The availability and uptake of broadband in the Highlands and Islands has brought many business benefits to companies of all sizes in the region. Among these benefits has been the ability to adopt IP telephony – a technology even the smallest businesses can take advantage of.
The needs of small to micro-sized businesses tend to be somewhat different from their larger counterparts. Firstly, there is a strong need for more tangible and more immediate benefits to ensure that small companies get a real return. As in excess of 30 million SMEs have switched to Voice over IP (VoIP) the rationale for adoption on this scale, it is fair to say, must be solid. So why ditch traditional copper wire landlines for internet-routed calls?
Cost savings for one. Some businesses have quoted maintenance cost savings in the region of 50 per cent or more, simply by having a single voice and data network. Businesses with two or more locations can eliminate inter-office call costs entirely by transferring these to the existing data network.
Savings like these can be substantial and significant for small businesses. Investment can easily repay itself in less than a year. Crude accounting measures aside, the real impact of IP telephony is on how users re-evaluate the telephone as a communications tool.
An IP phone makes the humble phone handset get viewed in a completely new light. Now, it is a versatile and intelligent voice and data device that can access email, intranets and other company data. Anyone with children of school age may already be on the receiving end of this technology. The automatic SMS alerts to parents of children failing to attend school are initiated by IP phones. The class register is taken and entered into an IP handset which then updates the school roll database. When a pupil is recorded as absent in the database, the SMS text message is automatically generated and sent to the parent’s mobile phone.
Combine IP telephony with video and it is possible to dramatically change the way businesses operate. For instance, productivity and travel costs can all be radically improved by using IP telephony to hold video conferences instead of face to face meetings.
Perhaps more mundanely, an IP phone hand set can be linked to door entry systems and help save on expensive CCTV and access control systems. Video images from doorways can be sent over the IP network to a receptionist’s phone who can then control access by pressing a button on the hand set.
This use of the IP network for voice, video and data has real and positive impacts on how businesses interact with their customers too. Customer relationship management software, for example, allows users to have instant on-screen access to the customer’s details as the incoming call is received. Since the user has all the customer’s details at their fingertips, the call can be handled quickly and with improved customer service.
It is IP telephony, paradoxically, that also allows virtual call centres to exist. The customer contact does not need to be restricted to one or any physical location; calls can be handled in disparate offices, by remote workers or other call centres around the world.
Arguably the greatest benefit derived from IP telephony is in its ability to connect mobile and remote workers. Armed with an internet-enabled PC, laptop or handheld device, remote workers can securely access company data, email and their voice system, all by using the same telephone numbers and in-box as they do when – or if – they are in the office.
Flexibility such as this can drastically alter how a business functions. Human resources can be better managed and deployed, customer service improved and commitments to home working fulfilled in the interests of staff retention and staff recruitment.
But isn’t IP telephony the preserve of large corporates?
No, definitely not. Small to micro-sized companies can share in the business benefits so long as the implementation is appropriate and to scale.
Network design is important, especially with multiple users. Most modern computer networks support Quality of Service features, the ability to distinguish between different types of traffic. Configuration of the network requires consideration, but the complexity is dependent on the needs of the organisation. Unless you must run a 24 x7 call centre, a basic network set up to run a couple of PC applications may be all many small to micro-sized companies require.
What this all boils down to is that the present and future are internet-based. For small companies the savings of IP telephony are welcome, but the greatest benefits will go to those who fully exploit the internet to their business advantage.
HIE Business related links - Emerging telephony-related functions | VoIP case study
