Hosted Voice Services Can Unify Your Team!

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Scott Yelton

Hosted Voice systems are an important part of modern-day business. In the past, businesses have had limited ways of unifying office employees, multiple location workforces, and remote employees into a team environment. This is a major concern, as teamwork is what allows individuals and office locations to back each other up during outages,emergencies, and cover clients in different time zones.

And managing the calls and activities of each location was difficult, due to a lack of visibility and reporting possibilities. Each location (or remote employee) was stuck in its/his own communication bubble using separately-managed, low-end communication solutions (and we use that word loosely).

With the advent of call routing, network based auto-attendants, and communication portals that provide online visibility, all that can be left in the past! Businesses can now unify all of their locations, provide call routing based on single or multiple numbers, and run detailed reports; this gives leadership visibility into how their business is functioning, and the tools they need to assign responsibility and ownership to call functions. Being able to have all phone communications “under one roof” is even more important when you consider the growing number of remote employees in the workforce.

EarthLink Business wants to provide your company with the hosted voice solution it needs; contact an EarthLink Business resource today to find out how the EarthLink Hosted Voice product can change the way you do business!

Hosted Voice from EarthLink Business – Why it’s Different

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Douglas Hoffman

EarthLink Business has created a rich portfolio of offerings that can change your business for the better. We have such a wide range of IT services that any business would be able to utilize us as a one stop shop. We are not the only consulting firm though, so what sets us apart? Here are three reasons to partner with EarthLink Business…

Only One Back to Pat – In the world of communications it is rare to partner with a single entity for an entire solution. Often you have to get your voice circuit from one company, the phone system from another and then the people that show up onsite are contracted out from a third business. Here at EarthLink, we own the entire process. From beginning to end, if you have an issue there is just one phone number to call. Your dedicated business relationship manager will help you with anything and everything without making you jump through hoops.
The EarthLink Network is a Step Above the Rest – With any communication service, call quality is the most important component. Almost every provider claims to have QoS (Quality of Service) but that can equate to different variations of the technology. In the end, unless your provider owns the entire connection from beginning to end, they can’t really guarantee the quality of that call if it is not on their network. Additionally, QoS will only take you so far when you start to layer on other technologies. CoS (Class of Service) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_of_service) is an offering that is offered by few and far between. EarthLink Business does all of the above and we do it well. Other best effort technology providers may offer you up front savings but if your communication platform quality suffers the loss of revenue will cancel out any savings, tenfold.
Relax, We’ve Done This Before – Over the last several years, we have perfected the process of changing your business with our solutions (particularly Hosted Voice). We now have over 30,000 hosted phones running on our network. Each endpoint (phone) gives it’s user a versatile and flexible way to do business which helps them to be more productive and ultimately more profitable.

When you are ready to change your business for the better, contact your local EarthLink Business representative so that we can help you get there.

Hosted Voice: EarthLink’s Retail Communication Solution

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Douglas Hoffman

Hosted Voice by EarthLink Business is being applied to the retail vertical more and more. It is a great way to unify any company that has a few to many locations with minimal telephony needs. Since EarthLink has so many options for blended access, we can create a cost effective customized solution that is a good economic fit for any customer and any size retail presence.

EarthLink Business is one of the few providers that can provide COS (Class of Service) over a DSL connection. With this offering, retailers can enjoy a business class connection at an extremely competitive cost. In the past, retail owners would have no way of unifying their store locations because each store would be stuck with a separately-managed, low end communication solution. But with the EarthLink Business Hosted Voice product we can unify all of the stores and provide detailed call accountability through call logs…giving leadership personnel visibility into how their business is functioning. In turn, they are able to fill in the gaps, adjust their dealings appropriately, and increase productivity (which can ultimately increase their profitability). Contact an EarthLink resource today to find out how the EarthLink Hosted Voice product can change the way you do business!

SIP Trunking – Sharing is Caring

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Chris Chase

Submitted by Alyson Keenan

In today’s economy, everyone wants more for less.

That’s why smart businesses are looking for ways to operate more efficiently and to lower costs. And why so many are turning to SIP Trunking.

A SIP Trunking solution allows a business to send all voice traffic over its data network. This way, rather than having two networks to manage (voice and data), there is only a single network that requires less management and lowers costs. Some go further by consolidating their voice network to a single IP PBX that serves all business locations.

In having a single network to manage, companies are able to oversubscribe their network and get the most out of the resources they have to work with.

Multi-site companies that move to a SIP Trunking solution are able to utilize a capability called aggregate trunking. Aggregate trunking is the ability to provide voice services with a single call-control device or IP PBX to all locations that are on a single data network.

We’ll highlight several of the benefits of this solution.

Single IP PBX

In previous phone system deployments, a PBX call-control device would need to sit each customer location. The more locations a business had, the more PBX systems they needed to purchase and maintain. This could turn into a major expense. With SIP Trunking, customers can save by deploying a single IP-enabled PBX that provides voice services for all business locations.

Shared Resource

With aggregate trunking, businesses are able to use the available voice channels as a shared resource. For example, if a company has locations across the country, their locations on the East Coast are able to utilize resources that the locations on the West Coast are not using due to the three-hour difference in business hours. With previous solutions, voice services were provided at the location level, so each location would have idle capacity that other locations were unable to leverage. Aggregate SIP Trunking saves you money by allowing you to purchase only the resources you need to share throughout the entire business.

Ease of Management

Ease of management is an important driver for many businesses when making decisions around technology. In previous voice system deployments, businesses were required to install and manage a PBX at each of their locations. This setup often required someone to have to go on-site when changes or troubleshooting were required.

In contrast, when deploying an aggregate trunking model, there is only one call-control center or IP PBX required. With aggregate trunking, you are able to manage all users across the business, regardless of their location, from a single host location. This allows for consistency across the organization and limits the number of elements in the network for troubleshooting. Needles to say, management is simplified.

Future-Proofing Your Business

When considering the transition to SIP Trunking, understanding the benefits your business will gain today is important. But so is looking to the future. SIP Trunking is a way to future-proof the technology your company relies on. Once you move to an IP-based system like SIP Trunking, you have more flexibility to layer new and additional technologies onto your network as your company grows or your needs change.

In addition to SIP Trunking, EarthLink Business offers a complete line of business voice solutions to help companies optimize their voice and data networks.

Click here for an EarthLink Business SIP Trunking PDF.

We rigorously test each IP PBX certified to work with EarthLink Business SIP Trunking solutions. For a full list of IP PBXs certified by EarthLink Business, please visit our SIP Trunking Customer Resource Center.