Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) is defined as a set of hardware and software protocols that enables the transmitting and receiving of real-time voice communication over the internet.
In this article, we explain what VoIP is, the different components of its ecosystem, the advantages and drawbacks of using voice over IP systems, and the top 10 best practices to follow for efficient VoIP management in 2020.
Table of Contents
What is VoIP?
Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) is a set of hardware and software protocols that enables the transmitting and receiving of real-time voice communication over the internet.
VoIP enables the transmission of voice and multimedia content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, facilitating telephony services to operate over computer networks via packet-switched protocols. By sending voice data in packets using IP, it allows companies to leverage the Internet as the transmission medium for telephone calls, resulting in significant cost-savings and increased agility compared to legacy circuit transmissions.
Voice over internet protocol (VOIP) has today become the standard guide to facilitate voice-based phone calls over the internet using a VOIP system, instead of relying on the traditional telephone lines. VoIP technology converts voice data into packets of digital signals, compresses it, and sends it over the Internet in the form of a digital envelope. These packets can be transmitted over any VoIP-compatible network, such as a local area network (LAN) or wide area network.
Driven by the growth in broadband networks earlier in this decade, voice over IP services emerged as a groundbreaking innovation that transformed the landscape for companies that depended on telephonic communications at scale. The current global pandemic situation has added to the widespread adoption of VoIP among service providers, consumers, and businesses alike, fostering a cheaper, efficient, and safer platform for enterprise communication.
According to a recent report by Persistence Market ResearchOpens a new window , the global VoIP services market is likely to witness an exponential growth during 2017-2024. It is expected to reach US$ 194.5 Billion in revenue towards the end of 2024. Adopting a robust voice over IP service can catalyze the conversion of the Internet as a uniform platform for telephone traffic and other unified communication needs around the world. This, in turn, allows enterprises to rollout seamless communications regardless of geographical locations while eliminating the need to depend on traditional PBX networks or local landlines in doing so.
Besides, as voice over IP phone systems transmit data in the form of digital packets, it allows companies to send more information over the network to address their growing communication requirements. With VoIP, organizations are equipped with seamless access to advanced applications and functionality such as call waiting, call forwarding, fixed-mobile convergence, integrating on-site software or applications, and more, which bolsters the agility and productivity of their workforce.
As a voice over IP phone system runs over internet protocols, companies can securely store their data on the cloud. Moreover, many VoIP providers offer 360-degree management of the system through online dashboards from anywhere via smartphones, laptops, or tablets, thereby enhancing the flexibility of enterprise teams.
Today, VoIP has become an integral part of the modern-day office workspace and is quite influential in shaping the latest trends in the communication vertical such as VCaaS, CCaaS, UCaaS, and more.
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The VoIP Ecosystem: Key Features
With this primer on what is voice over IP and its significance in the enterprise communication domain today, let’s delve deeper into some of the critical components that make a modern voice over IP phone system work.
1. Automatic Call Distributor (ACD)/Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
Integrating intelligent call distribution and interactive voice responses are crucial elements for large volume applications, for example, call centers, to ensure efficient call routing and reduced operation costs. While an ACD allows contact centers to prioritize and route incoming calls per the given protocols, IVR systems offer tailored, quality engagement for the callers.
2. Endpoint devices
Endpoint devices refer to all the hardware devices and software applications necessary for managing VoIP calling functionalities. This includes IP desk phones that simply plug into the network along with software and applications that can be installed on computers or smartphones, which can turn those devices into a virtual telephone.
3. Gatekeeper
The gatekeeper serves as the traffic controller that routes the calls between various endpoints in the system. The gatekeeper is responsible for controlling and managing network usage, thereby ensuring that time-critical voice traffic has priority. This empowers enterprises to maintain the quality of their VoIP services.
4. IP PBX
An IP PBX is a PBX system with IP connectivity that connects telephone extensions to the public switched network and provides additional audio, video, or instant messaging communication utilizing the TCP/IP protocol stack. It also performs services such as call forwarding, voicemail, switchboard, and call routing for the users.
5. Media Gateway
This is the VoIP component that enables multimedia communications across packet networks using transport protocols such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) and Internet protocols. The media gateways are also responsible for transmitting packets of voice data using RTP, supporting various trunking and compression algorithms, and managing digital processing resources.
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6. Media Server and Application Server
In any voice over IP phone system, a media server is vital to allow integration of additional voice mail features such as voice-activated dialing, customized call progress tones, special service announcements, voicemail transcription, and IVR support among others. On the other hand, an application server provides value-added services such as call forwarding, waiting, and transfer, private dialing plans, call detail record generation, free dial-up service over IP network, and more.
