Q: What does a small business need to know about VoIP?

A: Most small businesses now understand that VoIP has the potential to reduce phone bills and deliver features that can improve business productivity. Even so, there are many details to consider when evaluating VoIP. A small business must understand the full range of benefits delivered by VoIP. These include not only cost savings, but improvements in productivity delivered by new features. It is also important to have a basic understanding of how VoIP works and what features are mandatory for any small business. Businesses should also understand what type of network connection is required for business class VoIP and what steps need to be taken before going live with VoIP.

Q: What benefits can VoIP deliver to a small business?

A: Most business owners think of long distance cost savings as the primary benefit of VoIP. Small businesses can realize meaningful long distance and international call savings by migrating to VoIP. VoIP can reduce international call tolls by as much as 40%. Perhaps the most compelling benefits of VoIP come in the form of new features that dramatically improve business productivity. These features include click-to-call, web based voicemail, integrated conferencing, auto-attendant capabilities, and call routing.

Q: How does VoIP work?

A: In simple terms, VoIP, or Voice over IP, is voice traffic traveling over an IP network. This form of voice communication is distinct from legacy voice communications where voice traffic travels over the PSTN network where a dedicated connection is established for the duration of the call. VoIP traffic simply travels over the internet without any dedicated connection. In fact, individual VoIP packets will take different routes to their destination and be “reassembled” at the recipient site so that they are intelligible.

Q: What features does a small business require from VoIP?

A: Many VoIP service providers do not offer basic features required by every business. Often referred to as Class 5 features, these include the ability to place a call on hold, transfer a call, forward a call to voicemail, and conference a third line in. Consumer focused VoIP service providers often do not offer these features.

Q: What type of internet connection does VoIP require?

A: VoIP can run on any IP network, but for business quality calls, it’s generally recommended that businesses consider a high speed network like a T1 line. Cable and DSL connections often don’t provide enough upstream bandwidth to sustain voice quality. Small businesses should look for a vendor that places an emphasis on voice quality and backs that emphasis up with metrics driven service level agreements (SLAs). SLAs should cover service quality metrics such as jitter and packet loss that directly impact voice quality.

Q: How should a small business plan to migrate to VoIP?

A: First, it is important to understand whether a hosted service or equipment based solution is the best option for the business. Hosted solutions are easier to deploy and manage, while running equipment on site provides additional functionality that may be needed as your business grows. A basic understanding of the total cost of ownership is helpful in making this decision. Second, every small business should evaluate a minimum of three providers when considering VoIP. Be sure to examine pricing, available features, service level agreements, and availability when looking at specific vendors.