First-Time Telecom Implementation? Four Tips To Help You Choose

Featured article by John Grady, Senior Product Marketing Manager at XO Communications

The voice over IP (VoIP) services market is enjoying a strong growth. According to Empowered News, the corporate consumer segment of VoIP technologies should reach $86.2 billion in revenue by 2020, while alternatives like hosted PBX and even PSTN continue to perform well. If you’re considering a first-time telecom implementation and this all sounds confusing, you’re not alone — many companies struggle when choosing the right mix of value, features and ease of use. Here are four tips to help jump-start the telecoms conversation.

Understand the Market

Read a few articles about telecom options and you’ll quickly get bogged down by terminology: PSTN, PBX, VoIP, SIP — then toss in “hosted,” “cloud” and “on-premise” for good measure. First step in making the right choice for your company? Get a working knowledge of what’s out there, so you know what might fit the bill and what won’t meet your needs. Here’s a quick rundown:

– PBX — Also called “private branch exchange.” Historically, companies bought and installed large-scale, on-site systems to deliver functions like call forwarding and redirection. It’s now possible to “host” a PBX in the cloud rather than maintain the equipment.

– VoIP — VoIP systems break up phone calls, videos and texts into “packets” of data that are then transmitted over the Internet. You can install on-site VoIP technology or choose cloud-based options.

– SIP — Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking technology is an open-source communications protocol that enables VoIP technology. It’s often regarded as a competitor, but is merely one way to achieve Internet-based calling.

– PSTN — Packet switched telephone networks (PSTNs) are the “typical” phone lines used by companies, provided by well-known telecoms players and delivered over copper wiring.

Know the Ups and Downs

Now that you’ve got a handle on the basics, it’s worth knowing that each technology comes with pros and cons: On-site PBX solutions, for example, offer a high degree of flexibility and control, but are also costly to upgrade and maintain. PSTN systems are reliable but don’t have the bandwidth volume to handle conference or video calling. VoIP options, meanwhile, provide an easy way to deploy unified communications (UC) technology but come with caveats: If your Internet bandwidth isn’t up to the challenge or your VoIP provider can’t deliver a lag-free transmission, you may experience voice “jitter,” broken messages or dropped calls.

Needs and Nice-To-Haves

When it’s time to make the telecom choice, put needs ahead of nice-to-haves. For example, consider your IT workforce. If you’ve got the manpower and budget, it may be worthwhile to invest in on-premise solutions that give you granular control over all incoming and outgoing communication protocols. As noted by BetaNews, however, if you’ve got a highly mobile business model with workers often telecommuting from home or on the road, you may be best served by an IP-based solution that lets you add new devices on demand.

Rent vs. Own

The last tip to help you maximize telecom value? Decide if you want to rent or own your communications tech. For example, Cloud Tweaks notes that if you’re running a large business with a single common office, pricing for on-site tools and connections scales in your favor, even with the added cost of maintaining and upgrading physical hardware. If you’re a small business with a growing workforce and no dedicated IT staff, meanwhile, renting VoIP space in the cloud offers the benefit of a recurring, predictable monthly cost along with scale-on-demand performance.

Time for a new telecom solution? Learn the market lingo, understand the ups and downs, and then make your choice based on need and preferred pricing model.

John Grady is a Senior Product Marketing Manager at XO Communications, a telecommunications solutions company. John has been responsible for launching a number of products at XO Communications, including 100G service, new cloud products, as well as XO’s Intelligent WAN solution.