Today's employees have a large number of devices at their disposal. In addition to the office phone, they have their own personal mobile device, a tablet, and several laptops. No longer is a traditional 9-to-5 job the only time when a person is in contact with their office. Unfortunately, the PSTN phone system has not kept up with this changing environment. Telephone numbers are still tightly connected to single devices with each having a separate one. Migrating from one to the other is not seamless and there's no getting around the 1 to 1 ratio of telephone numbers to devices.
What we need is for our telephone addressing system to be as flexible as that used by e-mail. It should be accessible from any device anywhere in the world and not be tied down to any single network. Your e-mail depends on the Internet and doesn't care about which telecom carrier you're obtaining service from. It works seamlessly over Wi-Fi, Ethernet connections, and mobile data. It's high time we brought regular phone calls into the 21st-century and imbued it with the features that we've come to expect from an advanced communication network.
While it'll be a long time before the telecom carriers themselves change the model, businesses have the option to jump into this new system right away using the power of VoIP. There are many different types of VoIP service - the well-known ones are geared towards the retail customer instead of the professional. Business organizations will need to obtain service from an SIP provider. Once they do so, each user will be allotted what is known as a "SIP address". This looks very similar to a regular e-mail in structure and indeed the architecture of the two systems bears many similarities.
Since these will be paid accounts, your SIP addresses can be identical to your e-mail so you will have your own domain name for branding purposes. Depending on the specific provider and their pricing plans, you can link several devices to a single SIP address and have them all ring simultaneously or one at a time as per your preferences. This allows your employees to always be available and answer any calls using the most convenient device instead of being shackled to just one. It also means that clients need keep track of a single telephone number. In short, it simplifies and streamlines the entire calling process.
Simultaneous ring functionality is also known as "SIP forking". It is one of the key differentiating features of a VoIP system. Make sure that your SIP service provider offers it before signing up with them.
No comments:
Post a Comment