Legacy telecom systems are bulky and inflexible. They require a separate copper wire connection for each phone number, which makes it difficult to add new phones. Old-school telephone lines also don’t work so well with new communication technologies such as text messaging and chat.
VoIP uses digital internet connections for phones, which makes VoIP more scalable and compatible with modern telecommunication tech.
But exactly what are the advantages of scalable VoIP?
VoIP is Simpler
Digital connections are easier to provision and manage than PSTN connections. VoIP connects voice and video calls over the internet. Rather than needing to install new wires to add more phones and phone numbers, VoIP can simply open more channels on your existing internet connection.
In most cases, VoIP uses Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking to open these new channels. There are plenty of technical details about how this works. But the basic explanation is that each session initiated on SIP trunks enables you to connect an additional call.
Practically, all this means that you can get a lot more phone numbers and host more PBX phones with far less hardware.
You can also add more phone numbers and terminate them on demand, so you only have as many phone numbers as you need at any given time.
Fewer hardware requirements and this ease of adding telephone numbers are the characteristics that give you scalable VoIP.
But, financially, this voice over ip jack simplicity makes VoIP much less expensive than traditional phone lines. There’s less hardware to install and manage, it’s far less expensive to get additional phone numbers, and you never have to pay for phone connections you’re not using.
SIP trunking also makes it possible to convert your landline phone system to VoIP. That way you can use as much of your existing infrastructure as possible, to maximize the return on an investment your company may have made years ago.
Simpler is easier and more cost efficient.
VoIP is More Feature Rich
Digital connections also give you far more control over your communications infrastructure and offer more features than legacy phone systems.
SIP connections are managed with software, which enables SIP providers to build a lot of capabilities into their platforms that make all your communication more efficient:
- VoIP enables you to use softphones.
“Softphone” is shorthand for “software phone.” Softphones are apps that turn almost any digital device into a fully functional phone. Laptops, desktop computers, and even tablets can make voice and video calls with a softphone app.
If you’ve ever used Skype or WhatsApp to make calls, you have a basic understanding of how softphones work.
That means your team members can get all the telecom capabilities they need using a computer and a headset.
However, VoIP is also compatible with hardware phones, and you get access to all the features VoIP offers, regardless of whether you use softphones or hardware phones.
- VoIP offers advanced analytics.
It’s much easier to track connections and gather data from a digital network.
Therefore, SIP trunking providers can offer call recording, call forwarding, and programmatic call control, in addition to tracking things such as call duration.
This means you can use IVR menus for automated call routing and use granular call data to optimize call flows and fine tune the end user experience.
- VoIP connections can be used for chat and text messaging.
VoIP connections are essentially data connections. Therefore, you can use your VoIP system for chatbots and live chat, and business text messaging.
Similar to Skype and WhatsApp, many SIP providers and softphone apps enable you to combine voice comms, text, and chat into the same interface for maximum efficiency.
- Video calls can be made on VoIP connections.
As you may have guessed from our references to Skype and WhatsApp, VoIP connections are capable of hosting video calls.
VoIP isn’t just for calling and texting. You can also use scalable VoIP for video conferencing and more in-depth collaboration between teams and with customers.
Choose Your Scalable VoIP Features
All of these features are possible with scalable VoIP and SIP trunking, but you don’t have to get all of them just to get the ones you need.
Quality VoIP providers, such as Telnyx, operate their own digital networks that can be quickly and easily configured. VoIP providers that run their own network also offer consolidated interfaces that give the end user the power to configure their VoIP provider’s network to suit their needs.
That way you choose the capabilities you need and configure your telecom infrastructure so that it works best for your business. In most cases, you’ll be able to configure your VoIP service by simply logging into a self-service portal in your web browser, simple as that.
That way you can scale up your communications, without costly feature bloat. Get what you need, when you need it, that’s it.
