A converged network uses the Internet Protocol (IP) on broadband, wide-area and local-area networks to carry voice conversations, along with routine data traffic. No matter how many locations your company has, putting voice on your data network can improve how customer calls are handled, position your company for better ways to communicate and collaborate, and simplify system management.

Doing all this can also result in significant cost savings – whether your deployment is on-site, cloud or a hybrid of both – helping your company better control its IT budget without having to sacrifice features and functionality.

Flexible dialing plans

Your teams can have the convenience of flexible intra-company dialing. Users at any location can pick up the phone and dial any colleague’s 3- or 4-digit extension number, for example, as if they were just down the hall.

Since all intra-company calls are handled over broadband links between corporate locations, there are no public-network local or long-distance usage charges to bust your budget. This is particularly handy for conferencing multiple IP phones at different locations.

IP phone systems can also handle variable-length dialing as you transition to IP voice and a single, unified dialing plan. For instance, calling between sites, users can dial a site code, followed by the user’s extension. The use of a site code would overcome the problem of duplicate four-digit extensions at the locations of a larger business with long-established dialing plans.

IP phone systems have all the dialing flexibility of traditional phone systems, but with the added advantages of more features, easier setup of dialing plans through a web browser, and faster connection setup over the network via the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).

Call handling

An IP phone system can improve call routing between locations. Sales people at a remote office, for example, can have their calls routed to a backup location while they are out meeting with local clients. When a call comes into the salesperson’s office, it can be routed to the company’s headquarters, where sales inquiries and support requests can be handled promptly. Busy salespeople can stay focused on acquiring new business without getting bogged down with routine calls.

If salespeople are busy with a client, office colleagues do not have to waste time trying to call them or add them to a conference call. With an IP phone system feature called “presence,” their availability to take a call is visually indicated on a handset or PC, letting everyone know if a person’s phone is on or off hook, if that person is in a conference call, on a mobile phone, in the office, or away.

Having this capability allows everyone in your organization to be more effective in the way they communicate using their PCs, phones and mobile devices – whether they are working locally or remotely. Handling calls in this way avoids the inconvenience and delay inherent in voice messages and call-backs.

Teleworking

IP phone systems integrate voice, video and data applications over global IP networks. This allows you to extend full office-telephone functionality and access to business information to remote users and teleworkers. The process works so smoothly that customers are unaware whether they are calling a teleworker or the main office. All types of communication devices are supported, including wired and wireless phones, softphones for notebooks, and smartphones with apps for iOS and Android operating systems.

Users have full control of call handling too. For example, salespeople can have calls go to voicemail in the morning while they are out visiting clients, and then sent to the smartphone in the afternoon when they are back in the office.

Businesses can use call redirection for strategic advantage. In supporting telework between the office and employees’ homes and other remote locations, redirection not only gives staff more flexibility in work location options, but aids recruitment and retention.

Business continuity

An IP phone system can be easily instructed to redirect calls by the administrator, who can access the system from any location with an internet connection – including their home when they are unable to reach the office.

The capability to re-route calls can be used for business continuance when disaster strikes. If your headquarters building becomes inaccessible due to a local emergency, incoming calls can be redirected to remote offices or teleworkers outside the affected area. This applies to contact centers as well. Distributed contact center agents can keep supporting your customers from home or remote offices.

Contact centers

If your company relies on a contact center to serve customers, a unified voice network can extend coverage to remote offices as needed. When calls come in, the phone system’s call-handling technology can automatically route calls to the most appropriate person, team or office location – the first time, every time.

Companies spread across time zones can extend hours of coverage beyond local business hours by redirecting calls to distant offices. And during peak hours, overflow calls can be redirected to teleworkers for prompt attention – all this, over the IP network.

IP voice also brings down the cost of implementing a contact center. Businesses can set up a contact center with an add-on application for their IP phone system. Not only does this make a call center affordable for even small businesses, but they get all the high-end features, including call queuing, prioritized skill routing, presence information, call recording, and on-hold features like music, announcements, estimated wait time, and more.

Hot desking

With multiple IP phone systems networked together, a capability known as “hot desking” becomes available. This enables staff traveling between locations to take their office phone with them – not by carrying it between sites, but by simply entering a code. The voice network assigns the user’s home office extension and all of its customized settings to the temporary phone being used for the day. The intelligence of IP routes incoming voice calls to find you, no matter what branch office phone you may be using.

Anyone who travels between offices will find hot desking a valuable communications tool. In the legal profession or healthcare field, for example, when attorneys or doctors travel between offices, all they have to do is “hot desk” to use all the phone features normally accessed at their primary office.

Unified messaging

Unified messaging helps busy staff stay in touch with customers and colleagues, and pick up messages no matter where they work. With unified messaging, your voicemail is combined with email and faxes for easy access through one inbox. Email can even be accessed by telephone using text-to-voice technology.

Today’s advanced unified communication services go even further than unified messaging, bringing into the mix such applications as video collaboration, text messaging and presence, desktop and file sharing, and multi-party conferencing. Users can quickly find, chat with and call colleagues through the corporate directory, as well as view call and message history.

Web-based management

If your company has separate phone systems at each location, today’s management tools enable easy administration from any location with internet access and a web browser.

In addition to being able to control call redirection, the system administrator can monitor system performance at all sites, as well as usage and costs, through call accounting applications.

Routine moves, adds and changes are easy to manage too, eliminating the delay and dependence on third-party tech services for even more cost savings. Network administrators can even track VoIP devices at any location and determine asset information such as manufacturer, software and hardware versions, and serial numbers.

Single-vendor installation

With multiple locations, you should strive for a consistent, simplified system implementation experience. This requires careful selection of the vendor or system integrator, preferably one with a regional or national accounts program. The advantage such integrators offer is a single point of contact for orders and service, along with predictable pricing, regardless of where a new phone system must be installed.

Typically, the integrator configures and ships equipment to each location, along with the IP phones. A proven technology partner will manage the project from start to finish, even designing and coordinating installation of the cabling infrastructure with qualified local partners in each remote market.

When the installation of IP phone systems at remote locations requires building modifications or data center expansion, the integrator’s expertise in managing the numerous change orders that come in from the field saves time and minimizes the chance of errors.

Conclusion

Competitive businesses are always looking for new ways to distinguish themselves in the marketplace. Taking advantage of a unified, multi-location IP voice network helps reduce costs, improves staff productivity and system administration, and provides outstanding customer service. You have everything to gain by implementing and connecting IP voice systems (premises, cloud or both) to extend new capabilities, features and functionality to all of your business locations.

Jeff Nolte is President and CEO of CTS, a leading Voice and IT services provider based in Millersville, Maryland. He may be reached at (800) 787-4848 or jnolte@ctsmd.us. Visit: www.ctsmd.us