Any business with a concern about efficient and cost effective solutions for telecommunications has likely been informed that Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone systems are the best choice in today’s Internet-driven society. As best as anyone can tell at first glance, it seems like VoIP services are answering many, if not all, of the primary communication needs companies require from telephone systems.

However, it doesn’t take long to run into conflicting advice. At Jamisi Communications, we are often asked to clarify confusion about VoIP telephone systems that arise from this. People want to know if VoIP communication solutions are as useful as they claim to be.

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The Top Business Advabtages of a VOIP Telephone System

As it turns out, there are many potential benefits to switching to a VoIP telephone system. Let’s look at some of the ways making this change can decrease cost and time investments while increasing productivity.

VoIP Systems Reduce Costs, Improve Time Management, and Increase Productivity

1. Low Cost-Per-Call

As part of the name suggests, a VoIP telephone system utilizes Internet Protocol to make calls. Instead of using telephone lines, all communication data is turned into packets and sent over the IP network. The IP network your business uses could be your Internet connection, a direct IP connection to your telephone service provider or a combination of both. The important part of the IP connection is that there is guaranteed quality of service (QoS) from your telephone service provider’s network to your office network. Note that if you are using the Internet to connect to your telephone service provider, QoS is not possible.

Placing calls over traditional phone lines means that a line is taken up by the two callers using it to communicate. Since there are only so many lines that can be installed, calls placed over landlines, especially if they are long-distance, are expensive. But using the Internet to relay call data circumvents this problem, making domestic and long distance calls cheaper overall.

In fact, businesses that use VoIP are often given the ability to make domestic and domestic long distance calls for free. If the phone number that is chosen for the business is in Nigeria, for example, providers often allow all calls within the “lower 48” in Nigeria for free.

2. Service Mobility

If your business is on-the-go, VoIP services can be a tremendous benefit to you because they will follow you wherever you go.

On a traditional phone system, a line that runs to a home or business is assigned its own phone number. Any movement that takes place then becomes a trial of remembering the right codes or keys to dial on your phone. A lot of time can then be wasted by contacting phone companies to transfer services and phone numbers to new locations.

With a VoIP phone system, all of this is eliminated. There are no physical limitations. You have the freedom to move as your business demands without any added stress.

3. Versatility of Features

Using VoIP phone systems allows you to multi-task with the most tech-savvy devices, allowing you to be the most productive you can be.

Suppose you are on a call within a queue. While you are waiting, you can strategize your approach to client calls you have missed as you read voicemail-to-text transcriptions that are sent directly to your email inbox.

In another case, you can forward messages and voicemail easily. If you receive an important message in a voicemail, you can forward that voicemail to three other people at the click of a mouse.

These features and many more useful ones are available with VoIP phone systems. And because the service always goes with you, the features you find helpful can be added or subtracted with ease. In short, VoIP telephone systems grow with your business.

4. Simple Conference Calls

The features just mentioned are not all that’s made easy by VoIP. Since all calls use a converged data network instead of dedicated phone lines, creating and participating in conference calls are made much easier.

It’s possible to take part in conference calls if your business uses a traditional phone system, but what you will find is that you will have to pay for an additional service to host multiple callers for a conference. These services are native to many VoIP phone systems. Instead of paying for something extra, you can take advantage of the ability to make conference calls as an added benefit to the service you already pay for.

Not only that, but VoIP services make video conferences much easier as well. Of course, these sorts of conferences are usually special cases, but face-to-face interaction with colleagues and clients, while business personnel are out of the office, is much more manageable with VoIP phone systems.

5. Efficient Client Interaction

In today’s global economy, businesses can be located anywhere. This often means that meetings require travel. Even so, with a VoIP service there is no reason to lose the ability to conduct important calls or to fail to forward essential documents.

