By David Whelan, Managing Director, Clarity Telecom

Ask any businessperson what they view as the most important factor when choosing new technology or telecoms solutions and more often than not, they’ll say reliability.

After all, having the latest technology at your disposal would be totally useless to any company if it does not actually function when required.
Solutions that fail to provide reliability will, rather than improving your business, end up incurring additional costs through unplanned downtime, missed leads, and dissatisfied customers.

When it comes to choosing a phone system, reliability becomes all the more important. That’s one reason why increasing numbers of businesses are turning to VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) solutions.

No longer a new service – and fast becoming the business standard – VoIP now provides a mature and stable option for commercial telecommunications.

The plethora of additional features available on a VoIP system meanwhile, such as automatic call forwarding and voicemail to email, mean it can actually be considerably more reliable than a traditional landline, should a problem with the connection occur.

Of course, as VoIP relies on the internet, the stability of the system is tied to the dependability of your broadband connection.

However, given the tremendous reliability of modern internet connections, this shouldn’t be a concern and it will be boosted further by ensuring the internal communications infrastructure of your business is fully up to date.

It is worth, therefore, carrying out a full audit of the physical lines and cables within your business premises to ensure they are of the requisite standard to fully realise the benefits of a new telephony system.

That said, even the most advanced solutions can require downtime to enable updates or essential maintenance work, but this can be scheduled.

In these cases, VoIP systems can be easily replaced by a mobile internet connection, which can also provide a viable alternative even in times of an unexpected electricity outage.

Having backup power in place, via a battery or generator, can maintain the internet connection at all times and further safeguard the reliability of a VoIP connection in a manner not possible with traditional phone lines.

It is also possible to invest in technology that constantly tests the stability and quality of your VoIP connection, producing analysis that will show exactly where improvements should be made.

The bottom line is, can your business afford not to seek the highest possible reliability for its telecommunications?

For information or guidance on how using a VoIP system can improve your business, contact a member of the Clarity Telecom team on 0800 912 1000 or visit www.claritytele.com