This week we met with two different businesses (prospective customers) regarding VoIP issues/concerns, and felt the need to blog about it.
WARNING: VoIP is an industry buzzword, but when someone uses the term they could be referring to any one of about 10 different things! I respectfully ask that businesses considering “VoIP” please be very careful and consult with a knowledgeable industry veteran before making any changes to their situation. PLEASE!!! This can be a very painful experience if you choose the wrong partner to entrust with this transition from traditional telephony to VoIP.
Voice over Internet Protocol is a technology that can be leveraged to increase profitability within a company. But what does that mean?
- Does it mean free or cheap long distance?
- Does it mean I can run my phone lines over our existing internet connection?
- Does it mean connecting multiple locations to act as a single image?
- Does it mean the ability to transfer calls seamlessly between locations without asking your customer, “Please hang up and dial…”?
- Does it mean getting your voicemails delivered to your email?
- Does it mean the ability to have calls routed seamlessly from your office phone to your cellphone?
- Does it mean the ability to have a software application on your desktop that controls your phone?
- Does it mean the ability to see the “presence” of all the other users on your system?
- Does it mean I get my voice lines delivered over a T1 and get more internet bandwidth when I am not using the phone “line”?
- Does it mean I can have direct phone numbers for my employees?
- Does it mean we no longer have a phone system to maintain in our office and we rent an IP seat with a VoIP provider?
- Does it mean I can unplug my VoIP phone, take it home with me and still take calls?
- Does it mean the phone is plugged into a data cable instead of a phone cable (Cat3)?
When you migrate to VoIP the answer to ALL these questions is “maybe”.
When considering VoIP for your business, the most important thing, by far, is selecting a trusted partner that understands your business. Migrating to VoIP technology is probably a very good thing for your business, but make sure you understand its impact on your organization BEFORE implementation.
Michael Gabhart, Sales Consultant
502-708-3337
