SMB Buyer's Guide to VoIP
The cost savings, increased functionality, and improved productivity and mobility offered by Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is fast making it a priority among small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). But what are key factors to consider when evaluating and choosing a business VoIP provider? How can you be sure that the vendor you select will be flexible enough to meet the growing needs of your organization?This paper will outline the key selection criteria to consider when your organization is evaluating VoIP. It will also provide a brief overview of the mindSHIFT Managed VoIP solutions, and how they allow organizations to take full advantage of VoIP while ensuring high quality of service.VoIP is the technology used to transmit voice conversations over the Internet or through any other IP (Internet Protocol)-based network. With VoIP, voice conversation is broken up into packets of data which are transmitted over the Internet or over a proprietary broadband network before being reassembled on the terminating end of the call.There are several selection criteria to use when evaluating and selecting a VoIP provider for small and medium-sized businesses.
Quality of ServiceQuality of service, which is critical to a successful phone implementation, is comprised of many elements - in-house wiring, router configurations, switch configurations and the ability of your carrier to deliver quality of service. In addition to ordering quality of service from the carrier, organizations need to consider design, equipment and wiring - ensuring that all of these components prioritize voice over data. This requires an end-to-end solution that is engineered by a qualified provider that can handle switches, routers, inside wiring and phones. We recommend that you order Quality of Service on every voice circuit in your network. If you don't have it, then call quality can degrade with echo, dropped calls and one-way talk paths. Most businesses can't afford to have dropped calls or calls that fade in and out.
FunctionalityStandard VoIP features include call forwarding, hold and transfer, and 3-way conferencing. Advanced features include simultaneous ring and selective call forwarding. Twelve of the most popular features, such as simultaneous ring and selective call forwarding, are outlined in the table.Advanced Features of VoIP Systems
Feature DescriptionEnables one incoming call to ring multiple phones simultaneously, so that you can answer that Simultaneous ring call on your cell phone or home phone, for instance, when someone calls your office numberEnables calls from certain individuals, or within certain time periods, to be forwarded to a Selective call forwarding different phone numberEnables users to use any phone located anywhere to remotely forward calls from one phone to Remote forwarding anotherEnables users to receive and listen to voicemail in their email inbox; the voicemail is attached Unified messaging to an email message as a .wav fileEnables users to control various phone features and functionality either from a web browser or User self-service by telephoneClick-to-call Enables automatic dialing when users click on a phone number in their email, on a web page, in (also known as click-to-dial) a corporate or personal directory or in other LDAP directoriesAllows the company to manage individual calls and the functions of its telephony system from a Attendant console simple interface (usually web-based)Enables calls to be automatically routed to users wherever they are located, including branch Find me/ follow me offices, mobile phones and home phones SoEnables users to send and receive calls at a temporary phone number as though they were at urcRemote office e:their permanent office number mindSHScheduling Enables users to change the operation of the system or schedule other operations IFT TechAdvanced call routing Enables a call to ring different phone numbers in sequential order, until it is answered. Also nolo(hunt groups) greferred to as ACD (automated call distribution) functionality ies, IncFacsimile support Handles inbound and outbound faxes .
Equipment NeededWith the implementation of VoIP, organizations should purchase or lease Voice over IP-capable phones. Other equipment that will likely be required includes switches, routers, circuits and analog phone adapters designed for a VoIP environment. Buyers should make certain that the quotes they rec... [download for more]
