Small firms 'turning to VoIP'

With the need to increase productivity while reducing costs perhaps more important than ever, many small businesses are turning to VoIP services for their telecommunications, it has been claimed.

ThinkBright said any start-up will need a phone line to carry out day-to-day activities.

As these companies grow, they may have to add more lines, which can be a "very expensive" proposition.

However, the company said VoIP solutions can be scaled up to accommodate more employees often at a fraction of the cost.

It added that hosted telephony also provides small firms with the kind of features normally associated with large organisations, such as auto attendants, queues and ring groups.

In an article for Tech Republic, Deb Schinder said one of the big advantages of commercial VoIP services is that they are often designed in a "modular" fashion to allow for easy expansion.

She added that when a company is looking to scale up its system, it should ensure that new VoIP hardware will integrate with its existing IP PBX equipment.