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Prior to the introduction of Voice over IP, businesses had few choices and were generally paying too much for business phone service. The only option was the local phone company and voice over Internet protocol companies in the United States. Now, VoIP and VoIP management systems are far and wide, and now it’s all about choice and options when it comes to selecting the right solution.

Internet telephony isn't a new technology, but only in recent years has it become reliable and ubiquitous enough to be a serious choice for businesses. While Internet telephony was once an oddity often plagued for garbled and dropped calls, these days a well-planned and implemented VoIP management system can provide call quality and reliability that rivals mobile phone or plain old telephone services (POTS).

In fact, the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants (MSCPA) was in need of an upgrade when it came to their POTS system. The organization was in dire need of a reliable telecom system that would be free of interruptions and high in voice quality. That’s where VoIP comes in, specifically Whaleback Systems (News - Alert) and their cloud-based managed voice service, CrystalBlue.

According to a case study, there were numerous improvements after deploying CrystalBlue. MSCPA experienced an increase in employee productivity and a decrease in its communication costs.

“Whaleback's single fee approach, which includes phone replacement, repair, trouble shooting and programming, has decreased the overall costs of running our phone system," said Bill Townsend, president and CFO of MSCPA. "Because we no longer have costs associated with hardware replacement, programming and support, we are saving several thousands of dollars a year."

Employees have found that the voicemail-to-e-mail feature to be beneficial, as it provides messages to employees regardless of their location, thereby meeting the expectations of their client base.

The features, notes channel partner officials at Intelliphone, are tantamount to its success.

"Whaleback has loads of features that are otherwise cost-prohibitive for small businesses," said Intelliphone's Chuck Garabedian. "Plus, because the solution is managed by Whaleback, there is minimal onsite equipment and virtually no need for laborious on-site maintenance."

In a VoIP management era, it is precisely case studies such as this that demonstrate VoIP’s ability to stack up to POTS. With advanced features, administration, cost of ownership, vendor support, end-user satisfaction, and quality of service, telecommunication has never been better or more versatile.

Since it is apparent that all communications will eventually be IP-based it makes good sense to begin the shift toward VoIP management as soon as practical. Investing now in a VoIP solution that provides interoperability with the new technologies that are available over the next few years will make a lot of sense to businesses and organizations of all sizes.