With a VoIP phone system, you can choose where your calls ring and how. For instance, you might select the first few rings to be forwarded to your office. If you don’t answer the call, it will then be transmitted to a second or third device, say, a mobile phone or laptop. Quite simply, calls don’t need to be missed anymore if they are urgent.

Important documents that need to be forwarded no longer have to wait either. Using VoIP, business associates can e-fax their documents instead of waiting a day (or several) to get to a fax machine.

6. Reliable in a Pinch

A common worry that surfaces about VoIP is the fact that if the internet stops working, so does the ability to make calls. This doesn’t have to occur under the right circumstances. The truth is that call-forwarding, like other features in VoIP phone systems, is incredibly flexible.

The capability to choose where your calls are forwarded, and how, means that you also don’t have to lose productivity because of local power outages or weather-related events. If the office phone can’t be answered, your mobile device or laptop can.

Making the Right Decision for Your Business

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Understandably, any recommendation that requires wholesale shifts in how companies conduct business sounds too risky. Considering a move to a VoIP phone system can be confusing with all of the services and features that are available. Sifting through pages of fine print doesn’t contribute to making the right decision either.

It’s always best to have a knowledgeable, reliable advisor at hand to assist you with major business decisions like this one. Our advisors at Jamisi Communications can assist you with choosing the best phone system for your specific needs and help you implement any changes in the most efficient way possible. And just in case, they are available to answer any additional questions you may have. As always, we look forward to the opportunity to positively impact your business.

As we continue to experience constant digital transformation, we realize how diverse technology has become and how much more it can expand. In the last decade, we have successfully moved from working behind desks and on telephones to more flexible models. All you need now is the right device and a cloud connection, and you can easily embrace and explore as many opportunities as possible.

The growth of technology has played a vital role in countless organizations, many of which have experienced a surge in growth and productivity. The Global tech-research firm Gartner reported more than 23 percent growth in the use of Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) in 2017 and 21 percent in 2018. The same report also shows that users spent nearly $2 million on UCaaS in 2018 and just over $2 million in 2019.

Organizations have been able to make the best of newly invented technology tools by also encouraging offshore-staff leasing. However, communication is vital in any form of teamwork and would be needed even more in offshore staffing. With UCaaS, companies such as Ring Central, Twillo, Telavox and Dialpad have taken the frontier lead in ensuring organizations collaborate effectively with their offshore staff by providing effective unified communication and tracking tools. 

Moreso, as the workplace is evolving into the gig economy, UCaaS will become the greatest form of communication, thus giving room for people to work remotely. While most organizations have started imbibing this culture, some are still on the verge of setting up a company that has all its staff located across different locations around the world. However, the only way to ensure that remote/offshore employees can deliver effectively is by integrating good UcaaS communication tools for seamless reporting. 

Understanding How It Works

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To ensure an effective communication flow, the staff needs to understand how UCaaS works and how it can be integrated into the company’s culture. The environment requires support from UCaaS platforms that allow users to integrate multiple communication services. Offshore staff can then switch between different communication methods. For example, a VoIP over desk phone allows you to take full advantage of features that will dramatically improve your company’s communication and customer service, a web-conferencing service that requires audio and VoIP and also needs the instant-messaging feature to communicate in between the conference. 

Make Use of Our Visuals Tool

Visual communication helps convey ideas and information in the most appealing way, which helps improve understanding. It works more effectively in passing a message across compared to written and verbal communication, and its effect in teamwork cannot be overemphasized. While employers integrate UCaaS into the offshore staffing process, it is important that they encourage the use of visual communications more often. Voice and instant messaging are great for communication, but a video call would do far better in communicating thoughts and ideas. 

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A study shows that approximately 65 percent of people are visual learners and the brain processes images and videos 60,000 times faster than text. Video communication is also a great way to test products and software while providing real-time feedback. Some UCaaS tools boast a screen-sharing feature where you can easily showcase products, images and more in a conference.

