Two factors make VoIP important, almost critical, to businesses these days. One, VoIP can reduce communication costs significantly. Two, it offers enhanced features, helping businesses improve their professional image. UK’s Business Buyguide lists the following business benefits of VoIP:

• Lower costs
• Improved control over technology
• Simpler system management
• Bundled services
• Improved network efficiency
• Potential for future application enhancement and development

In spite of the edge VoIP promises to give a business, businesses don’t deploy it fearing the complexity of its management.

Is there a right way of VoIP management? The management will largely depend on the business’ infrastructure, needs, and the service bought. However, certain elements are integral to the management of VoIP.

• Feasibility study: It is important to understand if the current infrastructure can accommodate VoIP. Standards are set at this time in order to see if VoIP deployment is feasible.
• Pre-deployment testing: Before the final deployment, one has to see if the VoIP solution can meet the set standards.
• On-going monitoring and troubleshooting: Once the VoIP solution has been deployed, it needs continuous performance monitoring. The management has to see to it that problems, if any, are rectified at the earliest.
• Security management: It is important to see that the VoIP network is not vulnerable at any time.
• Optimization: A VoIP management solution should take measures to optimize the VoIP network’s results.

The above-mentioned elements make up the VoIP management lifecycle. A management solution should cover these elements.

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These days, a business that does not understand VoIP is considered obsolete. While most businesses recognize the benefits of VoIP, some of them are hesitant to deploy it. This happens because VoIP deployment and management are considered challenging, becoming extremely taxing for the internal resources engaged in handling VoIP.

Let us look at the three major reasons that make internal VoIP management difficult.

Complicated technology

The business advantages of VoIP are plenty, but sometimes the complexity of the technology deter organizations from adopting it. What businesses need is expertise to help understand the feasibility of VoIP deployment. This is where telecom consultants should be brought in.

Poorly managed infrastructure

One of the benefits of VoIP is that it can fit into the current telecom network of an organization easily. However, integrating VoIP becomes difficult if the current network is not managed well. Poorly managed networks cannot accommodate VoIP easily. A telecom management company will be able to restructure the current network in order to deploy VoIP.

Lack of expertise

The above-mentioned points highlight the lack of VoIP expertise as a major factor, making VoIP management difficult. Professional telecom management can offer all the expert knowledge needed to deploy, monitor, and troubleshoot VoIP. Without enough knowledge about VoIP, a business cannot reap the optimum benefits.

Businesses are not equipped with the requisite VoIP knowledge internally. Moreover, a non-dedicated, temporary internal team cannot deliver the expected results. Getting a telecom management company to handle VoIP will not only rescue the internal resources for other important work but also help you reap the maximum benefits of the technology.

There is one school of thought that believes that any new technology can benefit businesses. The other school of thought is cynical of new technologies and their proposed benefits. However, most businesses now understand that VoIP is one technology that is critical to their telecommunication needs.

Let us understand how VoIP helps businesses.

• It integrates voice and data services. No longer do businesses need to maintain data and voice networks separately. VoIP integrates them and helps make management of these services easier.
• The telecom expenses are reduced. The biggest business advantage that VoIP shows to a business is a considerable decrease in telecom costs.
• The operating costs are reduced. Since VoIP integrates data and voice networks and makes use of the infrastructure available, the deployment and operating costs are reduced.
• Modifications become easy. VoIP makes the telecom network scalable, growing with the needs of the business. It is easy to update and make changes to the VoIP network.
• The services can be easily relocated. VoIP offers the flexibility of relocating your network from one place to another with utmost comfort.

In spite of the business benefits of VoIP, organizations are wary of deploying it because of the complexity of the technology. Most of the time, internal resources are not equipped with knowledge of the technology. Also, the transition from conventional telecom network to VoIP can be quite challenging. The ideal thing to do for businesses that lack the VoIP knowledge is to hire the services of a professional VoIP management team.

Many small businesses have figured out that they can have the same world class amenities and business tools that large corporations have had for years. One of those is VoIP - or Voice Over Internet Protocol.

Why is this attractive to small businesses?

First, it’s attractive because of cost. Most small businesses are already hooked up to the Internet. So there is no extra cost for a VoIP “connection”. They will only have to pay for the VoIP service.

But in many cases, the services are less expensive than land line or PSTN systems. International call rates, particularly, are much lower - sometimes 1 cent a minute.

Thanks to the Internet, small business owners have access to technology they could only dream of a few years ago. VoIP is gaining widespread use and for good reason.

Businesses that have kept pace with the times understand the importance of deploying VoIP. However, the challenges in managing the VoIP network have deterred them from going ahead with VoIP deployment. Let’s look at what makes VoIP management challenging.

VoIP is complex technology

Several organizations struggle with managing the conventional networks. A VoIP network adds further complexity, making organizations wary of them. For these organizations, the complexity of VoIP deployment outweighs the benefits of VoIP.

Companies lack resources

Poorly managed networks cannot accommodate VoIP easily. Moreover, an internal team with limited knowledge fails to cope with the complexity of VoIP.

There are quality issues

In spite of knowing about the advantages of VoIP, organizations become unsure when it comes to the quality issues related to VoIP. A VoIP network requires regular monitoring. Also, the management system should be able to provide instant troubleshooting in case of a problem.

Executives lack VoIP knowledge

Lack of VoIP knowledge in an organization makes it difficult to reap optimum benefits from a VoIP network. VoIP management needs to be handled by professionals in order to get all that VoIP has to offer.

