What Is VoIP? A Complete Guide for Small Businesses

running a business requires an agile communication system that you can use for both outbound and inbound customer contact as well as communication between colleagues this is where voip really shines voice over internet protocol is an internet-based telephony technology that allows you to completely avoid the glut of old school landlines voip is loaded with features in this guide we're going to help you understand what the technology is all about hey everyone this is corey mccraw the voip and ucas subject matter expert at fit small business for beginners voip can be very confusing which is why we created this guide so you can understand this technology better if you're watching this video on youtube you can find a full written rundown of the of the technology linked in the description box vape lets you make and receive calls over the internet which makes a high-speed connection absolutely essential but a lot goes on behind the scenes to assure that you have a seamless experience here's the step-by-step process for internet based calling this is the call initiation stage one of my favorite aspects of voip is how versatile it is you can literally make calls on your preferred device this includes your smartphone through an app a cell phone which can be used by a desktop or a laptop or through a desk phone which has the size and shaping of traditional landline office device most providers even make it a seamless experience to exchange calls between devices once your call is initiated the connection is made through either your office internet service or to your wireless carrier while some services do require you to have a carrier set up many will work through a wi-fi or ethernet wired signal so you don't have to already have a connection voip isn't just internet to internet the person receiving your call can be on landline cellular or internet-based connection you can reach out to them if they are using a virtual phone number through a voip carrier when it comes to the underlying technology voip first changes your voice into data packets that are transmitted over the internet while changing your voice to data and then transmitting it might seem like it would take time the process actually takes milliseconds even if you're calling from across the globe effectively any call made will take place in real time you won't notice any lag or slow down unless your internet connection is slow as i mentioned voip uses data packets to transmit your voice to your recipient still it needs to use a system that will help each receiver which are called endpoints communicate to do this voip technology uses a set of rules called protocols to ensure devices can talk to each other it routes data across networks and converts them to the appropriate signal based on ip addresses and transport protocols when it comes to the most basic aspect of voip you'll most likely always run into the session initiation protocol or sip this signaling protocol is the most general purpose technology inheritance voip and allows for the transmission of multimedia packets between groups of endpoints because they're so versatile sip sessions can not only send voice packets but video packets as well which is why many voip providers offer video conferencing capabilities rtp works alongside sip so that each endpoint can stream both audio and video media in real time this is simply a set of dedicated protocols for transmitting voice video and data it's an older technology in sip and is widely used in ip based video conferencing the transmission control protocol works alongside both rtp and sip tcp is oriented towards data connections so it has to first ensure that a connection is made before data is transmitted as a result tcp tends to be on the slightly slower side still to reduce the impact of packet loss t is a good protocol since it actually allows for the re-transmission of data packets the user datagram protocol or udp is far more common than tcp because it doesn't require connection it doesn't have any overhead for maintaining or terminating one there's also no inherent error checking as a result udp is comparatively fast and very efficient outside of price one of the chief reasons that voip stands out is due to its features rather than having to finagle various calling features from a landline provider many voip providers bundle in a wide array of default functionalities here are a few to consider while many take this feature for granted it's amazing how many quality of life editions are available for most voip providers with voip it's easy to find features like voicemail to text and visual voicemail so you have an easy way to interface with your messages voip systems also allow you to access your voicemail through your favorite endpoint be it an ip phone soft phone app or an analog phone with an analog telephone adapter also your provider will ensure interoperability with other features for example if your service has an auto attendant or interactive voice response system ivr you may add a phone menu option like press 5 to leave a voicemail here you can see the interface offered by rank central auto attendance provides your company with a means to correctly route customers to the right department there are also fine tuning features that allow you to route according to your schedule or office hours it's best to think of an auto attendant as a digital receptionist as you can see from the example which comes from go to connect you can completely customize your auto attendant to provide as many menu options as possible for your customers advanced systems support multiple auto attendants and sub menus omni channel ivr systems work with your auto attendant to gather customer details like their account number before your employee picks up the line in most cases you'll be able to record and upload custom greetings or use a tool to transcribe your text announcement into a voice greeting depending on your provider voip provides basic to advanced analytic reporting options this allows you to look at historical data as well as real-time info about your communication stack this also allows you to monitor things like customer sentiment set your schedules and adjust call flow for better customer service some providers specialize in delivering key performance indicators so you can tweak your business communications performance you also have the option to schedule reports and send