The VOIP Upgrade - Escaping the Telco Tyranny
If you have been running a business location for any length of time, you're probably aware of just how much trouble it is to set up your office phones with a traditional telephone company. The big telco providers have had their hooks in modern business since back in the days before phone numbers when operators were the only way to reach another phone. While the telephone network has been a vitally important technology to our society and through the introduction of the digital age, we would all be more kindly disposed to the telco industry giants if they had been just a little less opportunistic with the business accounts.
Telco is Notoriously Inconvenient
Unfortunately, many businesses know exactly what we're talking about. There are stories about exploitative telephone company practices from one end of the continent to the other. Phone companies are as notorious for changing the cost of plans and charging exorbitant fees for going over budget, over talk hours, or needing your phone line repaired. Getting extra phone lines is a particularly loathed requirement because it also comes with a physical installation. While businesses try not to bite the hand that provides long-distance communication, your office telephone plan doesn't need to take up such a significant portion of your expenses or be so problematic to work with.
Communication Has Advanced Rapidly
The fact of the matter is that times have changed and the telco industry no longer sits at the top of high-speed communication. Email, chatting, texting, video chat, and now VOIP software has made it easy for people to connect and talk in real time, often even with video and screen sharing, wireless internet connections. Phones connected to a physical line are, quite frankly, outdated and on their way out in terms of public use. Except for cell phone plans and the tradition of wired business phone systems, the telco companies have lost their grip on the public.
Businesses are Adapting to VOIP
Business has always had a complicated relationship with tradition. On one hand, 'best practices' tends to perpetuate techniques that have worked well in the past. On the other hand, it's important to stay agile and ready to adapt to new circumstances, demands, and opportunities. The telco industry is the same as it's always been. VOIP is an opportunity to upgrade. Why have phone lines when you already have high-speed internet? Why pay an exploitative megacorp when you can partner with a software startup? And perhaps the most important for modern professionals: Why not be able to answer your work number from every device?
When it comes down it, compared side by side, VOIP is less expensive, much more flexible, provides more features, and doesn't come with a weighty legacy of monopoly and necessity. Modern VOIP companies tend to be eager tech startups or new projects of established software teams. VOIP can be linked to your CRM, it can create instant transcripts of calls, and the same software can usually handle SMS texting as well, something that is not included in standard business phone packages. For the modern business, making the switch is a simple matter of breaking off from your telco.
Our society and technological capabilities have moved rapidly toward completely wireless software-based communication for the past two decades and it's finally time for telco to pass the torch to software developers and the new wireless VOIP phone system. As businesses and individuals adapt to the new world of software communication, the telcos will either jump on the bandwagon or get left behind. What will your office do about your phone system? For more information on VOIP or how to make the switch, contact us today!