If you are running a company with an office building and a lot of employees and you have to reach out to your customers, and other partners or your customers might want to reach out to you then you might be using some kind of communication system to perform such things. It is true that internet-based chats and emails are what most of us prefer to use over a phone call and there’s a good chance that they are taking over the phone calls but despite that, a large number of communications still happens over the phone communication. Time is important and If you are using emails then the conservations are also not quick because you have to wait for the person you are reaching out to send you the reply. This wastes a lot of time and thus makes phone communication more important in a business.
If you are using the traditional way of communication which is the landline phone or PSTL line then you are not on your maximum level and keeping a lot of connections will also cost you a lot. Now the right way to improve the way you communicate and also save a lot of money in the process is to switch from the traditional phone to a SIP (Softphone) Phone. The SIP phone is the new way of communication and has been taking over landline phones. Softphones weren’t very popular back in the days but today’s world it’s been used more and more Let’s learn more about SIP phones, and what are the benefits of this technology over the traditional phone.
What are SIP Phones?
SIP stands for Session Initiation Protocol and is used in VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) communications. You might be already familiar with VoIP calling and there’s a good chance you might be using one right now. We have carriers who provide SIM cards that take the benefits of VoIP calling or we have phones which use E-SIM. It allows the user to make calls around the world over the internet. A SIP Phone is basically a softphone and it’s a huge leap to our phone system and it communicates over the internet rather than communication over the traditional PSTN line. A SIP phone has a lot of benefits over the traditional office phone, it gives you a rich communication experience but most importantly it cuts down most of the communication costs.
How does it work?
The traditional office desk phone deals with a lot of things. The traditional phones mainly have two parts, the PBX (Private Branch Exchange) which is the system where your calls go and do most of the management kind of kinds of stuff such as routing your call and features like voicemails. The other thing is the PRI lines which route your calls to its destination. On SIP, it doesn’t require any kind of physical connection because everything happens over the internet. You don’t have to establish a physical connection to the phone company and no longer deal with the telephone lines. The software does all the thing and creates a virtual line which connects to the PSTN over the internet.
In order to set up, the Softphone or SIP phone you don’t require any technician, you can do it on your own. You just need a SIP Phone client which will provide you the interface for making the SIP calls. The interface on the SIP phone is also very similar to a regular cell phone. You have the same interface of what you get on your cell phones and you can interact with buttons to make and end calls. You also have call logs and additionally, you can send messages and do video calls as well.
Who can use a SIP Phone?
A SIP phone is great for small businesses because of the cost-effectiveness it provides and as said before, if you have a large company or a business then you are certainly missing out on a lot of things if you keep using the traditional phone system. You just need a SIP client, a platform and an active internet connection to help you get started. A large business can gain a lot by switching over to the SIP phone, if you are still working about this new system then you are certainly not seeing the benefits.
What are the benefits of having a SIP Phone?
The SIP phone comes with several interesting features that can easily convince you to do a swap to your traditional desk phones. Softphones are the future of telephony, now that you have done learning all the basics about the softphone, let’s check out what are the advantages of having a SIP phone over a regular phone and why many different companies are already switching over to it.
Tons of features
The SIP phones allow you to make voice calls over the internet and in addition to that you can do several other things as well such as making a video call. It has call logs so you can check all of the numbers you have dialed. It helps you to identify the user location, transfer calls or set up a conference call. You can also send instant messages, send and receive multimedia files. The software is fine-tuned and supports a lot of different platforms. No matter wherever your employees are, they can make outgoing calls anytime on their laptop or mobile phone. So if the employee could not reach the office then he can still manage to do outreaching theirs on the mobile phone.
User-friendly
SIP phones are not difficult to use, it shares almost the same interface as your cell phone. So if you know how to make calls and messages using a mobile phone then you don’t have to learn anything new over here. Some softphones even allow you to use the software on mobile so you can have access to it all the time. The interface is very user-friendly and sometimes also customizable.
Secure and Rich communication
Some people may think that switching over to a VoIP based calling system from a traditional phone will decrease the sound quality. The truth is, VoIP was launched to provide you a better HD quality audio experience. It is actually better to understand the person on the other side when using a softphone. The communication between the two ends is also secured. If you use a trusted SIP client then all end to end calls will be protected using firewalls and encryptions to prevent data loss.
Easier to manage
When using a SIP phone, you don’t have to deal with any kind of hardware. The only hardware required is the computer and the internet connection. We all know how hard it is to do the cable management, if not done right then it creates clutter on the desk. With the software, you no longer have to deal with the heady traditional desk phones and long wires.
Cost-effective
Ditching your traditional phone system and switching over to the SIP phone will save you a lot of money initially and more in the long run. You don’t have to buy expensive hardware and don’t have to pay extra costs for installation and maintenance. You also don’t have to pay additional fees for keeping multiple connections. The SIP phones are very affordable and it eliminates a lot of costs, as an estimate you can save up to 30 to 80% on local and international calls.
Final Words
SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) allows people around the globe to communicating with each other with the help of a computer or a cell phone device over the internet. You must try out the SIP phone to witness the benefits of it like the rich communication experience. it is also one of the most important factors you might want to consider when it comes to cost-cutting. SIP clients like CounterPath’s Bria are very cost-effective and provide you with a ton of features, there are no boundaries, no law or any kind of restrictions. What do you think about SIP calls? Take a SIP and let us know in the comments below.
