Thanks to the growth in remote work and the tools that come with it – namely Microsoft Teams – business telephony isn’t nearly as landline-reliant as it used to be, and internet-enabled VoIP solutions are very much the standard for UK businesses.
Still, business telephony is no stranger to change and, in this blog – the first in our 4-part series on business telephony – we ask: is the solution facing extinction in the wake of modern apps, such as Microsoft Teams?
VoIP Telephony – The Current Business Standard
Voice over Internet Protocol is the name given to a business telephony system that digitises telephone conversations and transmits them over the internet. For most businesses, this is the standard setup, one which already provides several workplace benefits over the typical landline. There is less hardware to implement, it integrates smoothly with CRM systems, and has a frictionless price-per-customer implementation.
VoIP is much more readily mobilised too, letting you port numbers to mobile devices and keep all the associated calling capabilities thanks to dedicated software. Again, in a remote working world, this is a significant improvement over traditional telephony.
While VoIP certainly isn’t a new technology, it is not set to be obsolete any time soon. It is a tried and tested technology that is constantly being updated, be that via the hardware itself or iterative software updates. And while other technologies offer more advanced calling features, most of them are reliant on the foundations of VoIP in one way or another.
For now, then, we can elaborate on VoIP – but we certainly can’t replace it.
The Modern Methods
So, let us explore more modern workplace technologies – ones that iterate on the concept of VoIP.
In the wake of 2020 and what could perhaps be surmised as the ‘Remote Working boom’, reliance on apps such as Zoom, WebEx and Microsoft Teams increased exponentially, and users took to comms solutions that favoured instant messaging, voice and video calling from any compatible device.
Since discovering these solutions, the wider business world simply hasn’t looked back. The extended features of each have revolutionised cooperative working both in and out of the office. Microsoft Teams, for instance, integrates calls seamlessly with the rest of the Microsoft 365 environment, allowing people to confer and cooperate on documents, use whiteboarding for ‘breakout’ sessions and share project files over dedicated file storage.
These solutions are certainly more complex than VoIP and depending on your preferred solution your features may vary. Yet, much like VoIP, they remain a necessity for any business with a remote workforce, multiple departments and a need for cooperative working.
Where Next for Business Telephony?
With VoIP software and apps such as Microsoft Teams, the direction of business telephony will, as always, be dictated by the needs of the business. Both solutions can be shaped via various software upgrades and, over time, serve more purposes to more people.
What all solutions seem to favour is compatibility, across software, users and setups. It is a logical direction, given the variety of software, handsets and providers; conventional telephones never suffered from parity problems, after all.
It is why solutions such as Microsoft Teams Voice are among the most appreciated. Rather than providing an all-new approach to VoIP, Teams Voice brings existing VoIP connections into the Teams environment, providing a more holistic approach to both technologies – something we will be covering in a later blog.
Business Telephony Lives On
It appears the rumours of business telephony’s death have been greatly exaggerated, then. Perhaps the question is not when the axe will fall on business telephony, but which of its options best fit your business.
In the next blog, we’ll be looking deeper into Microsoft Teams: how it provides more than just a messaging solution, and why it’s an invaluable addition to your remote working strategy as a Microsoft user.
As a certified Microsoft Partner and a provider of VoIP solutions from industry leading several vendors, BITS offers as much choice as it does experience in your business telephony. If you’re exploring your options, we’re always ready to talk.
Next Blog: Refine Remote Working with Microsoft Teams
