4 ways VOIP can help your Business Boost Productivity- Working from Home!

There is no doubt that the rising costs of gas is becoming increasingly stressful on employees who have to commute to work daily. 

Allowing employees to work from home at least 1 or 2 days out of each week could not only boost productivity but also create optimum work/life balance for the valued employee. Employees staying away from work for (infectious) sick days, child care, "mental health" days and other emergencies may now have an option that allows them to continue work and lessen the break in productivity for the employer. Working from home may also save the business money on office space and other facilities, reduce pay outs for communting time and locate the sales staff nearer to clients rather than at the "main" office or other "brick and mortar" locations.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) is an excellent technology to facilitate working from home and is an option that every business should consider. It is relatively easy to do and SEMNAC technologies can help. If your office system is VOIP enabled you can easily deploy an extension to a work from home employee or any other local location if you have a reliable ADSL Internet connection. This process is made easier if the in house office system is cloud based.


SEMNAC's Account Executive, Andrew Elliston discusses some of the benefits and a limitation of utilizing VOIP for Working from Home.

BENEFITS

• For an employee who has to commute long hours to work, traveling cost is entirely eliminated.
• VOIP provides a geographic presence that allow companies to have staff /agents in different time zones 
• It also allows for 24 hour presence without the cost of having to factor over time with regular staff.
• VOIP also allow companies that need to market directly in foreign countries to acquiring phone numbers within these countries .

LIMITATION

• Andrew explained that the only known limitation he knows of about VOIP and working from home is that if the remote location does not have any or adequate internet connection then it may not work as VOIP needs this medium for delivery.

Give us a call today to set up your FREE consultation in the South Florida area: 1-888-477-1243 or visit us at www.semnac.com

Copyright(c) All rights reserved www.semnac.com "Your Total Communications Solutions Partner" 1888-477-1243

Grandstream Adds VoIP Mobility with New Digital Cordless IP Phone —

For residential, small office/home office (SOHO) and SMB/SME users needing a digital wireless mobile VoIP telephone with high quality audio, Grandstream Networks, the leading manufacturer of IP voice/video telephony and video surveillance solutions, today introduced its new DP715/710 DECT Cordless IP Phone. The DP715/710, Grandstream’s first VoIP cordless phone, is SIP/DECT compliant, works with various major IP PBXs and supports wide range indoor/outdoor radio coverage based on the popular DECT standard, thus giving users the ability to enjoy the benefits of mobility and VoIP for minimum investment. Grandstream is showcasing the DP715/710 at Booth ID2-04 at CommunicAsia this week in Singapore.

www.semnac.com "Your Total Communications Solutions Partner" 1888-477-1243

SEMNAC SERVICES

Here are some of the services that we offer. Please visit our website to read more about our comprehensive approach to meet all your communication needs.

BUSINESS VOIP

SEMNAC Technologies delivers the latest in reliable VoIP technology for all of your business phone service needs - starting at just $29.99/month. Features include: Beautifully designed and reliable IP Phones, Efficient, HD quality service, mobile softphones, automated attendant, unlimited calling plans, hosted technology & PBX, messaging on hold, extension dialing, simple online administration, toll free numbers and number transfers, personalized voicemail, conference bridge, ring groups, CRM Integration and many more

PBX SIP TRUNKING

A SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) trunk is a service that allows businesses with an installed PBX to use real-time communications including VOIP. By connecting an SIP trunk to an internal traditional PSTN (public switched telephone network) phone system companies can communicate over IP outside the enterprise.

VIRTUAL PBX

A virtual PBX arrangement, is one in which a telephony system is provided through an Internet download and then managed by an outside service, offers a low-cost and easy-to-set-up means for a business to use VoIP services. Such a system can assist companies and solo entrepreneurs in creating a more professional image that lets them grow their businesses more quickly.

ONLINE FAX

This refers to sending a document facsimile using the Internet, rather than using only phone networks (traditional faxing) with a fax machine. This features: no hardware, no software; no extra telephone line required for the fax; paperless communication, integrated with email; send and receive multiple faxes simultaneously; reduction in phone costs; ability to receive and send faxes from any location that has Internet access;ability to send and receive faxes from mobile phones, smartphones and tablets.

