VOIP: The Benefits to the Business Industry

In the business industry there has always been a use for a PBX, which stands for Private Branch Exchange when it comes to the types of communications businesses use however, Voice over Internet Protocol or VOIP has become very popular in the last few years. VOIP has become extremely successful overriding the PBX due to its cost efficiency. Most companies find it beneficial to cut costs when it comes to their industry and if you can save a few thousand dollars a year most companies would jump on the idea immediately however, VOIP does have one downfall that makes it unreliable which is a network error. In the event that a network issue may occur, VOIP will no longer function due to it running through an Internet Protocol however, businesses have found different solutions to overcome this issue.
One business that has made great use of VOIP is the Seattle Times Company, a Newspaper Editorial based out of the Northwest. There IT communications manager, Thomas Dunkerley decided to implement the use of VOIP back around 2001, when they were informed that there PBX provider would no longer be supporting there phone system that was already in place. So, the company decided to use its old PBX headsets with their new Voice over Internet Protocol System however, Even though the Newspaper Company decided to use VOIP within their company it did not come without some issues that had been raised. These issues included power outages that occurred around September 11ths Twin Tower Crisis that made the company realize they needed a backup solution for their phone lines to always be operating. Due to this issue the company realized it is critical to have digital phones in important areas in the facilities if there is a power outage. Regardless of this issue however, VOIP was a great solution for their company not only to cut costs but, also in relocation of employees. This type of communication not only saves the company thousands a year in communication costs but, also in the employee turnover rate. It can costs companies a lot of many to hire and train new employees if one should move to an area where the company is not available however, due to VOIP there phone systems can be accessed virtually from the employees laptop or personal computer for business needs anywhere in the world. Back in 2005, there was a case study based off of the VOIP solution that the Seattle Times Company implemented and there were several findings that the solution had corrected some issues within the company. The new phone system they put into place did require some up to date cabling