Manual

Considerations for Moving to a VoIP Phone System

Any business looking to upgrade their existing business telephone system (PBX) or purchase a new one, faces a multitude of new options on the market with the recent advent of Voice over IP (VoIP) solutions. With all of these options, choices are tougher than ever. For many decades now, traditional phone systems have become incredibly feature-rich and cost-effective.

New VoIP solutions now flood the market with a whole new list of costs and benefits, often different than their predecessors, which are also still available for now. This article addresses the general concepts of VoIP and the costs/benefits for considering the introduction of VoIP technology into your organization.

VoIP Options

VoIP can mean a lot of different things. Most importantly, VoIP refers to a type of technology (a protocol). It does NOT mean that voice must travel over the Internet. In its purest sense, VoIP refers to the conversion of analog voice to a packetized digital signal (1’s and 0’s), which are then sent over a network the same way that computers communicate. Secondly, VoIP can be the basis of the communication signal used within the networks of large international carriers (e.g., Sprint) to carry voice signals between different businesses and homes. Finally, VoIP can be used within an internal business network between the phone system and telephone handsets. This last form of VoIP provides the greatest advantage and highest payback for individual businesses and is the basis for rest of this article. The important point here is that VoIP can be deployed within an organization’s internal network alone without the need for an incoming VoIP signal from any carrier.

VoIP phone systems (IP-PBX) have been commercially available since 1998 and have matured significantly over that time. The issues of stability and voice quality have essentially vanished with proper installation and the VoIP feature set now equals (and often surpasses) those of traditional phone systems. One big advantage for going with VoIP over traditional is the reduced wiring costs, since the phone system now can use the same wiring as the existing computer network (although sometimes there are good reasons for continuing to run two separate sets of wiring).

Other major advantages include reduced support / maintenance costs and cost effective access to many new voice applications. Since the skills for maintaining the phone system are often the same or similar to those already required to maintain the business’s computer network there are less support people required. Moves, adds, and changes which in the past required an on-site visit or costly call to the telephone vendor are now just as easy as moving a computer. Unplug the IP phone from the network outlet, carry it to the new location, plug it in and the system locates it – immediately re-routing all calls and voice mail to the new location. No longer is a highly-trained telephone administrator (or worse yet, an outside telecom support firm) required to make changes in a wiring closet and/or re-program the phone system to make this simple change.

One additional advantage that was previously touted in the media and by overzealous salespeople is called “Toll Bypass”. This refers to the ability to save money on long-distance tolls by using a VoIP solution in two different office locations and then routing the traffic between them on a digital data line, either private or via the Internet. Although there may be some merit to this argument in certain cases, the continual fall of long distance rates to lower and lower costs reduces its impact. Toll bypass may first appear to be a good way to save money, and when using private data lines has potential to be very effective. But the current Internet infrastructure is not designed for phone quality voice traffic and the potential loss in revenue to your business from poor quality is likely not worth saving a few pennies on your long distance calls.

VoIP Features

One application a well-designed IP-PBX solution supports is the ability to tie remote, tele-worker phones into the main phone system using digital lines or broadband Internet links. When properly designed and configured with consideration for the network traffic, one central IP-PBX system can easily link a nationally distributed tele-worker based sales team or even entire call centers in different cities with no long distance charges.

Another area of great benefit provided by VoIP is just beginning to be exploited. Since VoIP is typically based on the same or similar platforms as current computing technology, vendors normally include graphical user interfaces that easily integrate with many common desktop applications, including software that may have been custom-written for the business. Commonly known as CTI (computer telephony integration) this function is now achieved via simple IP address assignments to link a desktop phone with a PC, versus the complex special adapters and cables used in the past. Today, most VoIP solutions can support even the smallest business with such features as “drag & drop” calling, conferencing, transferring, and full integration with Microsoft Outlook. For the user who is somewhat familiar with typical desktop applications, little or no training is required for all of this sophisticated functionality under VoIP.

So with all of these seemingly great new applications for VoIP, why the reluctance to switch? The primary concern for most businesses to start using VoIP is simply the cost of the change. Depending on their existing phone equipment, businesses may be able to purchase a VoIP upgrade, however, others will need to start from scratch and completely replace their existing system. To assure the best return on investment (ROI), it is best to consider each situation on it’s own merits and use professional help in making the decision. Secondly, there is sometimes fear that sound quality was poor or that voice traffic could overload the data network. These concerns arose from the misunderstanding that VoIP required all voice traffic to travel over the Internet. VoIP’s long and steady growth of improving technology has eliminated the concern of poor sound quality or limited feature capability within the phones. The introduction of highly scalable IP-PBX’s allows any business to reap all the benefits of this technology within their organization, while still using “toll quality” carrier dial-tone if they chose to communicate with their customers. Everyday more and more businesses of all sizes make the move to VoIP.

Deciding to Invest

In summary, VoIP offers numerous functional advantages over traditional phone systems, including lower total cost of ownership (TCO) over time to operate and maintain. Could it be right for your business today? Similar to the migration of other technologies, the time is soon coming when traditional systems will no longer be available. Today every major manufacturer is spending all R&D on VoIP and virtually stopped manufacturing any of the legacy equipment. Eventually, the parts will disappear and finally the people and skills to keep them running will also be gone. The timeframe for total transition is probably at least two to three years away, but should definitely be considered if you are planning on purchasing a new system or upgrading anytime soon. After all, when was the last time you saw an 8-track tape player you could use to play all of those old tapes stored in your basement? Then again, would you

Thomas Smith - founder & Senior Principal of TechEn enterprises LLC, Littleton, CO.

An early vendor of the first commercially available IP-PBX (3COM/NBX) in 1998, he’s established a proven background of VoIP knowledge and experience. With over 25 years in hi-tech product development & commercialization he now focuses on IP-PBX based solutions for organizations from 10 to 1000 desktops. He can be reached at 303-932-8146 or tsmith@techen.net.