In today’s business landscape, the importance of a scalable system cannot be underestimated. It is inevitable that organizations will need to respond to change, and the speed and extent of that response will vary.
VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is a popular communication technology for businesses. It provides benefits like cost savings, improved collaboration, and scalability, allowing companies to easily adjust their user numbers without service interruptions or extra charges.
Scalability Issues
Despite this reality that is faced by organizations of all sizes and across all sectors — business, education, government, and non-profit — conventional landline phone systems are anti-scalable. Adding new lines is costly, time-consuming, tedious, and risky. Additionally, removing existing phones from a traditional phone system can also be an expensive process. Plus, the hardware and software associated with a traditional phone system can be difficult to maintain.
POTS is the Pits
POTS or Plain Old Telephone Service, relies on copper wiring and dates back to the 1800s. Those copper wire lines, also known as twisted pair cables, are one of the most widely used methods for transmitting data and voice services. This type of cabling has been around since Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876 but is still used today for its low cost and reliable performance. Copper lines are typically used to connect businesses to their local telephone companies, providing them with voice service and access to the public switched telephone network.
Technological Advances
The shift is on from traditional copper line technology to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services for phone calls. This newer, more advanced technology has been growing in popularity as businesses recognize the many advantages it offers. One of the most important benefits of VoIP is its scalability. With VoIP, businesses can easily add or remove users as their needs change.
Unlike with traditional copper lines, businesses do not need to worry about costly installation or removal fees. They can also avoid any interruption in service that might be caused by changes in a traditional phone system. Additionally, VoIP systems are much easier to maintain than traditional copper lines.
Scalability in the 21st Century
Fortunately, the development of VoIP systems has made scalability easier and more affordable than ever before. VoIP is a cloud-based service that runs on the Internet instead of physical landlines. This means that the number of users you have on your system can easily increase or decrease without additional hardware or major reconfigurations. You can quickly add new lines for employees as your company grows and delete them when they leave, giving you the perfect balance of flexibility and cost-effectiveness.
Moreover, VoIP scalability doesn’t require any special skills or training; with just a few clicks, you can add new users to the system and access features like voicemail, video conferencing, instant messaging, and call forwarding. This makes scaling up or down much easier than with traditional phone systems and much more cost-effective in the long run.
Pay As You Grow Model
Carolina Digital Phone’s cloud-based, hosted VoIP phone system is designed for seamless scalability, whether your growth is slow or rapid. By leveraging the power of a virtualized infrastructure in their private cloud environment, Carolina Digital Phone can provide you with cost-effective and reliable VoIP services that can be easily scaled up or down to meet your changing business needs.
Cost Savings
The “ pay as you grow” model means that you can start with a basic package and then add additional lines, services, and features as needed. With the cloud-based VoIP system, your organization can quickly and easily scale up or down — without any expensive hardware costs or complex configuration work.
The pay-as-you-grow model is also ideal if you have seasonal hiring spikes. All of your temporary hires can be given their own number/extension and private voicemail box, which helps them be productive and efficient from day one.
As you look for a replacement for your aging on-premise telephone system, you need to look at the long-term savings of switching to a hosted PBX solution. Not only are the upfront costs significantly lower than traditional telephone systems, the long-term savings keep paying off.
Rapidly Expand into New Locations
With a conventional phone system, expanding into new locations means waiting for the phone company to add new lines — which is inconvenient and can be excessively costly.
However, with a hosted VoIP phone system from Carolina Digital Phone, your organization can rapidly and easily expand into new locations by simply adding extensions to your existing system. There are no physical lines (i.e. old fashioned copper wires) to install or an on-premise PBX to configure. Adding locations can be as simple as plugging in an IP phone and connecting to a Wi-Fi network.
Having a reliable backup power source is important for hybrid workers. Not being connected to the main business power source means planning ahead, should there be a power outage. Whether it’s a home generator or a small portable battery, you don’t want to be in the dark during a power outage at your remote location.
The Solution to Hybrid Work
What’s more, your relocating employees do not have to wait for a technician to get them set up in their new environment. They simply plug in their IP phone or log into their softphone (through their desktop computer or laptop), and they are immediately back on the system and good to go. They do not have to change their number, or any other aspect of their profile (e.g. customized auto-attendant greetings, voicemail details, etc.).
At the same time, if your organization is undergoing a wholesale move from one location to another, then you do not have to worry about being inaccessible to customers as you transition from your old address to your new one. During the move, your team can make and receive calls through their smartphone, or temporarily route calls to any other number (e.g. home office landline, off-site call center, etc.). Additionally, employees can connect to their home Wi-Fi networks temporarily or long-term.
Using Wireless Networks
As businesses continue to expand and rely on communication technology, seamless VoIP scalability is essential for making sure that a wireless network can keep up with the growing demand. Wireless networks are becoming increasingly popular for businesses due to their flexibility and mobility. However, in order to make the most out of a wireless network, it needs to be able to provide consistent service as more users join the network. With a hosted VoIP system, businesses can ensure that their wireless networks stay reliable and consistent as they scale up.
The pay-as-you-grow model is also ideal if you have seasonal hiring spikes. All of your temporary hires can be given their own number/extension and private voicemail box, which helps them be productive and efficient from day one.
Scaling Down is as Seamless as Scaling Up
While scalability is typically part of a growth and expansion plan, there are scenarios where your organization may want to scale in the other direction by getting smaller and leaner. For example, it might make sense to wind down or eliminate certain product/service lines, or to outsource certain pieces of your operational puzzle to third-party vendors and strategic partners.
With a conventional phone system, if your organization scales down then you will almost certainly be saddled with “too much system.” As a result, you must keep paying to access and maintain lines you do not need and cannot use.
However, this is not a risk with a hosted VoIP phone system from Carolina Digital Phone. Scaling down is as seamless and straightforward as scaling up, and simply involves letting seat licenses expire instead of renewing them. You are in full control of your capacity and costs, which is how it should be!
The Bottom Line
Seamless VoIP scalability is an important factor for businesses and organizations that rely on voice communications as part of their infrastructure. To ensure a reliable and efficient communication system, it is essential to have a scalable VoIP solution that can accommodate growth and changing needs.
With the right technology, businesses can implement a VoIP solution that will not only provide them with improved voice quality but also scale with their organization. Carolina Digital Phone makes scalability easy by providing a cloud-based VoIP system that can quickly and easily expand into new locations without physical lines or an on-premise PBX. Businesses can also scale down with ease, controlling capacity and costs as they go.
If your organization needs a reliable VoIP system that provides scalability, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Carolina Digital Phone today and experience the benefits of VoIP scalability. Call us at (336) 544-4000 today!
