By Richard Bennett/Terry Martin of Coms Plc

All small businesses know that Internet telephony can save money by reducing call costs.  However, this is only the tip of the iceberg.   What is not so widely known is that  it will also save telephone line rental; give you all the features of a corporate style switchboard;  provide worker flexibility – and all without an enormous capital expense. The trick is to select a system that suits you, and an Internet telephony service provider that can quickly switch your existing number to its network and guarantee the same call quality.

Internet telephony is essentially a network based switchboard and telephony application that can be accessed by anyone with a broadband connection. With an internet telephony handset or an adapter to connect existing handsets, anyone can become connected. Before choosing a provider, you should establish a clear understanding of what you need.

You should consider the following:

 
1.    Number of users

2.    Number of office locations

3.    Mobility of staff and flexible working

4.    Number of calls and international calls

5.    Associated services required

Clearly  you have to know how many people will need to be on the network, but you must also take into account where they are going to be located.  For many businesses calls between offices and home workers account for a major portion of its telephony bill. All of these costs can be saved, as calls between the same users (known as “on net calls”) are often free or offered for a very low cost.

Internet telephony also allows for more flexible working, which increases employee productivity. Employees can, for example, have a phone at home which is connected to the office switchboard and will ring both on their desk at work and in their home. This makes it easier for employees to, say, juggle childcare without losing productivity.
Savings will of course be made from originating your calls across the Internet as the cheapest route is found to transfer the calls. Typically Internet providers call costs are 50% below comparable fixed landline providers.

For many small businesses though, one of the main benefits is that they can have all the features of a corporate PBX without the cost i.e. Call queuing, hunt groups, automated call attendants, hold and transfer - even hold and transfer between offices and home worker.  All of these features can streamline your business process and save time of staff.

Internet telephony will clearly save you money - at a time when we all need to cut costs more then ever. But telecoms is the lifeblood of many companies so it has to be done right or the consequences could far outweigh the benefits.

There are two prerequisites for a successful implementation: a good internet telephony service provider and a reliable broadband connection.

At Coms, the first check our engineers make is the broadband connection at all of a company’s locations. This is to ensure that it is sufficient to connect your required number of handsets to the network and that it can support as many concurrent phone calls as the business requires.  Our engineers then map out a call routing plan covering direct lines numbers or extensions, call groups, call queues for support, automated attendant to route calls without the need for a switchboard operator.

Once the plan has been signed off and the system set-up and tested to the desired capacity, the engineers will work with any in-house network manager to prioritise the voice data so that it does not interfere with your email and web browsing. The system can quickly be scaled up or down to meet your business requirements. All of this preparation is done before your business number is transferred to the network.

As you can see, it is evident that a successful implementation will save your business a considerable amount of money from ongoing call costs.  But just as importantly it also adds a functionality akin to large business switchboards,  delivering staff efficiency and flexibility without a penny of capital expenditure. In an increasingly difficult business climate, this is one cost saving measure that actually improves your service and streamlines your efficiency.  

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