'Expect the unexpected' with VoIP benefits

Businesses switching to voice over internet protocol (VoIP) systems can experience improvements in efficiency, effectiveness and functionality, as well as cost savings, an industry expert has said.

Colin Taylor of contact centre consultant the Taylor Reach Group told Voip News that most companies can expect financial gains from investing in VoIP - but there are other, "soft" benefits on offer that they may not be expecting.

These include greater efficiency through integrating VoIP with fax and email to cut response times and more effective use of labour by using unified messaging to give fewer employees access to more work groups, he added.

"The real gains that I've seen companies realise in IP telephony include improved integration, efficiency, effectiveness and functionality," Mr Taylor commented.

Simple, user-friendly features including with many VoIP systems can also help to reduce training times, as well as the cost of system upgrades and setting up new call centres, he said.

However, businesses should ensure their existing systems are ready to support VoIP and that they can drive its use by their agents to ensure they make the most of VoIP's hard and soft benefits.

The Taylor Reach Group is a consultancy that specialises in call centres, outsourcing and customer relationship management.