As technology evolves it is up to us to find a way to make best use of these advancements for businesses and schools. While the obvious benefit of working these developments into an existing business or educational facility is improved services, cost is also something that can be affected too (and in the good way I might add!). Here are some benefits of using an SIP you might not have known.

One such advancement in technology involves our use of voice communication or to be more specific, phone calls. Believe it or not, it is actually possible to make a phone call without the use of a traditional phone line using SIP lines which have a number of benefits. Before we go into further detail though, I’m sure many of you are wondering what exactly a SIP line is.

SIP stands for Session Initiation Protocol and describes a technology that focuses on establishing a multimedia communication session over a data network such as the Internet. The most common applications of this technology include voice and video calls along with instant messaging whether it’s one on one or multi-party sessions.

While SIP essentially offers the same service as your traditional analogue phone line it instead uses a “virtual” phone line rather than a physical wire. These are provided by a SIP provider who use your data circuit (Cable Modem, DSL, T1, Ethernet over Copper and so on) to connect your phone system into their own network. Amcom are a SIP provider, and one of many out there. It’s also worth noting that since you are not dealing with a physical phone line, maintenance and the structure of VoIP make things considerably cheaper.

Of course the first question many businesses will ask is, “Can using SIP save me money?” The answer to this question will likely please many since SIP can indeed cut costs for a company. The reason for this is all on-site calls are free whilst any other destinations are severely reduced when compared with traditional phone line methods.

Another bonus with using Session Initiation Protocol is that you’re given freedom with the numbering. This is especially handy if you want your company to use a particular phone number that is otherwise unusable in a certain area (for example a London phone number in Cardiff). Furthermore if you decide to relocate your company to a new office in a different area then the flexibility of numbering will even allow you to take your existing phone number with you.

As is the case with any business, expansion is always a possibility and long term goal. In such a case, expansion of systems is something to deal with and thankfully using SIP makes all this relatively simple, with additional channels costing just a fraction of the money and time that deploying ISDN would.

SIP has been identified as the procedure of choice within the telecommunications industry over the past few years and it seems to have proven just as popular with businesses outside this sector too. With there being plenty of benefits of using an SIP to make the switch, it’s definitely worth investigating what SIP lines can do for your company.