SIP Trunks are a powerful, scalable and highly flexible form of telephony that has been getting a lot of attention in the business world lately. SIP Trunks will connect your premises directly to the Public Telephone Network (PSTN) via IP/broadband. It is often sold as a replacement to ISDN and with the government’s recent announcement to withdraw ISDN services in 2025, connections to ISDN are plummeting as are calls as more users switch to SIP or mobile phones.
It has also become the medium over which to deliver VoIP telephony. There are many benefits of Sip Trunking including; reliability, cost-saving, scalability, and flexibility when it comes to a business communications strategy. Although the benefits are many, put simply SIP Trunks are more robust and definitely more cost effective than ISDN and can solve real business issues almost overnight, and make a company more efficient.
But in fact there’s more to it than that. If you are still considering whether it is worth adopting SIP trunking into your business communications strategy, then here are a few things we think you should know.
- More and more businesses are adopting SIP trunking as a viable solution for their communications as they now realise the benefits of this form of connectivity. SIP provider Gamma announced in August of this year that they had hit the 200,000 mark with its own SIP channels across the UK and according to analyst Diane Myers, it is possible that 58% of enterprises will be using SIP trunking in 2015.
- Nearly every business communications company will tell you that their services and products can save you money, but with SIP trunks there is real evidence to suggest that SIP trunking can significantly cut down on call costs from between 30% – 60%. This can be achieved by continuing on your existing PBX investment and/or IP infrastructure and purchasing the minimal equipment needed to convert over to SIP Trunking.
- SIP trunks are perfect enablers of Unified Communications (UC) strategies as they are able to combine all of your varied communications needs- whether email, instant messaging, voicemail, video conferencing, and every day telephony- into a single, manageable strategy. SIP also enables more devices to integrate with your network and user resources and is a great option if you are considering a move to the cloud which is often coordinates well with the majority of UC strategies.
- Some SIP trunks are not compatible with existing IP PBXs so you should always check compatibility with the SIP channel provider you are considering using. Any respectable provider will offer a checking service that assesses compatibility and will let you know early on whether or not SIP trunking is compatible with your existing telephone system hardware. Avaya and Mitel do interoperability testing to check this compatibility right at the start of a communications project.
- One of the key benefits of SIP trunking is that it is extremely scalable and flexible so can adapt depending on your business requirements. Because of this SIP Trunking gives you the freedom from being tied to costly infrastructure and ‘buying for the future’ capital expenditures. You can literally set up what you need for today and then simply expand as business grows – it’s a simple as that.
- Sip trunking enables your business to streamline all communication when you move from separate data and voice lines, whether you’re working in the office or working remotely you will still be able to access all of the below options:
Voice calls
- Instant messaging
- Video conferencing
- Convenient address books sync’d between devices to keep you organised
- Conference calls, with the ability to record calls for those member of the team who are unavailable that day.
ROI is always a question that needs to be asked before making any major changes to your business infrastructure. With SIP trunking you will generally see a significant return on your investment within the first six months. This comes down to two major points: 1) You are no longer paying for equipment and services that you don’t require immediately. 2) Maximising your current Internet bandwidth by simply adding on the voice traffic to your existing service and 3) You will see quite a substantial reduction on your monthly telephone bill.
Migrating over to SIP Trunking is one of the smartest technology moves your business can make and as long as you have done your research and have the system setup and programmed by an expert, then you can simply sit back and enjoy the cost savings in your business.
Tech IP SIP trunks are only £10 per month…including 5000 free inclusive minutes to UK landline and UK mobiles.
We hope the above information is useful to you, if you would like assistance in understanding your best options then please contact us on 0800 505 3350. Alternatively you can download our telephone systems buyers guide as useful reference material or even run a quick quote to obtain a budget cost for a new telephone system in less than 60 seconds by clicking here.
