Business: the new frontier for VOIP |07 June 2010

But as computer technicians around the world have expanded the range of additional tools that VOIP can support and the service has reached the same level of call quality as traditional telephone services, VOIP is rapidly gaining market share with the business community too.

Using packets of digitised information sent over the internet – in the same way as an email or web page – VOIP services include phone calls, fax, voice messaging, call-back, conference calls, video conferencing and much more.

“Anywhere in the world you can find businesses which are early-adopters and quickly incorporate the latest technology, and the same is true in Seychelles. But as the VOIP systems used have become tried and tested and the cost savings increasingly obvious, we see more and more businesses taking up our VOIP services,” said Bernard Moutia, managing director of Kokonet, which provides the Kokotalk VOIP service.

“When we first introduced Kokotalk we were primarily thinking about residential customers using the internet to make cheap calls to family and friends overseas. But over time we’ve realised that it has many more applications both for individual customers and corporate users,”

As corporate consultants and IT innovators the world over know, getting an established business to change its way of doing things, even when the new option is better and cheaper, is rarely an easy task. But an increasing number of businesses are finding that a switch to a VOIP service is a no-brainer.

“VOIP comes with a range of advantages over traditional telephone services, thanks to its internet base, but the main benefit and the first one that potential customers ask about is the cost. Almost all users can save money using VOIP instead of traditional telephone lines, but for a business user, with perhaps numerous local branches and the need to make regular, lengthy international calls, the savings can be enormous,” said Mr Moutia.

“VOIP has no problem hosting telephone conferencing, but it can also, very easily, move on to the next level and incorporate sophisticated video conferencing. Multiple users with a computer and camera can connect with one another, for example linking numerous geographically remote offices for one meeting,”

And since VOIP uses an internet connection, the vast majority of businesses are already VOIP compatible.

“Because it’s based around the internet and computer software, VOIP is incredibly flexible and, for the majority of companies, the infrastructure needed to operate it is already built into the computers they use.”

“If a customer, residential or commercial, already has a computer and broadband internet connection, then all they need is a VOIP phone and they’re ready to go.

 There’s no need for the time, disruption and cost of installing and paying for a new set of wiring,” said Mr Moutia.

Sponsored by Kokonet