Monitor the Performance of a Virtual Team

Managing a virtual team requires more effort, as everyone is expected to deliver quality despite not being in the same room. Optimizing UCaaS will not only help enhance the company’s communication, collaboration and productivity, but will also contribute to helping employees succeed in their work. In return, there will be improved customer satisfaction and overall company progress.

How Can Employees Take Advantage of Our UCaaS Tools?

Using our UCaaS helps businesses to thrive, regardless of their size or the industry they belong in. Employees can take advantage of this by working remotely, as they can easily connect with their coworkers from home, on the road or anywhere. They also have instant access to the workspace and are able to solve problems quickly. With UCaaS platforms readily available for teamwork, each and every employee could work towards providing maximum productivity as an individual and as a team player in the organization. 

Many businesses today are able to successfully combine the necessary traditional and innovative communication solutions into a single environment. This helps improve productivity among employees and also enhances the customer’s experience, as they are able to communicate directly and seamlessly with the organization.

UCaaS can be implemented in all kinds of businesses of any size. With the right software, offshore teams can communicate easily, upping productivity, reducing costs, strengthening performance and optimizing user experience. With UCaaS, communication and collaboration can work hand-in-hand.

Let us help you provide this services and make working simple.

Unified Communications (UC) transforms how healthcare organizations operate and serve their patients. By connecting systems of communication devices and applications, Unified Communications enhances business communication, collaboration, and productivity across the entire organization. This framework integrates various asynchronous and real-time tools that allow clinicians to access a wide variety of communication modes depending on which is most effective.

At Jamisi Communications, our UC helps administration, clinicians, and patients communicate anytime, anywhere. In today’s healthcare environment, doctors can expect to better connect with their patients and other members of their organization by implementing UC. Read on to learn some of the benefits that unified communications can bring your healthcare facility.

Increase Productivity

One way that utilizing UC benefits healthcare organizations is by enabling their staff and clinicians to work more effectively. Did you know that 52 percent of physicians say pagers are their greatest source of communication frustration at work? In this case, pagers merely point to a looming structural issue within healthcare operations. By using outdated technology like pagers, clinicians waste 45 minutes of every work day just trying to communicate with peers and coworkers – over ten percent of their day.

Outdated communication technology costs hospitals more than $900,000 annually per hospital, and added time to patient discharges as a result of outdated technology costs more than $550,000 annually per hospital. In total, it is estimated that obsolete devices and technological infrastructure costs hospitals in the United States over $8.3 billion per year. When these expenses are identified, healthcare organizations may realize that they cannot afford to not implement unified communications.

While lost productivity has fiscal consequences, it can also reduce the efficacy of care. By using our Services implementing unified communications, clinicians and staff will be able to give quality care as quickly as possible. UC creates an accessible line of communication across the facility, enabling all workers to be able to answer patient and interorganizational questions much more efficiently. This ease of communication can also reduce confusion over the state of patients, where a misunderstanding not only wastes the clinician’s time, but also negatively impacts the patient’s course of treatment. By connecting doctors and staff together, your organization can use unified communications to significantly reduce inefficiencies.

Improve Patient Experience

When lives could be on the line, unified communications should be a priority. By using real-time methods of communication, UC empowers care teams to respond quickly to crises and unpredictable client conditions. Additionally, UC cuts down on unnecessary and redundant data entry. Currently, clinicians spend about 43 percent of their time doing data entry tasks, while only spending 28 percent of their time with patients. By keeping all clinicians and staff on the same page, healthcare organizations can expect clinicians to spend less time on data entry, and more time communicating with their patients. This ultimately enables a better standard of care.

Unified communications also give easy access to patient data to all privy parties. Patients are now able to log into patient portals and access a wealth of information about their health at their fingertips. Previously, learning this information meant calling the doctor’s office and being placed on long holds. Then, staff members would initiate the tedious process of finding, copying, and giving the patient their records in person. Now, between text reminders, emails with links to secure data, and the ability to refill prescriptions online, pressure on care staff has reduced. Patients and providers both benefit from UC’s optimization on quality, safety, speed, outcomes, and cost of care across the organization.

