VOIP

Short for Voice over Internet Protocol, a category of hardware and software that enables people to use the Internet as the transmission medium for telephone calls by sending voice data in packets using IP rather than by traditional circuit transmissions of the PSTN.

One advantage of VoIP is that the telephone calls over the Internet do not incur a surcharge beyond what the user is paying for Internet access, much in the same way that the user doesn't pay for sending individual e-mails over the Internet.

To reduce costs and improve the quality of customer service, companies can locate their call center facilities in overseas locations where labor and facilities are significantly less expensive – avoiding the telecom costs that would otherwise be associated with such initiatives through the use of VoIP. Callcenters used VoIP MultiPath Switch ensures that such initiatives can be implemented without putting critical customer communications at risk.

Low inexpensive phone service made possible by voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) will become more of a reality, and for contact centers the biggest benefit is the promise of supporting remote agents, according to a recent report.
VoIP sends voice packets over public and private networks, particularly the Internet, cutting phone bills by eliminating the need for separate circuits.
There are three compelling reasons for VoIP in the contact center. The first, VoIP's lower cost, has actually become a less compelling argument as traditional telephone rates have plummeted.

The second motivator is that VoIP eliminates the need to integrate voice and data networks. With VoIP, companies don't have to run separate infrastructures for automatic call distribution, interactive voice response and predictive dialing, because each application can run on network-based services.
Yet the real benefit to call centers is VoIP's ability to support agents regardless of their physical locations.

"It's always made more sense to put everybody in one place and to have all the boxes in one place," With IP, that all goes away. If we can move [voice data] over the Internet, it's feasible to set up remote agents and create flexibility.
That capability lets companies better leverage outsourced call centers. The challenge has always been integrating internal and external operations, including handoffs for multi-stage services and data integration. VoIP facilitates those exchanges, letting businesses slash costs by contracting with remote agents. The real estate savings -- money that might have been spent on a physical contact center -- offers a compelling reason for VoIP, he argued.

Thus far, VoIP has seen its greatest adoption in the consumer and small-business markets. Some larger businesses are wary of rolling out telecommunications technology from companies. While glitches still exist in VoIP, the Reservoir Partners study found that technological development is eliminating many of the early problems. Additionally, the time may soon be right, because contact centers are running beyond their capacity, thanks in part to regulations such as "do not call" lists.

" However, startups are beginning to make the VoIP investment Big telecommunications players are planning to roll out their own IP-based telephone services, Doing so is a competitive imperative for them, and as the larger, more-trusted telecom businesses enter the market, they will likely foster more trust in VoIP.