switch their analogue off in 2025, and as this date draws ever closer there will be less money invested in maintaining it. VoIP is already being proven to give better quality and this gap will only get better.
With your phone number no longer tied to a location you can promote your business on a national scale yet still appear local.
If you have VoIP and an ultrafast broadband connection in place, then you are very well positioned to do business in a manner that is not only fast and efficient but is also looking to the future. You have a truly digital office.
It’s clear to see the future is VoIP, but the question is – how will you integrate it into your business?