Unite Teams Globally

Healthcare providers will benefit from UC allowing collaborations across not only just their office, but also across the country or globe. Although the majority of hospitals have invested in electronic health records (EHRs) to improve communication, team members believe it’s not enough. In fact, 94 percent of nurses do not believe that EHRs have positively impacted communications between doctors and nurses. This is partially attributed to how complicated and dense many EHRs are. Using UC, team members can easily share complex data like EHRs and answer questions as needed.

While this prospect is exciting, don’t forget about privacy and compliance concerns stemming from GDPR, HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, or other relevant local privacy laws. It is important to always transmit these messages on an as-needed basis with the help of compliance and security experts.

Enable Video Conferencing and Tele-Medicine

One of the most revolutionary ways that UC can transform your healthcare organization is by integrating video conferencing into tele-medicine efforts. Due to greater access to broadband internet and to UC capabilities and the ubiquity of video technology, video conferencing is becoming a feasible extension of tele-medicine. The integration of video conferencing and tele-medicine has untold potential in its future, but many healthcare organizations are presently utilizing video conferencing to improve their operations and patient experience. Patients can video call their doctor and receive a quick evaluation of certain common health issues. This is especially helpful for follow-ups, questions and answers, tele-therapy, and evaluating visual symptoms.

All healthcare organizations should be aware of the competitive advantage tele-medicine can bring. Tele-medicine and video conferencing are not just trends – this technology will likely continue to grow due to a combination of factors:

• A large segment of the world’s population is aging. This will put additional medical on healthcare providers.
• Broadband is becoming more accessible, especially in rural areas. Rural patients will be interested in minimizing travel time and receive care from a range of doctors.
• Adoption of smart devices and video devices is on the rise. This enables the spread of UC and tele-medicine as a result.
• EMRs are becoming more commonplace, allowing transmission of medical data easily.

Interested in a Tele-medicine Initiative within your Organization?

To implement this technology as effectively as possible, there are a few undertakings that should be made a major priority. First, replace any aging PBX systems. Then, create a roadmap to move to Cloud PBX, and pilot that roadmap from start to 18 months. From there, determine any shortcomings in your anticipated tele-medicine goals, and adjust accordingly. To implement tele-medicine right the first time, it is best to have a skilled team  of UC experts  with in-depth experience and deep knowledge of mediums such as Microsoft Teams or Skype for Business.

Like the average Nigerian, I never used to pay too much attention to how much I got charged for calls. It was just a circle of load airtime, use till it is exhausted and repeat. Sometimes I would wonder why the usual amount didn’t last as long but the thought would quickly be brushed aside. 

A couple weeks ago I got asked if I knew how much I spent per minute on calls and I couldn’t answer the question, but the resulting effect of the question was my new found curiosity about call rates. I went from teleco website to teleco website pouring over their different rates. There were so many rates, depending on plans, destination and what have you. They plans that offered you relatively low rates came with clauses like you getting charged a certain amount for your first call of the day followed by lower call rates. For international calls, 5-7 countries (including the UK and the US) had lower rates, of about 13-20 kobo per second, which meant calling outside these specified countries meant it would end in tears.

During my search I began to ask other people if they know what they were charged per minute for calls and about 90% had no idea, the ones that knew were people that had tech related interests.

I have been using GLO for the longest time, it is what you would call my main line, I mostly keep it around for important things and always ensure that there is airtime on it in case of emergency. This morning I received a rude awakening. 

