VoIP routers provide the following benefits;

à¢â‚¬¢ QoS Quality of Service
à¢â‚¬¢ SIP Server Redundancy
à¢â‚¬¢ Traffic Shaping
à¢â‚¬¢ VoIP Proxy

VoIP Terms Defined

QoS: stands for Quality of Service: QoS does several things, on a network that shares voice and data, a QoS capable router gives priority to voice traffic. This is important because there will be times when you are on the phone and someone else using your network sends or receives a large file or downloads a video and you do not want this to affect the voice quality of your call. A router that can provide QoS will prevent this from happening.

SIP Server Redundancy: A quality VoIP Service Provider has servers at more than one location. If one location goes out of service, the secondary or back up location automatically takes over. A true VoIP router will automatically route calls to the backup location if the primary location is out of service. The router you get from your ISP or Best Buy does not have this capability.

Traffic Shaping: Allows you to decide how much bandwidth to allocate to voice and how much to data. If you give priority to voice traffic, you could use up all your available bandwidth and your computers will not be able to access the internet. VoIP routers have this built in.

VoIP Proxy: Allows phones on your network to register directly with the PSTN. If your cannot do this your call first has to travel to your VoIP Service Provider‘˜s SIP server and then to the PSTN. Any increase in distance that your VoIP packets have to travel increases the chance of lost packets and other forms of network interference.

Most quality Business VoIP providers strongly recommend that you install a router designed for VoIP traffic in order to guarantee Quality of Service. They are hesitant to require it because of the higher costs. If your business depends on your phone, you would be wise to get a VoIP router.

Check out also for Hosted Call Center and Small Business VoIP

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If you are like most businesses, you will probably want to take your existing phone system with you to your new office location. This means that you will have to break the system down and reassemble it at your new location. While your system is in transit, your company is without phone service. You will probably try and do this over the weekend so as to not be without phone service during normal business hours (assuming a normal business hour does not include evenings and weekends).

If you are lucky and things go as planned, you can accomplish this move in a single weekend. Unfortunately, things don‘˜t always go as planned. Your company could be without phone service until your old system has been reinstalled in the new location.

Moving a Hosted PBX Costs Next to Nothing

Moving a Hosted VoIP phone system costs next to nothing. Depending on the size and complexity of your existing PBX phone system, the cost to move your system can easily run into the thousands of dollars. At a minimum, you are looking at a couple of grand to move even a small system.
There is an easier way to move a phone system.

Sell your old system on eBay and use the proceeds to buy a Hosted VoIP phone system. Actually, you don‘˜t buy a Hosted VoIP phone system, you pay for the service on a monthly basis. The only equipment you buy is the IP phone sets and a specialized VoIP router. That is why moving a Hosted VoIP phone system is a breeze.

If the proceeds from the sale of your old system are enough to pay for the components of a Hosted VoIP phone system, then you have actually come out ahead. How so? The reason you have come out ahead is that you have upgraded to state-of-the-art phone system without taking money out of your pocket. Remember, the only hardware required for a Hosted VoIP phone system are the IP Phone sets and a VoIP router. IP Phone sets range in price from $150.00 to $400.00. A VoIP router costs less than $1,000.00.

Install and Test Hosted VoIP before Moving

Before moving to your new office location, you can install and test the Hosted VoIP System. (Moving office locations is confusing enough, moving and learning a new phone system is a nightmare.) The VoIP Provider can assign temporary numbers to your Hosted VoIP phone system so your employees can practice and test the new system. The new phone system will be completely independent of and will not affect your existing phone system.

Once you have tested the new phone system and your staff is comfortable using it, the VoIP Service Provider can port (transfer) your existing phone numbers from your old system to your new Hosted VoIP phone system. You are now using the new VoIP system at your old office location.

Why is it easy to move a Hosted VoIP Phone System?

On the day of your move, all that has to be done to move a Hosted VoIP phone system is to unplug the IP Phone Sets and move them to their new locations. Most companies have their employees move their phones. If your employees are unable to move the phones, you can have your IT person pack up the phones. It is simply a matter of unplugging the phones from the from your network and unplugging from the electrical outlet.

The reinstallation of the phones at your new location is simply a matter of plugging in the phones at each employees work station. The only difficult part is that each employee must have the same phone on the new desk as they had on their old desk. As soon as the network in your new location is ready, your Business VoIP Phone system will function exactly as it did at your old office location.

Your Hosted VoIP Phone System Never Goes Down

After you have turned out the lights at your old office location and before you have installed your Hosted VoIP phone system at your new location, your phone system will continue to function. That‘˜s right, during the time your phone system is in the box on the truck, it will continue to function. This is just one of the many benefits of a Hosted VoIP phone system.

