Information about using VOIP to work from home

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IP Telephony

Voice over Internet Protocol or "VOIP"

You've probably heard a lot about "VOIP" recently, but I've found that not many people actually understand what VOIP does and how it can be used.

First of all "VOIP" is a technology that transmits voice in the same way that regular data is transmitted over "Internet Protocol"... basically it means phone calls using the Internet rather than the traditional telephone network (called the "PSTN" for Public Switched Telephone Network). The Vonage service is one example of a current VOIP phone provider. However, the technology goes far beyond what Vonage provides.

For small businesses, VOIP offers huge benefits such as dramatically lower phone bills, lower long distance bills, and adds the ability to telecommute not only with your computer, but now with your phone. For instance, VOLstate sells a product called "talkswitch" that not only uses VOIP for phone calls, but can also use VOIP for telephone extensions. That means you can plug a VOIP phone into the same cable that your computer uses saving on wiring costs. Also, you can take the VOIP phone home with you, plug it into your VOLstate high speed Internet connection and actually have your office phone extension at your house! Or, you can do what I do and have an extension at my "real" office and a VOIP extension at my home office which ring simultaneously. Couple that with computer VPN technology and you have your entire office resources, including your voice phone system, at your home and office.

Aside from the downside that if you implement this you are never truly away from the office, the upside can be significant savings for your business. Consider allowing some of your workforce to telecommute from home. If they have the proper tools and they are not "in person" customer facing personnel they can probably accomplish their entire job from a home desk. They may be able to save on gas money, have more time with family, and actually accomplish more tasks in less time without the distractions of other personnel in a typical office. The business owner may be able to save on paid hours as a benefit of allowing the telecommute employee to work from home. For key personnel, having a home office with a "live" extension into the office phone system allows that person to be available to nearly all the time.

Another benefit (and downside) of this technology, depending on how you look at it, is that a traveling employee can actually take their VOIP phone with them when they travel, plug it in to the hotel high speed Internet account and their office extension has traveled with them. For instance, if they normally use extension 111 at the office and they have plugged their phone in to a high speed internet connection at their destination they are still at extension 111, just as if they never left the office!

If you are interested in setting up VOIP technology for your business, please contact us at VOLstate. We will help you build the right system that will fit your needs.