by Joe Taylor Jr., Vendor Guru Columnist
Telecommunications for Your Business
Just as the pace of business has accelerated over the last ten years, telecommunications technology has radically changed to accommodate the needs of enterprise users. Communications industry analysts highlight five emerging technologies that stand to make the biggest impact on the way we do business.
VOIP Saves Businesses Money
Ten years ago, e-mail and instant messaging first entered the workplace at many businesses. Today, a different kind of telecommunications breakthrough is taking place. Costly long distance calls are being replaced by real time voice conversation transmitted over the Internet instead of across expensive telephone wires. Inexpensive long distance makes it easier to implement remote call centers and field sales bureaus. Meanwhile, the improving quality of VOIP calls makes them indistinguishable from landline calls. VOIP phone service can be as simple as plugging a small encoder into an existing data hub, or implementing a major server cluster.
 |
||
 |
||
One Pipeline for All Telecommunications Data
With VOIP phone calls eliminating the need for dedicated phone lines, more companies have focused their communications budgets on buying as much bandwidth as possible. Though data transmission costs have dropped dramatically in the past few years, companies can still save money by regulating the traffic they send to the Internet. Routers that prioritize bandwidth for video chats and VOIP calls can help companies save money while preventing e embarrassing communications glitches.
Virtual PBX Connects Business Teams
With voice over IP phone systems eliminating the need to track employee's calling times, IT managers can focus on improving productivity in other areas. Virtual PBX systems allow team members to answer their extensions from just about anywhere. In addition, many PBX systems now use VOIP technology to make conference calling and call transfers much easier and less expensive. Instead of requiring complex bridges and switches, phone systems use servers to offer highly advanced features, like call recording and logging, that impact everything from creativity to billing.
Unified Inbox Improves Communications
Once companies start to view all of their communications as different forms of data, it can become easier to help employees organize and log that data. Productivity experts note that a unified inbox, featuring e-mail, incoming faxes, and voice mail messages, can help many team members stay focused and complete more tasks during the course of a work day.
Hybrid Phone Service Connects Road Warriors
Implementing modern phone service at your office can also impact the way that your field staff gets their jobs done. New handheld devices that contain both wireless receivers and voice over IP encoders allow mobile staff to roam seamlessly from a cell tower to a wireless hotspot. As a result, an intelligent phone can find the least expensive way at any given moment for a user to make a phone call, without disrupting important conversations.
All of these new telecommunications technologies add up to serious savings and increased productivity for companies of all sizes. Because new phone systems and communications tools offer unprecedented expandability, small companies can often find affordable solutions that are capable of growing along with them. Large companies, meanwhile, can implement new phone systems on a departmental level to enjoy immediate benefits without disrupting business.
Sources
Baseline Magazine
New York Times
O'Reilly OnLamp
Wall Street Journal
ZDNet