7. Multi-Conference Unit (MCU)
Multi-conferencing units (MCUs) are the integral components of a voice over IP service to allow multiple users to join a single audio or video conference at the same time. MCU also finds applications in monitoring the conference and transcoding data streams to facilitate simultaneous communications between diverse systems with different communications protocols and network speeds.
8. Signaling Gateway Controller (SGC)
Signaling Gateway controller or SGC forms the core of a VoIP platform and is tasked with the function of connecting traditional analog call services with modern digital voice calls. Some critical functions of SGC are providing support for signaling systems, voice or media call control protocols, and allocating media connections, apart from generating call records and ensuring bandwidth management control.
Pros and Cons of VoIP System
The advantages that organizations can harness by choosing VoIP over legacy telephony services are not just financial. Embracing voice over IP services can empower enterprises to achieve seamless connectivity to augment the productivity of their remote and on-premise employees alike.
Let’s take a closer look into the pros and cons of adopting a voice over IP service in your organization.
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Pros of VoIP System
1. Advanced Features at a Reasonable Price
With its advanced voice call features such as auto-attendant and call transferring, VoIP systems allow SMEs to project the image of a larger company while making large companies seem more approachable and accessible. Unlike legacy phone services, IP-based telephony services offer full conference calling features such as multi-party calling built into their service, along with other functions such as call waiting, caller ID, and more at no extra charge. This benefits companies by nullifying the need to employ a separate conference call provider to avail of these services.
2. Better Security
In this age of growing data threats and internet frauds, voice over IP systems can mitigate any security threats by leveraging the numerous advancements made in IP technology over the years, such as end-to-end encryption and identity management. VoIP service providers work around the clock to secure their networks through regular security audits, software updates, automated alerts against questionable behavior, and more to ensure that the business environment is never compromised.
3. Cost-Savings
VoIP systems tend to be less expensive when compared to legacy phone services because the voice signals travel over the Internet and not the traditional phone system, which helps enterprises to save significant capital in carriage fees. Unlike traditional landline services that function on monthly payments, many VoIP phone services today operate on a wide variety of payment plans, including pay-as-you-go features, allowing firms to pay only for the service they use.
4. Improved Accessibility
Apart from cost-efficiency, improved accessibility is another key benefit of adopting a VoIP system. The modern cloud-based VoIP services equip users with the capability to make calls from anywhere, provided that they have a decent data connection.
In a world that is rapidly edging towards remote working, anytime accessibility allows businesses to be more flexible and productive regardless of geographical locations or timezones.
5. Increased Portability and Higher Scalability
Unlike traditional telephony services, most voice over IP phone systems are highly portable, which means users can carry the service with them wherever they go, self install, and be up and running in no time. Many providers also feature accessibility on multiple devices, thereby driving seamless communication at any time, from anywhere.
Improved scalability is another plus point of an IP service that makes it an attractive option for growing businesses. As there is no need for expensive hardware components or dedicated phone lines in VoIP telephony, it can quickly scale up and down with growing organizational requirements without having to purchase additional lines or dedicated hardware.
6. Superior Voice Quality
The increased proliferation of high-speed Internet and broadband connections today facilitates high-quality voice calls over IP networks today. A fast and stable internet connection with good bandwidth makes VoIP calls crisp and clear, without any latency issues, lag or call dropouts. Added to this, innovations such as noise-canceling microphones and advanced audio compression are continuously introduced to ensure ever superior voice quality.
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Cons of VoIP System
1. Bandwidth Dependency
As VoIP services use the internet to make or receive voice calls, securing sufficient bandwidth is mission-critical for enhancing the quality of calls. For example, overarching activity on the network such as streaming or file transfers can reduce bandwidth available for calls, thereby resulting in high latency or lags during the call. Keeping checks on network speed during times of high use is necessary to maintain a high-quality connection in a VoIP service.
2. Location Tracking in Emergency Calls
Initiating emergency calls can become a problem in some voice over IP systems. Because of the portability and accessibility that VoIP ensues, it’s difficult for third parties to pinpoint where a call originates. The calls come from an IP address without any GPS data or cell tower information to track, which can result in help getting sent to the incorrect location.
3. Packet Loss and Packet Delay
The overall performance of a VoIP service depends primarily on the speed of connection and the distance between the different connection points. The traffic generated on voice over IP systems causes negligible packet loss due to the nature of how it works. Besides, the networks with IP traffic do not contain any prioritization of traffic—packets containing voice and video, are treated equally with the other media. This causes an unavoidable packet delay, which can be frustrating during ongoing virtual voice and video calls with clients or senior management.