Callers to your company will hear your company greeting, if a caller calls one of your employees, they will either be connected directly to that employees voice mail or, your employee could have set up call forwarding before they left and had all calls transferred to their cell phone. To the outside world, it appears as if nothing has changed.

If a caller has left a voice mail message, the system will convert that message into a .wav file and e-mail it to any e-mail account including a smart phone e-mail. If an employee does not have a smart phone, the system will send a text message notification that a voice mail has been received. The employee can dial into their voice mail account a listen to their voice mail messages. They can even forward those messages to other employees. This all takes place while you system is in transit.

Check out also for Business VoIP Provider and Hosted Call Center

Het bericht Moving a Hosted VoIP Phone System is not Really Moving verscheen eerst op Emea Persberichten.

Along came VoIP and suddenly businesses had another option. However, businesses soon learned this new VoIP technology was not quite as reliable as traditional phone service. That was 5-7 years ago when VoIP was in its infancy.

Hosted VoIP technology has matured to the point where the call quality and reliability is comparable to traditional phone service. The real benefit to the small businesses is the PBX Features that VoIP technology delivers.

Most Hosted Business VoIP Phone systems offer a feature rich package of PBX functions that include Auto-Attendants, Hunt Groups, Voice Mail, Call Transfer, etc (see a full list of VoIP PBX Features) without requiring you to purchase expensive telecommunications hardware.

Hosted VoIP makes it easy to incorporate a geographically distributed group of employees, even remote works that work out of a home office can be incorporated into your business phone system. With a Hosted VoIP Phone system the only hardware your business needs are the IP Phones and a VoIP router.

A Business VoIP Phone System allows businesses to only pay for the PBX services actually used. Upgrading a Hosted VoIP Phone system is a simple process from a technical perspective and generally does not require additional telecommunications hardware.

Creating a multi-location system is no different than adding a phone to your current office system. Hosted VoIP Phone systems simplify adding additional geographic locations, including home based employees. New office locations can be added in any location that has a high speed internet connection.

To learn more about AVAD Technologies Hosted Call Center systems please calls (800) 733-4136, or visit us on the web at AvadTechnologies.com

Het bericht Business Hosted VoIP Small Business Benefits verscheen eerst op Emea Persberichten.

You have clients to deal with, projects to work on, marketing to do ...and the list goes on.

One area that consultants should give more consideration to is outsourcing. You can outsource a whole host of areas of your business, but let‘˜s just look at one today - your telephone communications.

When you first hear the word call center you probably think of a big open office floor with hundreds of cubicles and phones ringing off the hook ... a buzz of men and women quick talking to take an order or to provide support filling the air.

Valuable in More Than One Way

Today however, call center services go way beyond this and as a consultant can help you in more than one area of your business.

Here are just a few examples:

* You‘˜ll be out at meetings or on the road all day ... call centers generally offer an answering service and can receive your calls for you and forward them to your mobile phone if and when needed.
* You‘˜re putting on a seminar or have created an information product you want to sell - of course you‘˜ll have registration online, but many people still prefer calling in - this is a perfect job for a call center to help you with.
* Your business is growing, and while you‘˜re not quite ready to hire a full time assistant you do want and need someone answering your day to day calls ... call centers often have receptionist services that can help you with all of that and more.
* And there‘˜s a whole other angle to this too. Call centers can be useful for your client projects. When you want to conduct a survey or some research .. call centers can help you get that data by making those calls for you.

Choosing the Right Provider

The virtual call center market is a crowded one and you‘˜ll find all kinds of companies offering a wide array of services. Before you choose one to work with be sure that they clearly understand your goals, are open to doing an initial project like a trial so you can see if you like the working arrangements, and be sure take a look at their client list (and don‘˜t be afraid to give one or two a call to get the whole story).

Hosted Call Center Strategy to Find New Clients

Let me share with you another way that all of this can help you to bring in new clients. If you‘˜ve been reading this blog for a while you‘˜ll know I‘˜m a big believer in edu-marketing - that is marketing through educating prospective clients and not bombarding them with hardcore sales messages.

A classic edu-marketing strategy is to offer a free video or report on your website, in your marketing materials, ads and so forth. By giving your prospects the option to call a 24/7 voice mail system that automatically collects their name and contact info they feel better because they know they won‘˜t be ´pushed to buy‘˜ and are then more likely to request your information ... which is great for you because the more people that see your materials and the value in what you offer the better.

Hope you enjoyed this look into how you can make call center software work for your consulting business. We‘˜ll continue to look at other ways you can outsource aspects of your business for growth in future posts.

If you‘˜ve used call center services and have a story (good or bad) to share, would love to hear about it in the comments below.

Article Source: http://www.consulting-business.com/how-consultants-use-call-centers.html

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