Enterprise VoIP is the highest grade of voice over IP telephony services specifically designed to fit the needs of large scale organizations. With Enterprise VoIP systems provided by a top business VoIP provider, organizations can easily scale their service up or down to add or remove any lines without the lengthy and costly process of traditional legacy telephony. Large businesses achieve powerful connectivity thanks to features designed specifically for enterprise use such as advanced call routing, call analytics and mobile phone clients.
Enterprise VoIP can be implemented via a cloud service provider to handle all of the heavy lifting, an on-premise system to keep total control in house, or a combination hybrid service. Every business can tailor its enterprise VoIP phone system to its needs. On top of that, enterprises will see up to 80% savings compared to the cost of a large scale legacy phone service.
What to consider before implementing Enterprise VoIP from a top business VoIP provider
If you’re an enterprise, you already know that scaling up comes with risks. If you scale up too fast, you can end up spending way too much money. If you scale too slowly, you miss opportunities.
With VoIP systems from a top business VoIP provider, you can scale at the speed and budget you need. You can always scale back down if you need less comprehensive VoIP telephony service than you thought. Here are the major factors to consider when shopping for enterprise phone systems.
Determine Your Telephony Budget for the Next 1-2 Years
When switching to enterprise PBX VoIP, expect initial startup costs. In the case of enterprise VoIP, you may need to buy new phone systems, upgrade your modems or routers, and even pay to keep your number.
However, when you weigh this against the costs of maintaining your existing equipment, it could end up being much cheaper.
You also have to factor in the opportunity costs, which are hard to calculate with accuracy. Many top business VoIP providers are starting to increase the price of legacy contracts. This is partly because it’s expensive to maintain old equipment.
Some providers seem to be hoping that companies won’t know any better and will keep paying.
VoIP integrates with many tools and services that increase profits and efficiency. It may take an investment to make the change, but you’ll see more money in your pocket every month after you make the jump.
Ensure You Have Sufficient Bandwidth
VoIP telephony can take up a lot of your bandwidth, clogging the channel for data that can be downloaded and uploaded at the same time. If you’re an enterprise, there’s a good chance that you’re already getting a premium data plan with your ISP.
To set up for enterprise VoIP telephony, you need to make sure you have a QoS router. This router will prioritize real-time data coming over audio and video channels over non-real time data like emailing and web browsing. You need the right hardware and the right service to be capable of supporting your enterprise VoIP system.
For example, to make ten concurrent VoIP phone calls with good HD sound quality, you need 5-10 MBps uploading and downloading. To make 100 calls at once you’ll need 500MBps-1 GBps.
If you have 500 phones, that doesn’t mean you’ll be making 500 calls at once. You also may not need the same speed upstream and downstream bandwidth. Most ISPs give you faster downstream than upstream.
A top business VoIP provider will give you recommendations for how much bandwidth you’ll need, based on the number of lines you need, your equipment configuration, and the router you have. Many enterprise PBX providers also provide internet service as part of the package. In those cases, a provider ensures that the data goes through their own network, rather than through a public network.
This ensures the speed and efficiency you need from your enterprise VoIP service provider.