Is your organisation ready?
As BT draws the curtain on ISDN/PSTN, you have until 2025 to find an alternative solution to your telephony and business internet requirements. By 2025, old style ISDN phone networks will be switched off, in fact many providers have already stopped offering new contracts. Whether you work in IT, Finance, Facilities or Customer Service, you need to be aware of the potential impact. For businesses, we have seen a positive and significant increase in customers moving to a cloud-based phone system. Cloud telephony, which has replaced ISDN, is a business enabler and the smart choice. It improves productivity and collaboration at the same time as a better work/life balance for the team.
What are the alternatives to ISDN lines?
The recent investment in the UK communications network has made the new fibre infrastructure widely available and affordable to small businesses. This means IP based solutions such as VoIP and SIP are the top alternatives for businesses.
What is SIP?
SIP (Session initiation protocol) provides you with a phone line which is carried over your fibre internet connection removing the need for an ISDN phone line. SIP lines used to have reliability problems due to inadequate underlying broadband connections. These issues have now been fixed due to connectivity improvements and Service Level Agreements now offered by providers.
What is VoIP?
VoIP is a cloud-based telephony solution which moves your whole phone system online, so all your calls are sent over your internet connection. This digital cloud-based phone system offers a wide range of additional features such as call recording, receiving voicemails via email, call queuing and unified communications – being able to access the system on multiple devices such as a mobile, tablet and desktop.
Top 5 Benefits of VoIP
- Cost savings – Significant costs compared to ISDN due to cheaper calls and mor cost effective line rentals.
- Flexibility – Move anywhere in the UK and simply plug back into the network with no need to change numbers
- Portability –A VoIP number, also known as a virtual number, is completely portable. This means you can use the same number wherever you go. For people who travel a lot, this should be more than welcome news. Better yet, in the event your business changes address, you can retain the same VoIP number.
- Reliability – Multiple fibre lines can be installed providing an automatic backup and failover so you’re always connected on a reliable service.
- Future Proofing – Increased control, integration and analytics offers a huge range of new and advanced features. Additionally, when it comes to security, VoIP can mitigate such security threats by leveraging the advancements made in IP technology including encryption and improved identity management. Hosted VoIP providers work around the clock to protect their networks, so you don’t have to.
Next Steps
As you can see from the above list, the benefits are many. What’s more is that VoIP is virtually free of drawbacks. Sophisticated businesses around the world are embracing this powerful technology and realising the serious competitive advantages that it provides.
If you’re ready to explore more of what VoIP can do for your organisation, don’t miss our powerful offerings from Active Digital. Contact us today to see how much you can save by making the switch.
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