VoIP is ‘important’ for small businesses

From Enterprise Nation Homeworking website.

“Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology is set to increase in popularity among small firms in the UK as they seek to cut costs, an expert has declared.  According to Ian Godfrey, director of VoIP distributor ProVu, aside from the cost benefits available to small businesses, the new technology can also give firms the chance to establish a new business model.”
http://www.enterprisenation.com/content/technology/TopStories/article_46_813.aspx

Also, the National Business to Business Centre in Coventry has an article on a West Midlands based DVD and Video production company that uses VOIP to keep costs down and manage calls when they are away from the office.
http://www.nb2bc.co.uk/images/showcase/file22.pdf

At ASL we have been using VOIP for all our incoming and outgoing calls from our office for about a year now. It has some really innovative features like emailing the answerphone messages to us when we are out of the office. (as WAV files).

Chris
ASL Computer Services

Skype and Voice Over IP

Everyone is talking about Voice Over IP (VOIP) and Skype. So I thought I would explain what these terms are, and why you may benefit from this technology.

Voice Over IP is voice communications across the internet. So basically it’s a telephone call, but the sound is transmitted across the internet, instead of down a normal phone line. If the people at each end are both using VOIP, and are using the same VOIP provider, the call is usually free. If you call someone on a normal phone line, the sound travels across the internet and only the last leg of the journey is over the normal phone network. This means you can call most parts of the world for the cost of a local call.

There are many different VOIP systems and providers. Some use special phones that plug directly into your broadband connection, and work just like a normal phone. Other VOIP systems like Skype run on your PC, and you speak using a phone handset that plugs into your PC.

Skype – the pros & cons

The main benefits of Skype are

• It is widely used by domestic PC users. Currently there can be in excess of 8 million Skype users “online” at any one time worldwide
• It is easy to install and configure, no special expertise is needed to set it up
• It can run on PC’s and Apple Mac’s
• Skype phone handsets are readily available from high street stores

So what are the disadvantages

• You need to keep your PC turned on to use it
• It’s not as flexible as some of the other VOIP systems

Conclusion

Small businesses would probably be better off with a VOIP system that uses stand alone VOIP phones that plug into your broadband connection directly, and provide advanced features. Please feel free to contact us at ASL Computer Services for more information on business VOIP solutions.

Domestic PC users will appreciate the ease of setting Skype up, and also it’s popularity. Your friends and relatives abroad, and in this country, are probably already using Skype. Just click on this Skype link to download the software and give it a try.

Chris Moody