VoIP Without Hype - What businesses need to know

Seductive as the savings message may be to consumers, the lure of VoIP is even stronger for businesses whose monthly LD bills are often in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Many of these businesses have exacerbated toll charges because they either pay for calls between branch offices or have call centres, which typically incur heavy line usage. For such firms, slashing LD expenses could literally drop thousands of dollars a month straight to the bottom line. By the same token, the more dependent a business is on telephone communications, the less it can afford to compromise on the quality of its phone connections. Poor audio quality can undermine productivity and customer satisfaction; dropped calls cost sales and money; a total telecom service outage might well be disastrous.

It's important to approach VoIP with your eyes wide open.