Copyright(c) All rights reserved www.semnac.com 1888-477-1243 "Your Total Communications Solutions Partner"

Should You Adopt VOIP for Your Business?

In researching information for this blog I came across this informative article by Smart Business. Here I have posted a checklist that businesses can use to determine if VOIP is right for them.

How does a business know when to adopt VoIP?
There are a few key questions to ask that will give you a place to start when considering VoIP.

• Step back and take a holistic look at how the current phone system complements your business, specifically how it is utilized and what the critical functions are. 
• Ask what employees like and dislike about the current system, as receptionist needs, executive management requirements and inbound/outbound call flow are important to consider.
• Look at the physical networking and switching. Most IP phones have two ports so you can connect both a computer and phone through the same wall jack. However, this limits the port speed of your computer workstations.
• Are your switches able to provide Power over Ethernet? PoE-capable phones conserve space by eliminating the need for AC power adapters. If not, then AC powered PoE injectors are options.
• If multiple offices are part of this equation, review interoffice communication, as the ability to extension dial between locations is sometimes overlooked.
• Are there field personnel who work from smaller satellite offices or remote locations? Teleworkers also impact call capacity. It might be worth having a phone system that allows IP or virtual private network connectivity, giving remote workers the ability to access the system as if they were on site.
• Consider whether to get a locally managed or hosted private branch exchange. The locally managed PBX is managed within your own organization by a telecom administrator or outsourced IT consultant. It’s a good solution for mid-sized to larger organizations because of scalability and control over provisions, features, handsets and ingress/egress call processing. It takes more initial capital investment but has lower operating expenses in the long run. Hosted PBX is a product powered by a cloud-based software phone switch, often good for small and mid-sized businesses, or businesses with multiple locations. Features are available to unite desktops, mobiles and telephones, and disaster recovery capability is possible. Hosted PBX is an operating expense with predictable costs per user.
• There are some core considerations when looking also at a service provider, including call quality control because voice quality and stability are directly affected by poor network performance, causing dropped calls, poor quality audio and loss of in or outbound audio. 
• When considering price, look at the value of the provider as a whole and ask about network infrastructure and ownership, reputation with VoIP, how the implement/installation process works, equipment requirements and package options. 

 Read the full article via Smart Business at: http://www.sbnonline.com/2012/06/how-to-make-sure-the-wave-of-adopting-voip-doesn’t-pass-by-your-business/?full=1

SEMNAC's P.O.V- Embracing VOIP Technology

ABOUT US
SEMNAC Technologies is the brainchild of a group of friends who have been working in the telecommunications industry since 1989. They saw the need for the provision of economical and comprehensive communication services for businesses of all sizes in North America and the Caribbean region. With over twenty (20) years in the industry for each founding partner, our clients can rest assured that the foundation of SEMNAC Technologies is established on professional competence, decades of experience in customer service, technical and engineering skills and a progressive and modern knowledge base in technology and communications.

Our Mission
It is our mission at SEMNAC Technologies to provide our clients with the highest quality of service and most innovative business solutions at the most economical prices. We value creating business relationships based on integrity, respect, ethical and professional business practices and a personal and caring attitude.


The following is a synopsis of an interview that was conducted with the SEMNAC Technologies' COO. The interviewer is seeking to learn more about SEMNAC and how the company is leading in providing VOIP innovation.


SEMNAC is a relatively new company but the founding partners each have over 20 years of experience in telecommunications, which means that you all have a foundation in the older telecommunication systems like TDM etc. Tell me a little bit more about SEMNAC Technologies. Does embracing VOIP mean that you have abandoned the traditional system?


Oh no, definitely not! The beauty of SEMNAC is that we have the expertise to deal with the traditional and the new technology like VOIP, because we recognize that there are customers who still use  and like the older TDM technology. As a leader in providing telecommunications innovation to our customers we will inform our customers of the technology that is out there  and the advantages and downside to acquiring this "new" technology. Ultimately, the decision lies with the customer to choose what they want, but at least we help in making their choice the most informed choice that they will make. Our customers know that SEMNAC Technologies will be there with them if they should venture into new technology. Additionally, we have customers who have a hybrid and integrate TDM with VOIP, essentially we will do our best to accommodate and customize our service to fit the needs of our customer.


