A VoIP server allows businesses to transfer their traditional phone systems over to a dedicated server based system that will not only allow them to reduce their overheads but will also provide them with a more stable and complete phone solution. As well as providing you with a better quality of communications, a VoIP server will offer you a central location from which you can control your internal communications systems with ease; however, it is recommended that you have past experience if you wish to manage a VoIP server because it may not be as easy as you think it to be. If your staff are able to communicate with one another in a more efficient manner then this could lead to improved productivity, meaning that your employees will be able to focus on their work a lot more rather than having to spend time in meetings as this can be compensated by telephone calls instead. There are various options to choose from when configuring a VoIP server meaning that you should do your research beforehand to ensure that you end up with a final configuration that will be able to meet your requirements as you expect.
What are the benefits of using a VoIP server?
There are many benefits of using a VoIP server over a standard telephone system for many businesses, large and small. Such benefits include but are not limited to:
- Cost effective – most standard telephone systems are expensive to fit and configure, and on top of this you often need to train employees on how to use them to make the most of your investment – VoIP based telephone systems aren’t nearly as expensive as they can run over your existing network seamlessly without affecting any network traffic, this also allows them to be upgraded without the need for any re-wiring to be done or any hardware to be replaced as the only upgrade that will need to take place is the software on the server that you are using
- Improved quality – digital communication systems are guaranteed to offer you a better quality of communication than traditional analogue based systems – with a VoIP server all of your voice traffic will be running over standard internet and network connections to your VoIP server at which point it will be forwarded to the correct location for the call to be answered – in a situation where you are using a standard analogue telephone system, your calls will also be transferred to an exchange but this will be done over copper cables meaning that the quality of the signal will be lost the further it has to travel
- Increased productivity – if you are able to offer your employees another way in which they can communicate with each other instantly, they are going to be more productive because they can spend the time that they would have used in meetings focusing on completing important work – if your employees are able to increase their output then this will help to boost your business’s revenue and in turn the profit making it appeal more to investors, this coupled with your reduced costs can only benefit your business in the long term.
The benefits of VoIP server hosting show that it is worth investing in dedicated server hosting if you wish to upgrade the communications structure of your business to something that is more fitting for the 21st century. It will take time to configure a VoIP server to meet your communication needs perfectly, although once done you will start to realize the true benefits of being able to use a communication system that is highly unlikely to fail.
What are the disadvantages of using a VoIP server?
There are also disadvantages to using a VoIP server, and after reviewing these you may find that a VoIP server isn’t the best option for your requirements. Such disadvantages include:
- Cost to setup – although a VoIP server may be cost effective in the long term, you will need to consider the cost of purchasing a dedicated server and the configuring it to function as a VoIP server – although some web hosting companies will provide you with a ready-configured solution that you just need to integrate into your existing infrastructure, you may be required to install and configure your server yourself if you purchase a plain dedicated server from a web hosting company
- Server management – once you have established your VoIP server, you are then in charge of its up-keep, that is unless you have chosen to go for a managed dedicated server hosting service as web hosting companies tend to play a larger role in the support and management offered to fully managed hosting customers – if you are going to manage your own dedicated server then you should be well versed in server management and should have used your chosen operating system before, in this situation the operating system in question is likely to be a Linux distribution
- Training – depending on the system that you wish to implement alongside your VoIP dedicated server, you may have to train employees to work with the new system which could be inconvenient because it means that you will have to take employees away from their jobs simply to train them on how to use a new phone system and this will mean reduced output and therefore less revenue – you will also need to consider that it will cost you to retrain employees.
In conclusion, a VoIP server is a dedicated server running the software and additional hardware necessary to provide your business with a fully integrated and modern telephone system. VoIP dedicated servers will allow you to take your communications systems into the next era by converting traditional analogue systems over to digital systems that will be able to function over your existing internal computer network. Although there is a lot to learn with VoIP server hosting, you will realize that it is highly beneficial the moment that you decide to embrace it as part of your business’s internal infrastructure.