A Solution to a business problem where technology can be of value



VoIP and its proven benefits to the Businesses

Introduction

Increasing fuel prices are putting an added pressure on business to keep their cost affordable to their employees. Fuel prices and other economic conditions are day by day increasing the cost of doing business and making businesses less competitive in international market. That's why businesses now more than ever before focusing their attention to bring their cost of doing businesses down by making the business processes more efficient using latest technology. Telecommunication cost is one of the major cost businesses incur in their day to day operations and it represents a considerable amount in business expenditure.

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) refers to the technologies, methodologies, communication protocols and transmission techniques which are involved to deliver multi-media and voice communications session over IP (Internet Protocol) networks, such as Internet. Businesses are increasingly using VoIP as an alternate to traditional phones/mobiles to increase bring their telecommunication cost down as well as increase the collaboration among employees which eventually translate into improved productivity. Organizational structures have gone through an evolution in the last 2 decades which has shifted their focus from centralization to decentralization. Most of the organizations have decentralized the power by using teams to increase the cooperation and liaison among employees so that they can collaborate with each other and unify their efforts towards personal as well as organizational goals. Communication is the most important factor in getting the employees or team members to collaborate effectively. The biggest advantage VoIP offers in this regard is that it can be used anywhere and anytime, which is allowing flexibility to employees in performing their jobs effectively and efficiently. This flexibility which employees are enjoying through VoIP is translating in improved productivity and reduced cost for the organizations throughout the world (Liu, 2000).

Discussion

Manager through VoIP can receive important calls on the laptop, on their mobiles (using VoIP software like Skype) on the road, and receive an urgent voice mail in the box. This is offering managers a great flexibility in performing their jobs. They can collaborate with other employees in their organization instantly upon hatching a great idea or giving them instructions about their work without even stepping out of their beds. This is also possible in using mobile phone services but VoIP is not just limited to voice, it's a multi-media thing which means managers can do video conferencing with the people sitting in other countries without evening incurring an expense of going there actually (Mehta & Udani, 2001).

Your phone calls travel over internet using (VoIP service like Skype) just like your emails which dramatically decrease the telecommunication cost of a business while increase the productivity. VoIP also offers some other benefits in the form of useful capabilities and features which traditional phone technology cannot offer. Some business users are of the opinion that VoIP still need to do more in order to replace the traditional telephony. In their opinion, voice quality is sub-standard and ...