The post-pandemic office will almost certainly look nothing like it did at the start of 2020. If your legacy PBX wasn’t serving you well before the pandemic, it’s time to consider SIP trunking or a hybrid communications solution for the future of your organization.
We’ve all been on video calls where the person speaking freezes in the middle of a sentence or the audio cuts off. Even worse is that frozen individual could be you.
Employees at virtual meetings and conferences may find this embarrassing, but it can also be frustrating. However, in our virtual WFH world, it’s all too frequent these days.
There has already been a shift away from old PBX technology in the ‘before’ periods. The pandemic, on the other hand, has made this much more important. With so many people working from home, antiquated PBX systems aren’t as useful as they once were.
Companies will likely take a more hybrid approach to their office space in the post-pandemic future, with workers combining their time in the office with WFH. Employees may choose to work from home on a permanent basis in specific instances. And, while no one can foretell the future, the post-pandemic office is quite likely to look very different than it did at the start of 2020.
So, if your legacy PBX wasn’t serving you before the pandemic, it won’t be serving you afterwards.
Why SIP at this time?
It’s understandable why businesses cling to their old PBX systems. Most companies replace their phone systems every seven to ten years, so it’s not something the C-suite (or anyone else) thinks about all of the time. And, of all, why fix something that isn’t broken?
It may not be broken, but technology has advanced to the point that it can now do so much more than make phone calls. For example, SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) can be used for VoIP, but it also includes multimodal communications like video conferencing, SMS messaging, and data transmission.
When using VoIP, packet loss is the most common cause of call quality degradation. SIP trunking aids this by allowing direct end-to-end connections (through an Internet connection to the service provider rather than copper cables), which reduces packet loss. As a result, it not only enables unified communications, but it also improves their quality.
Hosted PBX solutions, in which the SIP trunking equipment is hosted by a service provider and eliminates the need for traditional phone infrastructure, are also available. Because hosted solutions do not require on-premise gear, they have cheaper overhead and maintenance costs, as well as lower long-distance and international call prices.
Voice & Unified Communications
Companies can use SIP to provide unified communications, swiftly deploy to additional locations as necessary, and boost flexibility for a remote, mobile, or hybrid workforce.
With built-in failover and re-routing capabilities (for example, SIP pooling automatically shares SIP sessions between all call locations), IT experts can easily maintain network service quality and performance — a prerequisite in our contemporary COVID world.
Companies can use their existing data network bandwidth while ensuring voice prioritizing (i.e., voice conversations will be free of jitters and lag time). Businesses with many locations might also save money by centralizing phone lines to one or two data center locations.
It’s also possible to go with a hybrid system that combines legacy PRI infrastructure with SIP trunking, which may be appropriate for businesses with restricted bandwidth. They can use their old system for local calls and SIP for long-distance and multimedia communications in this situation.
You’re missing out on functionality and possible savings if your legacy PBX hasn’t kept up with the times.