The quest for greater efficiency is causing companies to communicate in entirely new ways. This includes corporate telephony high on the agenda. Classic ISDN technology is increasingly giving way to VoIP and cloud PBXs.
With VoIP, call costs drop (= more profit) and new opportunities are created. A virtual telephone exchange in the cloud goes one step further. Additional lines or services are easily added, as is integration with mobile telephony, and investments in hardware are also a thing of the past.
ISDN Stops! Now What?
Chances are your company uses ISDN to make phone calls and faxes. To do so, you probably have a small or medium-sized ISDN PBX to connect the devices in your business to the telephone network.
This technology is outdated, expensive and often inefficient. In the 1990s, ISDN allowed SMEs to make reliable, high-quality calls. Since the 21st century there has been a new and better technology: VoIP or calling over the Internet.
In the Netherlands, some 75% of companies call as VoIP, as ISDN offerings are also ending there. In Belgium, about 50% of companies still call via ISDN lines.
So in Belgium, we will have to start a bigger race to catch up than our northern neighbors. It is expected that by the end of 2018, some 65% of enterprises in Flanders will be calling VoIP.
- But what is VoIP?
- What are the benefits?
- And what should I pay attention to?
From ISDN to VoIP telephony
With VoIP, you no longer call over the outdated ISDN lines but rather over the Internet. VoIP has actually been around since the 1990s and has been fully operational for 15 years.
As an end user, nothing changes about the calling itself. You can still make perfect calls with your landline phone to other numbers, abroad, mobile numbers,.... Only the technology behind it is a lot cheaper and more efficient.
Internet calling actually works exactly the same as downloading or uploading a document on the Internet. The spoken text is divided into small packets and sent over the Internet from sender to receiver.
Depending on the person you are calling, the packets are converted by the operator into an analog signal or simply forwarded to the VoIP center at the other end of the line. So little changes on the phone itself, only on what happens between your device and that of your correspondent.
- Up to 60% cheaper than ISDN calling
- Optimal sound quality
- Additional features: Softphone, Smartphone app,....
Cloud telephony
Like corporate data and applications, telephone exchanges are increasingly moving to the cloud. Companies rent a remote telephone exchange, as it were. Telephony via such a virtual PBX offers additional advantages compared to an on-site PBX.
Your PBX is hosted in a secure data center with the necessary backup systems so that you can be reached anytime, anywhere. Via a software you can easily manage your own PBX yourself: call groups, queues, opening hours, add users,...
Often you pay a monthly fee and with that you can enjoy a professional power plant that grows with your business:
- No investment or maintenance
- Huge ease of use
- Easily scalable
- Location independent working/calling
Download VoIP telephony starter guide
Find out exactly what VoIP & cloud telephony is, what the benefits are and what to look out for when making the switch.
