IP Telephony

In our quest to enter the IP (Internet Protocol) Telephony marketplace, ICS has discovered that many of our customers truly do not understand this relatively new technology and so therefore have difficulty understanding the benefits it can bring to their business. In our newsletter in October we featured an article, VOIP and it's Benefits, and we felt it would be a good idea to do a follow up. The following not only explains the technology, but also gives some real world examples of how IP telephony can benefit your business.

• What is IP Telephony and will it replace your existing phone service provider?
  IP Telephony allows your phone calls to share your data network. You will continue to have your local and long distance phone service provider and these lines will plug into the IP phone system just as they do your standard PBX phone system. Since the phone calls are sharing the network, they will also use the same cable as your desktop computer. BIG BENEFIT: You only need one Ethernet cable running to each office.
  
  
• Is IP Telephony expensive?
  The initial purchase of an IP phone system may cost more than a standard PBX phone system, but you must focus on Total Cost of Ownership. In the long run, IP Telephony should cost you less than your standard phone system and there are several reasons for this. The first is that when you join your voice and data networks together you now only have one network to maintain. BIG BENEFIT: ICS can manage your entire network giving you one contact for everything.
  
  Secondly, IP Phone Systems lower your TCO by providing a system that is user friendly enough for the customer to make many changes in the phone system themselves, such as, adding new users, deleting old ones.
  BIG BENEFIT: No more $ 75.00 service calls to add or delete a phone.

Now that you see that IP Telephony could save you money in the long run and that it is nothing more than voice and data sharing a single line - yes, there is a little more to it than that, but that's why we have ICS techs - let's talk about how this benefits you and all the new and exciting things you will be able to do.

You can move your phone. Since your phone extension is now tied to the phone itself instead of the phone jack in your office, you can now relocate it anywhere there is a network jack. When you do, your extension and all of its features follows you. Example: If you need to work in the conference room for the afternoon you can bring your phone and plug it into a network outlet and everyone can reach you just like you were at your desk. Also, if your employees are switching offices you no longer have to have your phone system provider come and reconfigure the phone system for you. You just pick up your phone and move it just like your computer. BIG BENEFIT: You eliminate phone provider service calls to do simple tasks such as moving phone extensions.



Your voicemails can be sent to your email. Talk about convenience. You no longer have to check two places for messages. Check your voicemail at the same time you check your email and choose as to whether or not you want to listen to it. This will allow you to weed through junk voicemails and choose the ones you really need to listen to. BIG BENEFIT: You can save important voicemails just like you can save important emails.



Mobile workers can have their calls forwarded to cell phones or other mobile devices. Your mobile workers no longer have to miss important calls. With a click of a few buttons, their calls can be transferred to any mobile device. This may not be a new feature, but it has not always been this easy to implement. BIG BENEFIT: Your employees no longer miss important calls allowing them to be more productive.



Mobile workers can have a phone loaded on their notebook computers. No matter where your employees are, as long as they have an internet connection, you can have access to them as if they were in the office and vice versa– it’s as simple as dialing an extension. This phone is called a Softphone. BIG BENEFIT – Local calls can be made from anywhere.Example: You have a sales person at a trade show in New York and the corporate headquarters is in Birmingham. The sales person has an emergency situation with a customer in Birmingham. The sales person can take his notebook computer and as long as he has internet access, can have a conversation with the customer in Birmingham while also accessing the customer’s files that are located on the corporate network. The call to the customer is considered a local call because the Softphone is being seen as a device that is located in Birmingham.



There are many more features to IP Telephony such as its ability to work in conjunction with several Customer Relationship Management packages allowing your phone and computer to work together to make you more productive. Contact your ICS sales department to learn more about how IP Telephony can benefit you.

And please remember, ICS is here to help you understand new technology. So if you ever have questions, do not hesitate to ask.