VoIP Installation: It’s Easy with the Right Partner

Making the switch to VoIP for business communications can lead to several advantages. However, you’ll want to know what to expect. What does the VoIP installation process look like? How long will it take to get set up, and what type of disruption will your employees and customers face?

When you partner with the right provider, installing VoIP is easy. Here’s an overview of what you should know about making the switch and going through the installation process.

VoIP Has Largely Replaced Legacy Communications Systems

Less than a decade ago, experts predicted that Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) would overtake public switched telephone networks (PSTN). In 2020, total revenue for the industry in the US alone reached $14.1 billion, and by the end of 2021, 90 percent of IT leaders will cease purchasing on-premises communications tools.

VoIP phones have become a standard in the business world for several compelling reasons.

• Because the phone calls travel over the internet as data, rather than relying on phone lines, your users can make and receive business calls from anywhere.
• Switching to VoIP can lower your telecommunications costs without sacrificing call quality, making it a great fit for small business budgets.
• VoIP technology is also more secure than analog phones. Your provider will use specific encryption protocols and security best practices to ensure call data is protected.

And, unlike what your business may have gone through when your existing phone system was set up, installing VoIP isn’t complicated or expensive. It’s easy.

What to Consider Before VoIP Installation?

For analog phones, calls are handled by the local telephone company. To make and receive calls with a landline phone, you need to plug the phone directly into a phone jack.

Because you’re sharing the phone system with multiple employees in your business, you probably have an on-premises Private Branch Exchange (PBX). A PBX includes switching systems to connect all users to the business phone line. PBX phone systems can be analog, digital, or both.

Traditionally, you own and manage the PBX, which means you are responsible for managing and upgrading the hardware. With VoIP and a cloud-based unified communications solution, your provider may handle the infrastructure and offer the communications system over the cloud. This frees up your business from having to invest in a new phone system to upgrade to IP-based calling.

Before getting started, you’ll want to consider the following:

How many users will you need?

Is your existing internet connection fast enough, or should you upgrade? A small business with five users would need a speed of at least 500 Kbps. With a 10 Mbps upload speed, your connection could support 100 lines.

What phone features will your business want to have?

Here are some of the most common features:

• Call forwarding
• IVR (interactive voice response)
• Team messaging
• Call recording
• Call hold and transfer
• Call screening
• Voicemail

What equipment will you need?

Will you need to purchase desktop VoIP phones, and if so, what features should they have? You may also want to consider headsets for your employees if they will make and receive calls with their desktop or laptop.

Are you interested in VoIP alone or a complete cloud-based communications solution?

With unified communications as a service (UCaaS), you can benefit from voice services, as well as other communication tools such as video conferencing, screen sharing, and chat.

What if you want your calls routed over the internet, but you don’t want to give up your existing phones?

You can also choose to keep your current phone equipment. SIP Trunking is a technology that can work with existing phone systems. You can modernize your business phone system, save on long-distance and international calls, and benefit from your provider’s datacenters’ enterprise-level security.

How to Install VoIP for Your Business

Once you are clear on what your business needs, it’s time to decide on a provider. The installation process will be easy for you with the right provider as they can handle the set-up process and work with whatever equipment you choose to use, whether you are using VoIP landline phones or simply downloading a unified communications app to your devices.

Your business doesn’t need to worry about downtime. And, there’s no complex onboarding process for your employees.

The right provider makes installation hassle-free and worry-free. So, how do you know you’ve found the right one?

Here’s what you should look for:

• A near-flawless uptime service level agreement to give you peace of mind
• Simple integration between your business communications tools so you can easily use your mobile devices and your corporate phone system
• High-level security including everything from protection against spam calls to data protection that aligns with your business’s compliance needs
• Excellent customer service with round-the-clock support

With Intermedia Unite, you can get started right away. Our VoIP phones and devices are plug-and-play. No technical expertise is required to set them up. You also have the flexibility to add users with a few clicks from your control panel, making scaling easy. And, you can have full confidence your business communications are secure. We use robust physical and network security and implement ongoing monitoring and detection to defend against threats.

Contact us today to find out how we can help you with VoIP installation and all of your cloud business communications needs.