VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is a telephony technology that delivers significant cost savings and flexibility for organizations of all sizes. Global enterprises, as well as SMEs and freelancers, are increasingly switching to VoIP to enable a new era of agility and affordability in business telephony services. Once you’ve decided on VoIP, the next choice is: which VoIP provider should you use?

What Should You Consider?

Making an informed choice is crucial. Despite the increased prevalence of internet and mobile technologies, consumers often still prefer the phone to resolve issues. When making a choice, we recommend paying attention to the following points:

Understand Your VoIP Needs

You need to determine what type of VoIP solution you require. Are you looking for a phone system to integrate into your current business, or are you looking to replace it entirely and move everything to the cloud with Hosted/Cloud VoIP?

Ensure the Provider Offers a Contingency Plan

VoIP is reliable, but only as reliable as your internet connection. There will likely be times when you experience connectivity loss, which can halt business communications. Ensure your provider has a contingency plan to mitigate temporary outages, such as connecting employees’ mobile phones to the VoIP setup.

Ensure Call Quality is Up to Standard

Make sure a potential VoIP provider guarantees high call quality by evaluating network traffic, allocating sufficient bandwidth, and effectively prioritizing your business’s traffic to protect call quality.

Inquire About Network Consistency

Consistency is a key factor to ensure a service is almost always available. Inquire about a provider’s uptime guarantees. You might even be able to review their quarterly or annual reports.

Check Bandwidth Requirements

Underestimating the bandwidth needed to maintain high-quality calls can lead to poor satisfaction. Bandwidth calculations are complex and require understanding the total number of phone users in your business and the number of concurrent calls you’ll regularly make. It also requires knowledge of how you use the internet.

Obtain (and Verify) References

Potential VoIP customers shouldn’t hesitate to ask a potential provider for references or testimonials. Verifying the experience of customers in similar industries can give you confidence that a VoIP provider can deliver sufficient quality to your business. A VoIP provider hesitant to provide references may not deliver the quality they promise.

Ensure They Offer SLAs

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are contracts between a provider and a customer to ensure expectations are met after implementation. Ensure a VoIP provider protects its buyers by offering SLAs as a routine part of a business agreement.

Define Support and Its Availability

What can you expect if you encounter VoIP issues on a weekday evening? What about difficulties over the weekend? What if your employees need more training than expected for telephony operations? It’s important to know what to expect from a provider. When checking a provider’s references, ask for more insight into the quality and reliability of their support.