If you own a business, or work in an office with more than a few employees, there’s no doubt you will have heard of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and the benefits it can provide to your communications. So, why hasn’t the world seen a global shift to VoIP, and why do businesses continue to use landlines, along with multiple forms of potentially jarring communication?
The answer lies in the continued development of VoIP capabilities, the supporting infrastructure that enables it to be a truly powerful communications tool, and the slow-but-steady adoption of VoIP around the world. In 2019, we’re seeing major technology companies embrace and promote VoIP, with Google Communications Product Lead, Scott Johnston, announcing VoIP integration to the much-loved G-suite late last year.
How has VoIP changed in 2019?
One of the most crucial things to understand about VoIP is that, as the name implies, it functions on Internet connectivity. A stable, resilient Internet connection is required to make the most of VoIP for a business, with the demands on the network increasing alongside the number of employees using a VoIP system.
For many years now, a VoIP system has functioned perfectly well – in fact, almost flawlessly – for any business of around 30 employees where a standard broadband Internet connection has been present. The difference we now see in 2019 is an introduction of two incredibly supportive elements: unlimited Internet plans, and Fibre broadband.
While unlimited bandwidth provides a business with unlimited use of VoIP communications, the proliferation of Fibre connections around New Zealand now offers a vastly increasing possibility for unlimited simultaneous communications. This is also why, in 2019, we’ll start seeing more and more major businesses adopt VoIP, as the functionality is now in place to benefit from unified communications, regardless of the number of employees using the system.
How will my business benefit from VoIP in 2019?
As a responsible VoIP provider, we try not to oversell or overstate the potential of VoIP for a business. A large part of our ethical approach is to provide real results to businesses looking to improve their communication capabilities. This is another reason we’re so excited about the communication landscape in 2019; the reality of near-unlimited communications potential is very much within the realm of possibility for VoIP users.
In the past 10 or so years, we’ve seen a slow-but-steady amalgamation of communications, with text messages moving to iMessage or IP-driven apps, landlines moving to mobile, video calling and conferencing increasingly used, and the supporting cellular and Wi-Fi networks growing to match the demand of these. We’ve now moved to a place where our smartphones are capable of handling almost all communication, and it’s the adoption of this fact by the wider world that has now forced telecommunications companies to begin embracing fibre-optic connections instead of opposing them.
The relevancy of this is that, as the owner of a business, your employees have been trained – and are continuing to train themselves every day – on how to benefit and use unified communications in everyday life. There’s very little knowledge gap between implementing VoIP within a business and seeing almost any employee adopt the technology instantly. By not implementing VoIP, however, there’s the near-future potential of employees using their own methods of communication to conduct business, simply because they’ve spent close to a decade learning and understanding its potential.
VoIP – in 2019, at least – is now the combined power of instant messaging, video conferencing, voice calling, file sharing, and more, with the infrastructure available to not only support its continued growth and adoption, but encourage it as well.
How do I implement VoIP for my New Zealand business?
At Cloud Edge, we provide competitive rates and easy installation of VoIP for your business. We also know that choosing any new business feature is a decision that requires serious consideration, which is why we’ve created a simple and approachable VoIP pricing calculator for businesses so you can see exactly how much you’ll pay to implement VoIP within your business.
We’re completely transparent about what we do, and we offer ongoing support and advice for our clients 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can keep your current business number if you do decide to make the switch, and we’re also fully capable of providing an 0800 number to any VoIP solution if you need it.
If you’d like to learn more about VoIP, and what it can do for your business, contact Cloud Edge today and speak to one of the team. We’d be happy to discuss how we can help empower both your business and employees with the increasing potential of VoIP in New Zealand.
