According to Forbes, small and medium-sized businesses may have the most to gain from Voice Over IP. With VoIP, SMBs can lower their monthly phone bills and get rid of unnecessary equipment. When implementing a VoIP solution, businesses can choose between hosted VoIP and on-premises VoIP. Businesses must also decide whether to implement open source or proprietary solutions.
Hosted versus On-Premises
Hosted VoIP solutions involve routing a business’s data and voice traffic over the public switched telephone network to a hosted-PBX system. With a hosted solution, the business doesn’t need to purchase any expensive hardware or software. However, because the business doesn’t own the equipment it uses, it must rely on the provider to maintain the system, and ongoing fees will be higher.
On-premises solutions, on the other hand, require the company to purchase all of the routers, cables and servers necessary to operate the VoIP system. Although this option is more expensive initially, its long-term costs are lower, and the business retains more control over the system. However, businesses must keep an in-house IT team to maintain this type of system.
Open-Source versus Proprietary
Open-source solutions are free VoIP solutions created by a community of developers for use by businesses, whereas proprietary solutions are developed by commercial providers and sold to businesses. Open-source solutions are less expensive to implement than proprietary solutions, so they are a common choice among businesses with a limited budget. However, even though proprietary solutions are more expensive, they tend to come with more options and better access to customer support.
