Communication within the organization can add a lot to the business operational cost. Managing tasks in business can be tedious without effective channels of communication. Also, it can play an important role in helping employees achieve their targets. Apart from that, it can also help increase the productivity of employees as hassle-free communication can help save time. Thus, VoIP Support can turn out to be a blessing in disguise in this changing technological world. It holds tremendous potential to revolutionalize the workings of the businesses.

What is VoIP?

With the advent of technology, traditional telephony services are being replaced by VoIP which is a cheaper and advanced communication solution. VoIP is a technique by which a person can perform real-time voice call to another person using internet protocol, within a network, generally over the internet. In a user’s perspective, VoIP service is similar to the telephony service provided by telecom companies such as AT&T. The major difference between the two is the underlying infrastructure. VoIP technology makes use of the internet to establish an end to end connection while the traditional telephony service has its own dedicated circuit-switched networks. Also, the former charges for making calls while the other is mostly free.

VoIP service is available on almost all internet assessable devices which have a microphone and a speaker. There are some devices which are solely dedicated to VoIP.  Some of the others, especially personal computers or smartphones, can install VoIP software for easily sending and receiving voice data. Skype is one such example for this category.

How companies utilize VoIP?

Nowadays, VoIP is not just limited to making voice calls. We can send other multimedia packets over the internet, like video data. Companies across the world are utilizing this service to grow their business.

• It has enabled them to perform remote meetings with clients for a little to no cost.
• Telephone calls between employees are carried by the computer network instead of by the phone company.
• Many IT firms have also used this service to provide customer support, where a technician resolve errors on your computer by remotely logging into it.
• It supports multiple calls at the same time enabling video conferencing from remote locations.

The hardware and software for VoIP costs very less in comparison to traditional telephony service which has enabled social media companies like Facebook to grow their audience by providing them with free video and voice calling service. This has, in turn, helped them achieve indefeasible feats in the business and led to increased net profit.

How VoIP works?

Internet relies on its network layer protocol, Internet Protocol, to transmit digital data across the network of devices. Firstly, to send voice data, it needs to be converted into a digital signal. It is then the duty of internet protocol to deliver the digital data to its designated IP address, where it is converted back to voice data.

In more technical terms, each VoIP software encodes your voice into TCP or UDP data packets and then the network layer protocol, IP, carries these data packets to its destination where they are decoded back to voice data.

Challenges:

Limitations of IP Service

Providing a smooth calling experience is the most challenging task of VoIP. Traditional telephony service used circuit switched networks which provided a more reliable dedicated link, but VoIP uses internet protocol which makes no promise of getting the data to its destination in a certain time limit. Also, with an increasing number of devices connected to the internet, it is very tough for existing routers to transmit packets to their destination on time which eventually leads to packet loss and an unpleasant calling experience.

If we take an example of Skype, an immensely popular VoIP application, it transmits video at as low as 30kbps and as high as 1Mbps for a high-quality session.

Therefore, many VoIP service providers charge their customers for providing a congestion-free service through private and dedicated connections over the internet.

Security

A company never wants its confidential conversations with clients to be stolen and misused by others. Like any other network application, VoIP is also vulnerable to hacking attempts, leading to data privacy issues. Hackers also perform denial of service attacks on VoIP service providers to damage their calling service. Lack of encryption support on major VoIP service providers has opened avenues for easy leakage of message and voice data. It is also very challenging to track the exact location of the hacker using his IP address because there is no direct link between the communicating endpoints, in case a hacking attempt is detected.

Top VoIP Service Providers

There are hundreds of companies that provide VoIP service to their clients for free or at small monthly charges. Because the operational cost of VoIP is very less, reputable business companies across the world are using VoIP.

1. Nextiva-https://get.nextiva.com/

Budget-friendly and suitable for small business

2. 8 * 8 Hosted VoIP– https://www.8×8.com/

Rich set of features and compatible with mobile and desktop

3. Ring Central– https://www.ringcentral.com/

Global infrastructure across US, Asia and Europe

4. Jive– https://jive.com

Unlimited voicemail boxes & auto attendants at cheaper price

5. Dialpad-https://www.dialpad.com/

Very easy setup and management    

Conclusion

VoIP has proved to be a boon in the era of evolving technology. VoIP has played an instrumental role in lowering the operational costs of businesses and providing greater flexibility with conference calls, voice mailbox etc. Hence, in a nutshell, it is indeed one sought alternative to managing your business effectively if communication has acted as a hindrance for long.

Bleuwire™   is a reliable VoIP Service Provider and offers VOIP solutions around the globe. Contact us today to learn how we can help your business?