VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) has become a crucial tool for businesses of all sizes, expected to grow by nearly $20 billion just between 2021 to 2026. One of the reasons for its popularity is because of the large-scale global shift to remote and hybrid working.
With increasingly more employees working from home, companies are switching to a phone solution that lets them run their operations both remotely and securely.
What are the advantages of VoIP for business purposes?
Companies can benefit from using VoIP for many different reasons, all of which can allow them to maximise company productivity, enhance customer experience and drive business growth. Here are just some of the key benefits of using VoIP for business:
Lower costs for business calls
VoIP relies on the internet rather than physical phone lines meaning that both operational and calling costs will be significantly reduced. When switching to VoIP for the first time, most businesses experience a drop of about 30% for phone bill costs and as much as 75% for operating costs.
Using VoIP technology works out to be cheaper because you no longer have to have separate networks for your data and your voice – this means that you can consolidate your expenses. By using VoIP you also avoid the fees associated with setting up a landline and the related hardware like phone hubs, switches and telephone adaptors.
Crucially, when you have VoIP, you have a virtual number rather than a number that’s connected to a physical landline telephone. This means that companies can save both on local and international calls (source: Desk London).
For companies weighing up all of their expenses, VoIP is crucial for facilitating a fully remote workforce meaning that businesses do not need to pay the overheads for a physical office space.
Better quality calls
Landlines are a dying method of communication and the line can often be low quality. However, with VoIP, as long as you have a strong internet connection and good bandwidth, you can benefit from excellent quality calls that your customers will appreciate. Not only that, but you have more control as you can use a headset or microphone and adjust the call settings in accordance with your personal preferences.
Unlike traditional phone lines, VoIP phone systems provided by companies offering business phone systems rarely suffer from dropped or lagging calls or distorted voices. This makes it a more reliable and consistent mode of communication and helps people express themselves more clearly, avoiding the risk of miscommunication.
Support a remote workforce
With VoIP, employees are free to work from anywhere in the world meaning that this technology fully supports a totally remote or hybrid business model. As a result, you can have a far more flexible business, allowing your employees to work from home and benefit from better work life balance, whatever their personal needs. Wherever they are working from, their business operations can continue as usual because the phone system will be hosted in the cloud.
It can also help remote employees to be more productive as VoIP technology allows users to host virtual meetings, share company documents and conduct international phone conferences.
A remote workforce can have many benefits of its own allowing companies to source talent from across the globe rather than being limited by physical location. Not only that, but with employees constantly seeking greater flexibility with their employers, offering remote work can be a great way for companies to attract and retain talent.
Additional call features
VoIP offers businesses many different advanced call features that they would not get from a traditional telephone, allowing them enhanced business functionality. From call forwarding and Interactive Voice Response, to call recording, auto attendant, call queuing and event analytics, businesses can really enhance their operations by using VoIP. All of these tools allow businesses greater insights into their call performance and help them to better serve their customers.