Tell me a little bit about the SEMNAC "edge", what do you offer over your competitors?


Well in addition to decades of working in customer service we have engineers who have been working in telecommunications and information technology for over 20 years. Such a span of experience means that we have seen technology come and go and we have had to change with the dynamic flow that encapsulates us. Ongoing training for ALL our technicians is a must as we are always looking to be "experts" in the next best thing. This means that for our customers we provide a comprehensive approach to their communications, security and networking needs. If you visit our website at www.semnac.com you will see where we offer equipment sales, installation, maintenance and professional services. We sell service and repair industry leader's brands and our customer support system is accessible and professional.


So if I were a customer who is thinking about making a change in my communication system but I do not want a sales commitment, essentially I am shopping around, what do I do?


There are many ways to reach us for a FREE consultation at your place of business. If you are in the South Florida tri-county area of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties you may:

• Call us at: 1-888-477-1243
• Email us at: info@semnac.com
• Visit our website and contact us:  http://semnac.com/contact.php

We will have a brief chat to find out what your needs are and then schedule to have a technician visit with you for FREE. It's that simple!

VOIP and YOUR BUSINESS: Why it may be good for you!

I recently sat down for a chat with the COO of SEMNAC Technologies in Fort Lauderdale, FL to learn more about VOIP. Here is a synopsis of our conversation.


What is VOIP?


VOIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol. This is a way of using the data network witin your business or home to allow the traversing of voice packets. This means that you are actually using the network that you have for video and web surfing to actually allow audio such as a telephone over it.


Unlike the tradition or "old school" PSTN (Public Switch Telephony Network) that used copper lines to send information to each telephone number, VOIP utilizes some of the old copper technology along with fiber optics  that speeds up the communication to provide data. So essentially we are using Voice over your already existing IP, whether that IP is at your home or business.


What are the advantages of using VOIP?

1. Economical - Cost is the first thing that comes to mind when we are looking at the advantages of using VOIP. On a monthly basis I would estimate that VOIP could save you 50-75% of what you are now paying on the traditional system. SEMNAC technologies has a package where for just $29.99 per month you have unlimited national calls and depending on the system you want, you may be able to get your phone FREE. Now that is a pretty good deal.
2. Space Saving- VOIP uses a lot less equipment than the traditional TDM (Time Division Multiplexing) system. It basically requires just a server, so it takes up about 80% less space than some of the monstrous systems that I have installed in large businesses over the years.
3. Saves Time- As I think of this advantage I consider my own home and how important it is to have things up and running in no time. My wife hates to have work people all over the house doing things, she complains that it interrupts her flow and as such I may not benefit from home cooked meals for as long as the work people are in our home. That is a bomber. Like my home, when a business has it's phone system disrupted and engineers in and out for days, weeks and even months it is not only frustrating, but it affects productivity and that means a loss of money. In addition, the client who is already at a disadvantage may be paying additional labor costs for the extra hours. From my 20+ years background in PBX, sometimes it could take up to a month to install some of the monstrous systems that I have done in the past. With VOIP it could take up to six hours to be fully installed, up and running. Now that is a big deal for any business.

Is there a downside to VOIP technology?

The only disadvantage I see with it and have heard reports of is that VOIP depends on the reliability of your IP network. So if your IP network is not reliable then you may have dropped packets or a slow connection. It also depends on power, so if the power goes your IP network is going to go which is not the case of the traditional system.

What I have found that many businesses do is to have a hybrid system where they integrate both VOIP and POTS (Plain Old Telephony Service) line as a backup just in case of events like a power glitch and so on.

Finally, how secure is VOIP compared to the traditional system?

As a matter of fact I think VOIP is more secure because the levels of encryption has increased. Gone are the days when someone could walk up to your place and tap into your telephone line and record your conversation. VOIP is really data stream and we have put in place encryption and firewall to protect people's data...

Follow-up Question: and since there is a internet connection with VOIP, should people worry about their product being affected by computer viruses?

That is not a problem as most VOIP systems are on a Linux background that is essentially virus free.

Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. I know this information will be invaluable to many people.


For more information on SEMNAC Technologies visit- www.semnac.com

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