Voice Over Internet Protocol

University Degree Business and Administrative studies

BIS 1- Assignment 1

Report

Voice over Internet Protocol

(VoIP)

This report will provide a generic description to VoIP and its drawbacks. This report will also outline the major providers of this technology and the differences between those different providers. Looking at the business implications with this new technology, this report will look at the competitive advantage that VoIP can provide and also the value that this technology creates for a business.

Generic description

Voice over internet protocol is a relatively new technology used to make phone calls over the internet as well as receiving calls on telephone lines and allows people to speak around the world.

VoIP is changing the way we communicate and save money as some calls are cheaper than what they would normally be with a landline or they are even free of charge. VoIP uses your internet connection, transmits the sound of your voice and the voice is picked up as data and is transported over an Internet Protocol infrastructure.

What is necessary to make a VoIP call is a good broadband internet connection, a sound card, a microphone, the VoIP software and an account with a VoIP service provider. The internet connection should be fast and reliable as the quality of the VoIP service provider depends on it.

Regarding businesses, it is a good way to cut down the cost of their phone bill and accommodate the employees to be more productive and also offer better customer service. It can also allow you to use VoIP when you go travelling if there is of course a high speed internet connection available. VoIP includes mobile, local as well as long-distance call, and offers some great features like video-conferencing for example which are not available with a traditional phone.

Providers

Competitive Advantage and Value for business

A competitive advantage could be defined as an advantage over ...

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Providers

Competitive Advantage and Value for business

A competitive advantage could be defined as an advantage over rivals by offering greater value in term of price differentiation and providing better products or services.

There are a lot of advantages when using VoIP in a business. Financial savings is one of the main advantages, because it is cheaper than using a normal telephone system, it is user-friendly and offers the potential to communicate in a different format (Video-conferencing). Video-conferencing could be practical for discussions between multiple dispersed team members, VoIP services also provide caller ID, inbound and outbound faxing, voicemail, call forwarding and call waiting.

Supermarket chain scenario

An efficient communication system is very important for any organisation that has employees across the country or even around the globe as there is a lot of information to share between supermarkets.

Communication could be improved throughout the company as calling cost could be reduced using VoIP, therefore staff could be encouraged to use VoIP facilities more frequently to increase and improve communication. But again, VoIP is more than just a voice over the internet; it is also possible to transfer photos, video and text (media files) concomitantly with the voice.

Video-conferencing can be very useful as it is less time consuming since there is no need to spend hours travelling just to go to a meeting, therefore reducing the costs of the travel expenses and at the same time reducing the cost of the phone bill. Therefore by using video-conferencing, the advantage is that you will still be able to see who you are dealing with face-to-face without additional costs.

Although it is important to note that the key to your business is the customers so why not improve the relationships that you have with them and in the mean time gain competitive advantage?

You can do so by using VoIP in different situations such as complaints both in store and out, for example; if a customer wishes to speak to the manager they can use the VoIP service provided in store (at complaints/customer service), this would mean that the manager could work from home, or save time travelling from the office to the customer service desk to deal with complaints creating flexibility for the manager as well as the customers to interact with the company as allowing feedbacks could encourage the customers to be more inclined to do business with the company/supermarket.

Alternatively, customers with VoIP technology could interact with the organisation from a remote terminal (home, office, etc) this may provide a more personal feel to communications compared to the telephone.

Downside of VoIP

The quality and reliability of VoIP depends on the quality and speed of the internet connection. Sometimes, data gets scrambled by the time it reaches the other user. Although to get a computer started, you need power. If there is a power outage, VoIP will be unable to work as VoIP does not offer backup power.

VoIP uses IP addresses for phone numbers which means that if someone has to call 911, it will be impossible for the emergency people to know where the call comes from if you don’t tell them.

Last but not least, Security is one of the main downside of VoIP. In fact, as VoIP is a service over the internet, it may encounters troubles with hacking and viruses but this doesn’t happen often but should be taken into account as identity theft can happen.

References

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By: Trope, Konrad L.. Computer & Internet Lawyer, Dec2005, Vol. 22 Issue 12, p1-15, 15p; (AN 19321458)

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