More often than not, organizations do not want to hire the services of a different organization for the management of their VoIP networks. Professionals are brought in if and when there is a problem. It is important to understand that VoIP expertise is required not only during the maintenance and management stage but also during the initial phases of feasibility study and deployment. The earlier a telecom management company is hired to handle the VoIP network in an organization, the better the management will be.

Businesses the world over are realizing the importance of VoIP. What does VoIP bring to a business? Today’s post throws light on the VoIP advantage for a business.

Cost Reduction

The biggest advantage that drove businesses to VoIP has been the cost savings that it offers. Compared to the traditional telephone network, VoIP is extremely cost efficient.

Easy Maintenance

The VoIP system is easier to maintain compared to the conventional communications network where you are dependent on change of hardware to modify the network. In a VoIP network, you are required to change software in order to make some changes. This makes VoIP operations economical and less complicated.

Smooth integration

VoIP integrates voice, data, and video into one system, reaping more benefits than the conventional voice or data network.

Scalability

Another major advantage of the VoIP system is that it can grow with the changing telecommunication needs of the of a business. The VoIP system can accommodate changes easily.

Flexibility

The VoIP system offers immense flexibility in terms of mobility. Moving your business from one place to another will be smooth with a VoIP system in place. Another flexible feature offered by VoIP is that you can make a global business local by choosing your own area codes for the business.

Additional Features

Apart from providing the features that the traditional telephone network provides, VoIP offers additional features like call waiting, call forwarding, call blocking, call transfer, fax, voice messaging, and three-way calling.

The drawbacks associated with VoIP are gradually being rectified and resolved, making VoIP an invincible communication solution. With a proper VoIP management in place, VoIP can be a great help to any business.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has evolved over the last few years to become a technology critical to businesses thriving on communications over long distances. Earlier VoIP was deployed to save money. Now, cost-saving is one of the many things VoIP has to offer. While most businesses, irrespective of how big or small they are, recognize the importance of VoIP and are planning to deploy VoIP in their organizations, the complications in the management of VoIP discourages them.

The challenges in deploying VoIP in an organization include:

• Transition from conventional telecom network to the VoIP network
• Absence of personnel having expertise on VoIP
• Quality issues such as call clarity, echo, and noise
• Inability of the current infrastructure to handle the VoIP service
• Compliance of the VoIP network with the organizational policies

A VoIP management team can help meet these challenges and deploy VoIP in an effective way. The VoIP management lifecycle has proven to be an efficient way of managing the VoIP network. The lifecycle essentially has four stages:

• Infrastructure assessment
• Performance analysis
• Monitoring and troubleshooting
• Optimization of benefits

VoIP management employs smart tools – software and hardware – in order to make the VoIP network run smoothly, delivering optimum results. Organizations that depend on internal management to handle the VoIP deployment have to face problems associated not only with the complexity of the VoIP network but also with the limited knowledge and absence of prior experience of VoIP. A professional team can take the load off the internal management and help get more benefits of the VoIP network than planned.

Many telecom management companies have defined a structured and standard way of VoIP management which is commonly referred to as the VoIP management lifecycle. Every company has a different outline and nomenclature for the stages in the lifecycle but they essentially refer to the same thing. In today’s post, we will look at these four stages of VoIP management lifecycle.

Stage 1: Needs analysis is not enough to trigger the deployment of a VoIP solution in an organization. A feasibility study needs to be conducted to assess the infrastructure before deploying a VoIP solution. This is the stage where targets are defined and standards set.

Stage 2: This is the stage where the chosen VoIP solution is deployed. However, the deployment is preceded by pre-deployment testing where the performance of the VoIP solution is measured against the targets and standards set in the previous stage of the VoIP management lifecycle.

Stage 3: This stage essentially deals with the smooth functioning of the deployed VoIP solution. In this stage, the performance of the VoIP solution is monitored closely and the quality of calls assessed. The problems with the solution are identified at this stage. It is at this stage that troubleshooting is done to make the VoIP solution work properly.

Stage 4: This stage of the VoIP management lifecycle goes a step beyond and takes measure to optimize the results of the VoIP solution. This is the stage where one telecom management company differs from another.

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VoIP may take over the world of voice communication much sooner than we think, replacing the conventional telephone. Most technology-savvy companies understand the importance of VoIP solutions. However, they tend to underestimate the need of VoIP management. The biggest feature of VoIP is that it reduces costs. However, an improper deployment of VoIP can make organizations incur unnecessary and unforeseen losses.

The first and the most significant step in VoIP deployment in an organization is choosing the right VoIP solution. The size of the organization is the biggest factor in deciding the VoIP service. Once the options have been narrowed down to a few, they need to be compared and analyzed carefully before one is chosen.

Once deployed, a VoIP solution has to be monitored and modified with the changing needs of a growing organization. Outsourcing the management of VoIP service is a good idea when you are looking at a solution that runs seamlessly and accommodates itself to your growing needs, saving you money at the same time.

A dedicated VoIP management team helps an organization in the following ways:

• It helps optimize the savings provided by the VoIP solution.
• It helps reduce the time taken to troubleshoot the VoIP solution.
• It monitors the performance of the VoIP service.
• It reviews the VoIP solution periodically as and when the organizational needs change.
• It frees up internal resources for other work, improving utilization.

VoIP management involves more than assessing VoIP solutions and deploying the best one; it is about ensuring that an organization continues to benefit from the solution long after its deployment.