Remote and hybrid work has moved from an emergency response to a permanent mode of operations that we’re still getting used to. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over a fifth of all workers in the U.S. work remotely. Small businesses have made the most out of the switch by divesting with the high costs of renting office space and equipment while also getting access to experienced talent through global hiring. This has also made inter-team communication much more complicated, especially for corporations that previously inhabited monolithic high-rises. This used to be done with phones tied to a physical office, which is impossible to implement with rotating staff and workers using mobile devices. VoIP has grown to fill that hole in communications, and all the while being cheaper and easier to use.
What VoIP Actually Does Differently
A conventional landline uses the switch-based telephone network, routing calls through physical infrastructure. For an enterprise, the signal is passed through a private switch exchange, which sits between the public telephone network and individual phones, which is then rerouted to a specific endpoint. VoIP converts voice into data packets and sends them over the internet, which means the call can originate and arrive at virtually any internet-connected device.
In practice, an employee working from home can then use their laptop, smartphone, or desk phone to make and receive calls on their business number. A major benefit here is that the “other side” of the call gets no indication of where or how their call is being routed. Additionally, calls can be transferred, put on hold, sent to voicemail, and handled with the same features the office phone offered for decades.
Most modern VoIP platforms also bundle in features that traditional systems either don’t offer or charge extra for: video calling, team messaging, call recording, auto-attendants, and integration with tools like CRM software. For a small business paying for a legacy phone system along with separate collaboration tools, consolidating those functions into a single VoIP platform often represents a meaningful cost reduction.
How Hybrid Teams Can Benefit
Teams where a part of the employees work on-site and a part works remotely (and might even rotate their locations throughout the week) also create additional communication challenges that a traditional phone system handles poorly. When an in-office employee takes a call and needs to transfer it to a remote colleague, a landline-based system has very few options, and none of them are clean. The solution usually requires the call to get dropped and requesting the caller to go to a different number. For some consumers, they could instead bounce off completely and immediately start searching for a new provider with “better” (or more accurately, easier) customer service, so the business is taking a reputational hit because their phone infrastructure failed.
VoIP solves this by assigning everyone a digital phone number that is connected to a specific device (which can be changed at will and only needs to have an internet connection). When they need to be routed, the system simply calls the currently-allocated device. The platform’s management system can also show which team members are available, preventing the situation where you reroute a call to someone only for them to put the call on hold anyway (which results in the same situation as above where the customer could just bounce).
As a result, the customer experience is much more consistent and intuitive, especially since VoIP gives every team member access to the same business phone system, with the same features. When someone calls, they don’t know whether they’re calling someone working in an office downtown or somewhere on a beach (and they won’t care because the call quality is the same).
But one of the more practical advantages of VoIP systems is how easily you can scale it up when growing a business. With a traditional phone system, adding a new number means provisioning a new line, potentially running new cabling, and configuring new hardware. With VoIP, adding a new user is all done in a web-based admin panel and maybe installing an app on the “client” device. The same applies to removing users, adding new locations, or adjusting call routing when roles change.
This is particularly important for businesses that have grown quickly or expect to. If you open a second location, the VoIP system can technically treat it the same as the original location since there’s no physical hardware to change and connect to the public landline system.
Security, Cost, and Reliability Details
The most common hesitation around VoIP is reliability, or more specifically, the concern that internet-dependent calling is less stable than a traditional phone line. In practice, call quality and uptime do depend on the quality and consistency of your internet connection. However, for all intents and purposes, broadband speeds and stability have been steadily growing, and voice calls require relatively little bandwidth compared to a standard fiber optics connection. Still, if you plan on using VoIP for a large company, it can be a good idea to check your internet infrastructure and the possible costs of upgrading it.
Cost-wise, VoIP is generally cheaper and easier to maintain. The biggest factor here is that you simply remove obsolete phone hardware and lines. Considering the prevalence of fiber optic internet being installed in homes and offices, you are essentially simply using an existing connection. Furthermore, the cost of VoIP software depends on the provider you choose. With professional services, that is often in the form of software-as-a-service subscriptions (SaaS). The pricing structure here is a nominal service fee with add-ons based directly on the number of users in your network and the range of options you use. Even with a growing business, it takes much less to add someone new to your VoIP plan than set up a landline for them.
There’s also a notion that phone lines are simply more secure, which is partially true. Because VoIP traffic travels over the internet, it can suffer from the same threats as other internet-based communications, such as eavesdropping, fraud, or man-in-the-middle and denial-of-service attacks. A reputable VoIP provider will encrypt call traffic and provide tools to manage access controls, but it’s worth verifying those capabilities rather than assuming them.
When put together, the savings can be massive in terms of time and money. Forrester’s study on Microsoft Teams Phone systems suggested workers saved at least 13 working days per year by improving productivity made by allowing calls to be taken remotely.
When to Change to VoIP (And How)
The perfect moment to evaluate switching to VoIP is when your current phone contract is approaching its renewal period since you won’t have to pay cancellation fees. But, you should research VoIP services if you’re adding more remote employees or opening a new location because the cost of giving them phone numbers through a traditional system can be prohibitive.
After that, making the switch to VoIP requires the right business service management partner to ensure you get the system you need and the right quote that allows you to grow unimpeded. Copiers Northwest is a prime example of an experienced service provider, helping local companies for decades set up IT networks and get state-of-the-art services. Businesses in Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Yakima, Portland, the Tri-Cities, Spokane, Bend, Salem, or Eugene can contact Copiers Northwest today to find out how to streamline office operations and stay connected.