by Stefani Laszko
Are you unsure why VoIP is such a hot topic or even what it is? When the Internet was in its infancy stages, you accessed it through your traditional phone line via a “dial up” service. The Internet has officially gone full circle allowing you to now make your phone calls over your Internet connection via Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. With the development of high speed broadband Internet connections VoIP call quality matches and often surpasses the quality of the traditional land line. Many VoIP providers have entered the market and are offering affordable hosted solutions to the small to medium-sized business market creating the buzz you’ve been hearing.
So what does this mean for me and my business? Hosted VoIP provides greater efficiency and the potential for significant financial savings. Efficiency is achieved by no longer maintaining and managing two networks (voice and data are combined), improved communications with customers and employees, robust feature set (voicemail, caller ID, conferencing, forwarding, voicemail to email, four digit dialing to other business locations, instant messaging, fax over IP, etc.) and the ability to take calls wherever you have an Internet connection (including mobile).
These features would often be well out of the budget for the average small to medium sized business, but by partnering with a hosted VoIP provider not only are you able to afford these services, you will most likely experience savings. Without long distance charges (often included in the packages) and the expense of technology refreshes (a simple software upgrade instead of replacing your entire phone system) you are also able to accurately budget the costs associated with business communications.
All you need to get started is a high speed broadband Internet connection and a desire to take your business to the next level. VoIP isn’t just a new way to make a phone call; it’s a redefinition of how you are able to streamline all of your business communications. Choosing to work with a hosted VoIP provider will give your business a competitive edge to stay ahead of the curve.
Mythos Technology is an IT consulting and management firm that provides Managed Services including hosted VoIP. For more information, please visit www.mythostech.com or call (951) 813-2672.