VoIP Benefits For Small And Medium Sized Businesses

By Ryan Ayers
Updated: February 07, 2011

While there has been a significant recent increase in VoIP usage in the residential sector, the primary beneficiaries of this technology have long been businesses. What VoIP does for businesses, particularly small and medium sized businesses, is to level the playing field when it comes to streamlining operations and customer service. VoIP systems allow businesses to focus on their products and services without having to invest enormous amounts of time and money constantly updating and maintaining their communications equipment.

VoIP in Business

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone systems allow smaller businesses to operate in the same fashion as the call centers of a large business. By minimizing the charges incurred with long distance and local toll calls while maximizing the features allowed within a certain price point, VoIP systems allow businesses to have a top-tier phone package without a substantial investment.

VoIP systems accomplish this in two ways:

  • Price-point
  • Added functionality

Both small and medium sized businesses benefit in each of these areas, but in slightly different ways.

VoIP Levels the Playing Field for Small Businesses

One major issue that small businesses face is their ability to streamline operations and perform customer service tasks. The problem here is often that there are a limited number of employees performing a large volume of work. What VoIP systems help accomplish with their feature-rich service packages is to create a system in which calls can be pushed to the appropriate employee, messages can be integrated and accessed from multiple locations, calls can be queued for representatives – in short, it helps a small business function like a much larger one.

Small businesses are now able to serve their customers and improve internal processes in ways that were simply cost-prohibitive in the past. Because of the drastically lower price point of VoIP systems over traditional business telephone systems, smaller companies are easily able to afford the same options and features that have long been used by larger entities.

VoIP Allows Agility for Medium Sized Businesses

Medium sized businesses benefit in the same two key areas, but in a slightly different way. Medium sized businesses are often faced with a similar set of problems, but on a larger scale. The added functionality of VoIP systems allows medium sized businesses to better handle a larger call volume, route calls appropriately, and improve their operations. This allows for a much more effective and streamlined operation and enables a medium sized business to become more productive without having to significantly increase staff size.

Medium sized businesses benefit on a much larger scale from the cost effectiveness of VoIP systems when it comes to additions, changes, and overall system maintenance. Maintenance issues such as adding or moving extensions are simple and inexpensive when it comes to VoIP systems, no longer requiring a physical rerouting of an extension or complex technical issues with the phone system. The overall service charges associated with a larger phone system are significantly less expensive as well.

This makes medium sized businesses considerably more agile and adaptable than they have been in the past, offering the ability to change and reconfigure their telephone system with very little effort or expense.

VoIP telephone systems have been a boon for both small and medium sized businesses in allowing for rapid growth and change without breaking the budget. They allow for an increased level of service and productivity while keeping in mind that the nature of smaller businesses is change.
 

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