VoIP will kill the analogue star
Cloud VoIP slashes phone bills, uncorks SME margins
By George Golding, CEO of Euphoria Telecoms
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire and in the case of Cloud computing astute entrepreneurs are using hosted Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to send phone bills up in smoke. Hosted VoIP is one Cloud application that has firmly transitioned from hype to reality. As adoption rises, it is also poised to deal a lethal blow to Telkom’s on-site PBX services.
In a recent example, Euphoria Telecoms installed a Cloud VoIP PBX for Medway, a medical insurance firm, and reduced its total telecommunications bill by 50%. The company’s phone and fax and call center requirements were formerly supported by multiple, ageing, on-site systems. This included a nine year-old PBX in need of upgrade at great cost; a legacy call centre PABX; fax to e-mail server, cellular low cost routing solutions and some regional PBX systems. Each month, nine Telkom bills had to be reconciled and telephony costs were stifling the margin.
Today, VoIP delivers distinct advantages to Medway. Inter-branch calls are free. A single, hosted PBX has replaced all on-site equipment, its depreciation, maintenance and upgrades. The total telecommunications bill has been halved, and complexity eliminated from its administration. Intelligent reports further inform strategic decisions and plans are underway for further reductions, specifically of the telephony costs of mobile agents.
In technology terms, “hosted” means “maintained by a service provider at their facilities”. The Cloud is made up of multiple servers similarly “maintained off-site” and VoIP allows simultaneous calls via an Internet connection. Its imported to note a hosted solution can be a managed solution where you lease or pay for a server that is managed by the provider. Cloud is a total service from A-Z. You do not own or rent equipment on the server side, you only pay for the services you receive.
Quality and features
As the Medway example illustrates, profound savings is just one reason why executives are deploying hosted VoIP. In the context of VoIP, the Cloud is a means by which providers like Euphoria also deliver infrastructure and applications cost efficiently and on demand.
Because it enables digital voice, VoIP quality is generally better than that of analogue (Telkom) landlines. And because it’s Web-based, it’s easy to configure remotely and useful features are provided at no extra cost. Examples are:
- Caller ID, call (music) hold, call hunting, call recording and call logging
- In-bound call cues and interactive voice response
- Online, outbound call logs and costs
- Voice mail to e-mail per extension
- Conferencing
- Free calls within your network, i.e. free inter-branch calls
- Per second billing with no connection fees to drive down local and global call costs
- Call recording and call logging.
Security
The claim of VoIP vulnerability is largely misunderstood because VoIP is no longer about free, point-to-point calls, although it started that way 15 years ago. Euphoria, for example, guarantees security in our VoIP environment because we use multiple mechanisms –authorisation, authentication, 256bit encryption, virtual private networks and a proprietary Cloud PBX – to secure communications over the Internet. But all hosted VoIP providers are not equal, so its important to enquire about security upfront.
Business leaders are under relentless financial and competitive pressures. Every opportunity to boost margins and increase competitive advantage is well worth investigating. Without a doubt, hosted VoIP translates some of Cloud computing’s promise into tangible business benefits. As a result, VoIP is gaining significant traction in the private sector. And, because the business case is so unquestionably in its favour, the growth of Cloud VoIP will inevitably outstrip that of analogue services. It’s only a matter of time before VoIP assumes it’s rightful position as SA’s telecoms star.
About Euphoria
Founded in 2010, Euphoria Telecoms provides Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communication services to small and medium enterprises in South Africa. Euphoria powers businesses with its core offering – Euphoria Express PBX – a hosted PBX phone system that provides customers with the quality, security and reliability of traditional PBX phone systems, with more features, greater flexibility and considerable cost savings. Euphoria helps businesses to reduce costs, eliminate complexity and compete more effectively by providing communications services traditionally reserved for large organisations, at small business prices. Euphoria’s fast-growing base of satisfied clients includes Altech Isis, Medway Medical Insurance, Orange Street IT, Fullhouse Furniture, WimDu and Hamer Real Estate.
View our website at www.euphoria.co.za.
Editorial contacts
Euphoria
George Golding
Tel: +27 (0)21 200 0500
Cell: +27 (0) 82 9511 190
Email: george@euphoria.co.za
Web: www.euphoria.co.za
Liquid Ambur Communications
