What Is IP Telephony?
IP Telephony is a standard form of internet phone system that uses an array of protocols, initiating communication over the internet. Unlike the traditional form of a business telephone that uses the technology of analog switching, IP technology is based on packet switching.
Even though the idea of routing calls over the internet hailed back in 1995, it wasn’t much popular. The extremely high cost and the poor call quality was one of the reasons IP telephony failed to gain much traction then. Today, with the evolution of technology, IP based communication has dramatically improved. US Virtual numbers for HD quality calls, reduced costs, and enhanced communication, IP telephony is the new normal.
All an organization needs to do is register or subscribe to the software solutions. Once done, the service providers would then assign a number specific to their region as South Africa virtual phone number for the residents of the country or say US virtual number for the citizens of the United States. This is the official number and is henceforth used for making business calls.
Work Architecture of IP Telephony
It is pretty clear that IP telephony makes use of a series of protocols to draft a communication between the organization at one end and the user on the other end. Users would need a US virtual phone number to place calls, then all of the information is passed through the internet network and voice data is transferred in terms of packets.
Earlier, organizations preferred augmenting IP PBX within their infrastructure to facilitate communication. What happened here was the transfer of voice data to the LAN network digitally and then this was sent to PSTN in the form of analog signals.
Even though the above facilitates better communication, the fact that setting up the entire hardware was an expensive affair, experts were looking for an alternative.
It was then that the concept of hosted IP rose to the throne. Instead of having dedicated hardware installed within the system, organizations now had the ease to purchase or rent the software while it is hosted on the cloud. The data is sent to the provider who then executes the job of routing calls. And yes, all of this happens in the cloud.
In case, organizations have the IP PBX and want to scale their offerings, they can consider using SIP trunking to migrate to a VoIP phone system.
Benefits: IP Telephony in Business
- Cost Reduction
One of the common reasons why there has been a steady shift in the way businesses communicate is because of cost optimization. Through the traditional lines of the telephone were effective, they suffered in terms of cost when organizations had to communicate with peers or customers overseas. To add to this, VoIP technology seems to reduce the total cost by 60%.
Connecting or interacting with people at distant locations becomes easier as the use of IP telephony slashes the overall call rates.
- Abode of Features
It isn’t only the voice calling feature that is accompanied by the internet business phone system. Rather, there are loads of them, with each designed to ease the process of communication and also enhance the quality.
Advanced routing, dedicated numbers (as South Africa Virtual Phone Number), call recording, auto-attendant, IVR or video conferencing, the IP telephony includes all. What’s more? Organizations need not spend any extra money installing the hardware or the software, everything is given and monitored by the service provider.
- Software Integration
Another facility rendered by the IP telephony service provider is the ease to integrate software tools and solutions. For instance, if you have been using CRM tools to keep track of your customer’s information and activities, you can integrate the same with the IP telephony to place direct calls or share information in a single click. This creates an environment where every data is centrally stored and can be easily located.
- Eliminate Excessive Hardware
Since most of the solution is cloud-hosted, organizations can ward off the need to install and setup dedicated hardware for IP telephony. Where the traditional form of communication mandated having closed architectures to support the technology, the modern-day IP telephony can run virtually, hosted on the cloud.
The Final Word – VoIP Vs IP Telephony: Knowing the Difference
One thing to note here is that IP telephony and VoIP are two terms, often used interchangeably. Yet there lies a subtle difference between the two. Where IP telephony is a much more generic term and relates to calls, faxes and other telecommunication services, VoIP technology is largely restricted to the calls made over the internet. As so it appears, telecommunication companies today regard these two to be the same, VoIP technologies do not extend their services beyond phone calls.
As an all in one software package, the IP telephony software solutions has all that an organization needs to get started with frictionless interaction and business communication.
