The last ten years have seen change after change come to the business telecommunications industry. Communications technologies worldwide have been accelerated by the expanding reach of the Internet, creating a situation where current cutting-edge business technology is often obsolete by the time of the next trade show!
When every six months brings a new tech headline proclaiming that this is the telephone equipment of the future that you “must “ invest in, how do you tell which platforms are worth
investing in?
Selecting the right small busins phone system
Well, mostly it depends on what you want to do right now, and what you want to be doing a few years from now. After all, if there's one lesson the Internet has taught us through its rapid evolution, it's this: you gotta think about the future. You have to know where you're going, because the road you're on is moving left and right under your feet with every step. If you can't see your destination, you can't chart a course to it.
Without direction, you risk simply getting lost.
However, any talk of current telephone equipment means talking about the central idea that underlies them, and why we feel it's currently a stable platform: Voice over IP.
The Growth of VoIP
Voice over IP systems take the standard analog phone signals used by regular telephones and convert them into digital streams over the Internet. People were talking about it back in the 90s, but it's only been within the last 6-8 years that it's become truly viable as a useful business technology. VoIP calls now often have better sound quality than copper wire phones!
This has been reflected by its growing adoption among businesses, with trends pointing towards 65% of North American businesses using it by 2015. Plus, the VoIP business is booming as well, showing huge growth in just a few years.
In short, VoIP is on the cusp of establishing itself as the new standard for business telephone equipment and systems, and there's no sign of a competitor coming to dethrone it. If you've been holding off in hopes of something even better coming along, it's probably not going to happen for awhile.
The Telephone Equipment That Changes Your Business
So, if now is the time to start thinking about VoIP, what are your options? Here's a quick overview of some of the benefits of standard VoIP telephone equipment.
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IP PBX Phones: If you have a last-century telephone system, you'll probably want PBX telephones which contain all the hardware necessary to send VoIP calls through your existing phone lines. If you need advice on whether you'll need PBX phones with your current setup, just ask!
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VoIP Phones: If you already have high-speed connections, especially gigabit Ethernet, advanced VoIP telephones. These bring you crystal-clear sound, beyond older phone systems, as well as an easy-to-use feature set. Color touchscreens make these some of the simplest and most powerful phones on the market.
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Conference Phones: VoIP also brings high-quality sound to your conference calls. Instead of dealing with scratchy speakerphones or faint sound, these gigabit VoIP phones deliver nearly-perfect audio quality no matter how many offices are involved.
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Unified Communications: A unified communications server on your network ties everything together. While not required for VoIP, unified communications give you vast control over all your phone equipment, as well as the grid itself, including universal security measures. It takes VoIP beyond simply a voice protocol and into a true 21st Century tool for getting the most out of your business telecommunications.
The key takeaway here is: VoIP has arrived, and it has a lot to offer your business. If you've held out waiting for the right time to invest in new phone equipment, now is as good a time as ever. VoIP is becoming nearly ubiquitous and is likely to be a major platform for business communications for years to come.
