Hoping to have a serious discussion, speaking to businesses of all sizes and vertical markets, I will truthfully say I have met with some owners and after serious discussions and discovery a realistic transition was not possible. Usually due to contractual obligations on current systems. However timelines were set to re-evaluate. The other obstacle is poor or inconsistent internet, this is usually a misnomer, as most analog services comes from the company that provides internet. Sometimes router configurations or software program settings (One drive syncing during peak business hours comes to mind) cause inconsistent connections and a fear of VoIP communications. Managing expectations is key to understanding VoIP, The beauty of these systems is the versatility of them and ability to have redundant failovers when issues occur. (Let’s be honest every system fails at some point, The Pentagon was hacked, Amazon Shopping failed to process payments and so on.) So the key is to minimize these occurrences and provide quick and seamless solutions to them before they happen.
So here are a few of my educated conclusions:
Google Voice is free, no VoIP Asheville cannot compete with free, but it has limitations just like all free services and apps. Perhaps this works for your business, great when you grow and start finding these limitations problematic let’s talk, I will be here. Analog lines are expensive and getting more expensive, if you have 2 or more analog lines it might be cheaper to go to VoIP.
Basic internet of 2MB or less can create problems for VoIP but in all honesty with some minor router changes Qos and traffic shaping these hurdles can be overcome if the desire or need is there. You will not be able to host a 25 person video conference call but can you do that now? Manage costs and expectations is the key. Like everything in life you don’t trust the salesman do buy the product.
Internet always failing, first key is to figure out why. There could be an internal issues that is easy to resolve, there might be an external issue that needs to be address by the provider either way VoIP allows for fail overs that mean you never miss a call and are always able to return calls.
The last and hardest obstacle to VoIP is the objection that they had VoIP years ago and it was horrible, so they switched back. Anyone old enough to remember Microsoft Vista can have this same complaint but they probably still have and use a computer. VoIP needs to be installed and customized to your environment, “Magic Jack” was technically VoIP but I don’t think it worked for anyone other than the commercial. Have a demo setup onsite, in your environment with the equipment you are going to use. Are there limits in a demo, sure but then can be addressed then and a realistic plan can be established to solve these limitations.
So send me your comments, what did I miss. Perhaps you have VoIP with nagging and ongoing issues, if so let me know maybe there is a solution.
(828) 209-8647