In typical Nigerian fashion the day before just before the rains began power supply was cut. So I am sitting here thinking once the rain stops, we should be back to normal. But boy was I wrong. Hours after the rain stopped supply was not restored, so I decided to call the customer service line for the electricity disco. The initial call was made using MTN, after the 76 seconds call ended the total was somewhere around 60 something naira which I didn’t bat an eyelid at because I was now aware that bonus airtime was deducted at a much higher rate than normal airtime. I woke up this morning and my smartphone had very little power so I opted to use my aforementioned GLO line to call the disco again for an update. At the end of the call, the regular airtime usage notification usage pop up and my jaw had an intimate meeting with the floor. I was in shock. 54 naira for a 83 second phone call. Which meant that for every second I was charged about 60 kobo. This was not bonus airtime, this was the rate GLO was charging for a local call, this the same teleco that claims it’s calls are around 11Kobo per second for local calls and 20Kobo per second for international calls. The thought that I may have been charged at that rate because I was calling a disco occurred to me, so I tried calling someone else and the rate was worse 7.70 naira for an 11 second phone call. I could not believe it. I was being charged over 3 times the rate of an international call!

I was livid.

The telecos could get away with charging whatever they wanted because you would only know how much was spent after the fact and only if you bothered to pay attention. 

The worst part is that besides going on the hunt for a cheaper call tariff plan there was absolutely nothing you could do about it.

Visual Network Operations refers to the activities performed by internal networking staff or third parties that companies and service providers rely on to monitor, manage, and respond to alerts on their network’s availability and performance. Staff that have primary responsibilities for network operations are often called network operations analysts or network operations engineers.

A Network Operations Center, often called a NOC (pronounced “knock”), is typically a centralized location where the network operation staff provides 24x7x365 supervision, monitoring, and management of the network, servers, databases, firewalls, devices and related external services. This infrastructure environment may be located on-premises and/or with a cloud-based provider.

Some key Network Operation activities are:

• Network monitoring
• Incident response
• Communications management (Email, voice, & video)
• Performance, quality, and optimization reporting
• Software/firmware installation, troubleshooting and updating of network elements
• Patch management
• Backup and storage
• Firewall management
• Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) and other security tool deployment and monitoring, in collaboration with Security Operations
• Threat analysis and blast radius analysis in collaboration with Security Operations

Challenges Facing Network Operations

Because of the complexities involved with today’s networks and services, especially in light of the adoption of cloud-based infrastructure and SaaS applications, there are many challenges that network operations staff face not only associated with having a thorough understanding of the technology itself, but in maintaining streamlined communications access between all those involved.

Some key network operation challenges include:

• Lack of collaboration/coordination across teams
• Fast pace of change in the cloud and dynamic resource orchestration means that documentation is usually not up-to-date for troubleshooting problems
• Troubleshooting is time consuming because it often involves correlating data across multiple devices and tool sets and requires manual processes to arrive at sound diagnoses
• Many disparate tools from different vendors in use that may require staff work with different technologies, low-level utilities and Command Line Interfaces (CLI)
• Problems arise and then disappear by the time all information is collected that is necessary for troubleshooting
• Escalation to more senior staff is required frequently to assess root causes

Well run network operations teams embrace a variety of tried-and-true best practices. These include but are not limited to the following:

• Continuously monitoring a wide variety of information and network systems that include communications circuits, cloud resources, LAN/WAN systems, routers, switches, firewalls and VoIP systems and application delivery.
• Providing timely response to all incidents, outages and performance issues.
• Categorizing issues for escalation to appropriate technical teams.
• Recognizing, identifying and prioritizing incidents in accordance with customer business requirements, organizational policies and operational impact.
• Collecting and reviewing performance reports for various systems, and reporting trends in performance to senior technical personnel to help them predict future issues or outages.
• Documenting all actions in accordance with standard company policies and procedures.
• Notifying customer and third-party service providers of issues, outages and remediation status.
• Working with internal and external technical and service teams to create and/or update knowledge base articles.
• Performing basic systems testing and operational tasks (installation of patches, network connectivity testing, script execution, etc.).
• Supporting multiple technical teams in 24×7 operational environments with high uptime requirements. Varied shift schedules may include day or evening hours.