Looking to simplify your business? Why not start with the phones?

Reducing business running costs is a goal maintained by most companies regardless of the wider economic situation, and although the telephone bill is often a point of contention, it is also regarded as a necessary evil by most organisations. But how many finance directors factor in the costs of the internal phone system into their calculations?

If your business runs multiple extensions, you will also have a phone “switch” installed somewhere to route the incoming and outgoing calls. Even if your business owns the physical switching hardware, it will still attract running costs. Aside from the electricity (which will be quite minimal), there will also be an annual maintenance fee paid to a support provider in case of any problems.

The alternative is to migrate your phone system to a hosted VoIP solution, which immediately removes the need for your phone switch. In this setup, all of your calls go directly from the handset to a computer-based system operated by your VoIP provider.

Why bother? Initially your business will save on the cost of the maintenance agreement for your old system, but as time goes on you will also benefit from reduced call charges between offices which are using the same VoIP provider. The savings may not sound like much, but there is one final benefit – increased simplicity.

Doing away with that one box immediately makes your internal set-up a little bit simpler, and a little less prone to problems. You can’t put a price on efficiency, and that is something that a VoIP system is sure to provide.