The State of Business VoIP

Just as personal smartphones have made huge advances since they first entered the market in the mid-2000′s, business phone systems have also seen a big shift in recent years. More and more businesses are choosing to put business Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems in place.

VoIP systems rely on a broadband Internet connection, and as business Internet connections have become faster and more reliable, choosing a VoIP system has been a smarter bet for many business owners. This marks a shift away from the more traditional physical private branch exchange (PBX). A PBX allows calls to be transferred internally from one main business phone number. Not that long ago, many businesses had a physical PBX and Internet or traditional phone lines. Nowadays, the cost of a hosted PBX can be rolled into a business VoIP plan.

While VoIP systems are often touted as a great solution for small businesses because of the cost savings they offer, there are plenty of large companies making the switch, too:

-Applebees, TRUSTe and Rocket Lawyer are among the larger companies using Ring Central’s business VoIP services.
-BuildZoom uses Nextiva.
-Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and the L.A. Dodgers use ShoreTel.

It’s long been established that business VoIP offers advantages over a traditional phone system. As more and more businesses look for flexibility and scalability, VoIP is gaining even more momentum. Here are a few of the advances VoIP systems have made in recent years:

1) VoIP systems aren’t just about phone calls. In fact, you might opt not to have physical handsets at all, instead choosing to use virtual phones or smartphones. Many providers also offer disaster recovery, video integration, voicemail to email forwarding and portable extension dialing and extension number maintenance from any location.
2) With more and more cloud hosting options becoming available, systems are more resistant to failure, and can automatically re-boot in case of electrical failures.
3) VoIP apps for smartphones let users make very inexpensive calls to and from anywhere in the world and features like video calling and voice mail that can be kept separate from the primary phone line.

Get more information on top business VoIP services.