With the advances in Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology, many businesses – large and small from a diverse range of industries - are making the move and taking advantage of VoIP’s tangible financial benefits. Continue reading to learn the top 4 financial benefits of adopting a VoIP phone system and why you should retire your existing high maintenance, bulky premise-based PBX system.
1. Lower Infrastructure CostsThe single biggest financial benefit is cost savings when selecting a VoIP business phone system versus the capital expenditure to purchase or replace an existing premise-based PBX system. Premise-based PBX systems come with a multitude of inherent requirements like hardware, software licenses, infrastructure (heating and cooling), and IT staff that quickly add up. After the initial installation is complete, the expenses keep coming in the form of maintenance and upgrades. Because VoIP is cloud based, the provider absorbs the operational requirement costs and takes the ownership of managing upgrades. In addition, since VoIP systems are easy to implement and maintain, no full-time staff resources are required at the business’s level. Other benefits include additional lines as well as staff transitions that are easily and quickly handled; plus, there is a reduction in costs associated with lost or stolen hardware phones.
With the decision to adopt a VoIP solution, comes the immediate upside that capital expenditures are shifted to operational expenditures. Overall costs for VoIP systems are predictable since typically priced as monthly costs and packaged in bundles. This results in a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) per seat.
Finally, the same network can often be used for both voice and data eliminating the expense of building two separate networks.
2. Decrease Call Costs
A large financial advantage of VoIP is the direct impact on a business’s bottom line from decreased call costs. Typically, businesses can experience a 20 - 30% monthly reduction in phone charges and as much as 75% on long distance costs.
30 – 50% of typical business calling is intra-company traffic. Because the standard call fee is waived for calls made from one VoIP system to another VoIP system when using the existing internet network to connect, immediate savings occur; external calls are cheaper too as compared to conventional telephony tariffs. This intra-company traffic also applies to remote workers and other company sites. As a bonus, some providers offer unlimited calling – local and long distance - for a very low monthly cost. Finally, since VoIP uses high-speed internet, there are fewer land lines that add to costs.
3. Reduce Costs for Remote Workers & Facilitates Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD)
As more of the workforce, especially Millennials, telecommuters and on-the-go employees, work from home and the road, there exists the desire for any-time, anywhere access. Having a VoIP system is the key to a smooth deployment of business communications. When companies adopt VoIP as their business communications backbone, productivity and satisfaction increases without having to pay for necessary remote worker voice equipment. Plus, everyone – the staff and accounting department - is happy to eliminate the need to include phone bills on expense reports.
In addition to the desire to work remotely, there exists an increased demand to use personal devices for business purposes. VoIP allows employees to seamlessly use their own computers, smartphones and other devices to conduct business over the phone while providing the company a means to layer BYOD policies and strategies to keep the business’s network and data secure.
4. Easily Scalable
When businesses plan their long-term growth, they rarely consider the increased costs associated with their communication systems, which can quickly become shockingly expensive. These costs include investing in more equipment, licenses and additional infrastructure. In addition to direct costs, there are indirect costs like the days of downtime that changes can require. Since VoIP is web-based, it is easy to upgrade or downsize with a few clicks. The addition of new employees and remote offices is simple, hassle-free and quick.
VoIP and hosted PBX phone systems have become a mainstay for businesses due to their reliability, flexibility and cost-savings. A business owner can feel confident embracing this technology and reap the financial benefits of making the move from premise-based systems to a cloud-based VoIP system.
About Simplicity
Simplicity VoIP, based in Richmond, VA, provides hosted PBX, VoIP and business telephone solutions nationally to small, medium, and enterprise-level businesses for a comprehensive unified communications experience. Two distinct Class 5 geo-redundant VoIP platforms are offered in addition to fax-to-email, phones and equipment, and managed services. Named as Richmond’s 11th fastest growing company by Richmond BizSense, Simplicity VoIP’s key to success is its on-site service, installation and training supported 24/7/365 by a world-class client services team.