About 90% of businesses in the United States have fewer than 20 employees, according to the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council. In the past, companies of this size often couldn’t benefit from PBX functionality like IVR (interactive voice response), hunt groups, hold music, and so forth, because of the high cost of installing and maintaining a PBX.

But today, things are different. Thanks to hosted VoIP service, micro-enterprises can have a phone system with even more functionality than a legacy PBX, even if they only have one user! All they need is a broadband Internet connection. With VoIP, micro-businesses can be more efficient and enjoy the same functionality that big corporations have relied on for decades.

Here we look at how a micro-enterprise can get started with VoIP and some of the benefits it can reap as a result.

The first step is to choose a VoIP service provider. Luckily, in the United States there are a number of ITSPs (Internet telephony service providers) competing with each other, so SMBs have a lot of choice in this department. Visit our website for a list of TeleDynamics’ Cloud Services Partners. Some ITSPs also offer the actual Internet access. Otherwise, companies can use a different Internet provider, or even a couple of different ones in order to have failover access in case one of the connections goes down.

The company should ensure that its Internet access provider furnishes enough bandwidth to support the VoIP service. It will also want to ensure that the internal network, including the cabling, routers and switches, can handle the expected data load. The router also needs to have quality of service (QoS) settings, especially for prioritizing VoIP traffic. This will help ensure optimal voice quality.

The company can either procure their IP phones from the ITSP or they can buy them separately. If the phones are purchased separately, the installer will need to provision them so they can work with the chosen VoIP service.

Compared with analog phone service, micro-enterprises can reap a number of benefits from VoIP, including:

Cost savings – Because the bulk of the hardware is hosted with the ITSP, businesses have very little up-front costs when subscribing to a VoIP service. In addition, because IP calls travel across the Internet, the cost per minute of communication is vastly minimized.

Scalability – Hosted VoIP service can accommodate a single user or several hundred. When a new user is added, the company simply hooks up another phone. No need to invest in more hardware or make any changes to the cabling. ITSPs typically price according to the number of users, so companies don’t pay for capacity they don’t use.

Customization – VoIP service providers normally offer different price points depending on the features desired, with the option to add additional features as needed. This allows subscribers to choose their service levels based on needs and budgetary considerations.

Location neutral – Because voice travels across the Internet in IP telephony, the service is not location bound. Users can deploy the service anywhere they have an Internet connection. Moreover, VoIP offers several features that take mobility even further. As we mention in our blog post, Sizzling trends in business telephony, mobility defines today’s worker more than ever. With features like follow me, hot desking, call forwarding, instant messaging, remote voicemail and voicemail to email, just to name a few, productivity on the road has never been better.

CONCLUSION

Even the smallest companies on a micro-budget can enjoy a phone system that is as feature-rich as a big corporation’s, thanks to VoIP technology.

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