4. Require Continuous Power Supply and Reliable Internet Connection
Unlike traditional telephone systems, VoIP phone systems require a continuous power supply and network connection to remain operational. If power is lost and there is no backup option for power, then the VoIP phones stop working, resulting in lost productivity and down time. In conjunction to this, if the Internet connection fails due to some unprecedented events, the VoIP line also ceases to function.
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Top 10 Best Practices for VoIP Management in 2020
Today, voice over IP services guarantee seamless communication and convenient interactions with enhanced data security at a fraction of the cost needed for traditional infrastructure. Now, more companies are moving towards VoIP to reduce the cost of their day-to-day interactions and improve the reliability of their communication architecture.
Whether you are considering a VoIP system for your business in 2020 or already have one installed, here are some of the latest best practices to follow for efficient VoIP management that you should discuss with your VoIP service provider or vendor:
1. Bandwidth Quality Management
While selecting a VoIP system, always determine your bandwidth requirements and ensure that the providers will not compromise on call quality through voice compression. An important reason for maintaining excellent bandwidth quality is to facilitate continuous and smooth service delivery on the day-to-day communication interaction via voice over IP methods.
2. Enforce Quality-of-Service Metrics and Consistently Analyze Communication
Enforcing Quality-of-service (QoS) metrics can enable firms to rank data traffic so that higher priority data packets reach their destination in a fixed time. Without QoS, data packets carrying voice streams may experience a static sounding quality, can be jittery, or in the worst cases, get dropped.
QoS implementation is vital to ensure higher call quality and reliable network services by supporting dedicated bandwidth, limiting packet loss, mitigating network congestion, and prioritizing traffic across the network.
3. Ensure Positive User Experience by Monitoring Rollouts.
Poor network performance can have a drastic impact on the efficiency and user experience of any VoIP service, which can also affect the overall productivity of the business. Rolling out regular assessments of the VoIP metrics, codecs, and network performance variables during deployment have a crucial role to play in assisting organizations to make informed decisions to improve the performance of their systems as well as deliver a rich user experience.
4. Formulate Automated Problem Resolution
Lastly, adopting expert analysis functionality in their voice over IP service can allow enterprises to attain automated problem resolution functionality for their IP servers, which grants the potential to eliminate unnecessary trial and error during troubleshooting. This allows companies to easily identify the source of common issues in their VoIP architecture and to quickly resolve them so as to augment performance of their enterprise workforce.
5. Have a Backup Broadband Connection
Most companies today rely primarily on their broadband connection for running their daily enterprise communication requirements, and a service outage can result in significant loss of revenue in this always-on age. So, it’s an essential best practice to implement a backup broadband connection that kicks in when the primary service fails. This can allow enterprises to ensure zero downtime and maximum productivity in their IP phone system in case of any network disruption.
6. Implement Centralized Management
Deploying a centralized network management tool can increase visibility and boost the performance of a VoIP phone system. It also allows firms to easily deploy configuration control over multiple servers, providing a unified methodology to reduce costs as well as initiate streamlined management, monitoring, and coordination of diverse enterprise operations.
7. Initiating Strategic Analysis to Maximize Visibility
Deploying strategic network analysis through regular consoles and probes can provide clear visibility into the VoIP traffic patterns of an organization. It is a proven best practice to enhance the enterprise’s ability to monitor its VoIP traffic both locally and over WAN links and ensure optimum visibility of its entire IP-based communications.
8. Prioritize Voice Quality over Data
Prioritizing the quality of voice is more important than data usage because it is the voice quality that controls the amount of data to be collected. In today’s mobile-first world, where smartphones are rapidly becoming the norm for enterprise communications, ensuring excellent call quality is crucial to driving user satisfaction and traffic in any VoIP system.
9. Secure Your Network
While adopting voice over IP phone systems, companies need to consider the potential security threats to telecom business systems using IP services. As most IP-based hacks come from outside the company, setting up a robust security network is mission-critical to receive real-time security alerts for preventing data hacks. Alongside, deploying a Session Board Controller (SBC) can secure all the multiple layers of enterprise VoIP systems across different platforms.
10. Select the Right SIP Solution Provider
Finding a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) solution that matches your requirements is critical to enhancing the performance of a VoIP service. Deploying the right provider that can provide a direct connection to the PSTN through both hardware interfaces and SIP can go a long way in ensuring the best and most cost-effective voice traffic in your communication environment.
Closing Thoughts
VoIP technology has significantly evolved over the years and is no longer just voice over an internet protocol. In the rapidly transforming communication landscape of today, it empowers firms with the unique opportunity to tap into voice, video, multimedia content, and more to streamline their business interactions. With its proven track record as a robust solution for every business communication need, deploying the right IP telephony service that optimizes the network performance while ensuring data security can bring real value to enterprises exploring a VoIP deployment.
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