them directly to others through email some analytics that you can drill down into include the status of call queues company phone numbers individual users or departments device status call quality and custom kpis by now most business users have heard of salesforce which is just one type of customer relationship management solution most first or second tier voip plans allow for crm integration so that customer data will automatically pop up when contact is made this type of integration also provides a single solution for both outreach and data delivery so that your agents will have to manage custom customer information in one application while calling on another this is an example of nextiva crm integration which is extensive call monitoring is typically considered a contact center feature but is also a handy feature for companies that just want to create optimized customer interactions this feature helps to you deliver consistent high quality experiences and identify training opportunities call monitoring tools also reduce onboarding time by allowing employees to take calls while you listen in and guide them as needed here's a quick screenshot of ringcentral's monitoring ui standard features include monitoring agent whispering which you use to send messages to your employees call bars you can take over a call and call recording conferencing is a major consideration for most businesses especially when you need to talk to multiple customers simultaneously wouldn't need to have virtual team huddles this feature is especially gaining traction as more businesses switch to a work from home paradigm both audio and video conferencing provides value but when seeking a voip provider noted each has varying capacities for example go to connect who you see in the image has a maximum participant count of 250 attendees but other providers may limit your team to 25. an increasing number of businesses are shifting away from the physical phone which is why voip's ability to work off of software is so advantageous software apps turn any compatible internet connected device into a voip phone download the application on your desktop computer laptop cell phone or tablet from there make and receive calls using your preferred device most features are readily available through the software and you're able to save money on investing in iphones or analog telephone adapters now that you're a bit more familiar with some of voip's most useful features let's take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of technology wait brings the omni channel into reality unlike landlines you can reach your customers where they prefer to be reached for example most providers like ringcentral nextiva and ipad allow you to make voip calls but also allow you to video conference and text as well some providers like nixtiva also allow you to even reach out via social media all these points of contact are managed by a single platform so it's easy to track customer interactions thanks to its cloud-based nature voip typically costs much less than on-premise space communication solutions or landlines in addition since the hardware is managed by the provider there's no need to provision cash for things like upkeep and upgrades this is all managed by your voip company want to add or remove users no worries simply make the change in your online admin portal for instant results your team doesn't have to update software or troubleshoot infrastructure issues because your voip provider handles it all from their end voip is cheaper than traditional landlines when it comes to international calling this is due to the fact that voip doesn't need to use the intercontinental copper lines to connect with your you with your customers there are plenty of muted weight providers like ring centroid nextiva that will provide you a very reasonable rate for calling hundreds of countries but in addition to this providers like 8x8 uma and go to connect have completely unmetered plans so you can call overseas frequently many providers also provide international numbers so your global customers can reach you overseas without calling out of their country this provides a means to expand your business without investing in local offices voip's advanced features include ai assistance call forwarding to your favorite device and more niche features like paging service integration and built-in team collaboration tools still voip does have its disadvantages if you're looking to make internet calls your connection will have to be able to support them likewise if you're using a voip provider and you lose internet or electricity for that matter you won't be able to make calls if you have an office that's relied on a standard plain old telephone service then you may have to upgrade your hardware for voip this will require you to replace your landline phones with ip phones saw phones on computers or smartphones or purchase analog telephone adapters to bring your landline phones to your voip service you also have the option to purchase a voip gateway which is an affordable solution if you only have a few desk phones and fax machines with voip you're sending your data over to internet anyone living in a digital age knows how risky that can be data packets and by voip can be intercepted by cyber criminals which is why encryption is critical both encryption and transit and net rest are needed for voip so make sure that your provider is delivering all of the security features you need to keep your data safe wait subscriptions range from less than 10 per user per month to more than 100 however the price varies amongst providers payment models and individual packages weight costs may increase for higher tier plans with advanced features like voice intelligence or interactive voice response systems in addition most providers offer several discounts for example major voip providers like ringcentral grasshopper nextiva offer annual discounts so that paying by the year is cheaper some providers also grant volume based pricing structures so that your service becomes cheaper as you grow you may know the answer to what is voip but do you know how it differs from a landline check out our guide to compare landlines to voip if you're ready to take the next step sign up for a free trial with a small business voip service and start taking business calls from almost anywhere

This transcript was generated automatically from the video's captions and may contain errors.