VoIP as a Component of Enterprise Business Continuity

How do you keep your company’s communications running if your in-house telephone system is rendered useless by a power surge, power outage, storm, fire, or flood? Large organizations know far better than their smaller counterparts just how much there is to lose when communications systems get knocked out. That’s the reason that enterprise VoIP is being utilized by the vast majority of mid-size to enterprise corporations. Unfortunately for those who haven’t yet moved to VoIP for enterprise, the landline systems in use today across enterprise-class organizations are getting close to the end of their life expectancy. The age of the traditional in-house phone system combined with outdated telephone infrastructure is a recipe for high costs, breakdowns, and communications crashes. Because of these facts and others such as mobility and competitive edge, many corporations have already moved away from landline-based systems that they manage in-house and have moved to VoIP for enterprise systems.

What’s the Difference Between VoIP and Enterprise VoIP?

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology is in use across the internet. From talk and video chat in social media apps to help-desk chat and video support sessions, VoIP technology is powering the way individuals communicate. People are used to using VoIP technology in applications like Skype and Google Talk. Enterprise VoIP takes the simple concept of carrying voice, text, or video across the internet infrastructure in data packets and infuses the technology with high-level business features, security, compliance capability, integrations, and robust functionality.

The Missing Puzzle Piece – Enterprise VoIP as a Business Continuity Component

When company representatives talk with a VoIP provider, often the company representative’s mind is on the feature set, the price, and the workflow advantages of VoIP. They’re anxious to use VoIP to provision remote workers, satellite offices, and geographically separated facilities with seamless communications and collaboration capability. What aren’t they thinking about? They’re not thinking about the storm that could impact their area. They’re not considering an extended power outage or a power surge that destroys their in-house phone system. A burst pipe or ransomware attack that strips away their in-house phone access aren’t factored into their thinking…but they should be. When your cloud-based VoIP system’s capability is brought into the full picture of your business continuity strategy, your organization retains the ability to communicate and collaborate – internally as well as with clients and vendors. VoIP is based within the cloud and not subject to any local disasters that may impact one or more of your facilities. As a result, VoIP for enterprise is the best way for a corporation to preserve the communications and collaboration side of its workflow in the event of a disaster. Enterprise-level organizations buy insurance for just about everything. VoIP systems that are leveraged into a business continuity strategy provide the insurance – the comfort and confidence that your company can run operations out of a secondary location if needed. VoIP for enterprise gives a corporation unified communications capabilities that help support the drive to achieve company objectives, no matter what unexpected events come into view.

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Objectives for the Use of Enterprise VoIP in Business Continuity

• Broadcast emergency instructions
• Maintain service quality levels
• Comply with legislation and industry-standard mandates
• Provide always-on availability of communications capabilities
• Keep clients, employees, and vendors in the loop
• Deliver a seamless telephone and brand experience across communications channels
• Utilize collaboration integrations with cloud-based CMS and office productivity solutions

What Business Continuity Advantages Does Enterprise VoIP Have Over Landline Systems?

• Automatic Failover
• Consistency of Audio/Video Call Quality
• Continuous Monitoring
• Fast Operational Recovery
• Geo-Redundant Systems
• Zero Data Loss

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What Other Things Should You Consider?

VoIP Consultants

If you’re reading this article, it’s likely that your large-scale organization has its own in-house CIO or CTO. You may have an entire IT department staffed with technology support professionals. Unless you have someone on your team that lives in the VoIP space, it’s best to contact a VoIP consultant. Technicians and engineers that work with top brands like Intermedia, GoToConnect, or Ring Central all the time will be able to provide insights that will make a world of difference in implementation, use, and if needed, leveraging VoIP in a business continuity scenario.

Internet Backup

Your VoIP provider isn’t responsible for the broadband that comes into your facility. While it’s true that employees could resort to VoIP softphone apps on their smartphones if the internet goes out, but a secondary broadband line for internet backup is a solid investment. Some consultants advise that one broadband line be utilized solely for VoIP traffic while the other carries the other internet traffic of the company. This scenario can work well as long as the traffic on one line can default to the other line if one internet feed goes down. VoIP for Smartphones Softphone apps allow employees to access the company telephone system seamlessly. However, it’s important to ensure that there are mobile device management policies and protocols in place that ensure that your company’s communications are secure and compliant on both BYO and fleet devices.

Testing Enterprise VoIP Systems Within a Business Continuity Strategy

Your organization should already be running annual business continuity “fire drills.” Your VoIP communications should be a part of those “fire drills.” Whatever C-suite executive is in charge of initiating, monitoring, and evaluating your business continuity drill each year should also be looking at how well your VoIP service, your VoIP devices, and your VoIP apps perform within a simulated emergency scenario.

VoIP Monitoring

Some enterprise VoIP solutions will provide you with built-in VoIP monitoring. Some monitoring systems are better developed than others, but for the most part, VoIP vendors do an acceptable job with their monitoring features. However, verification of uptime by an unbiased, third-party monitoring service can be a good idea.

Service Level Agreements

Have your organization’s lawyers sit in with your outsourced VoIP consultant as you go through the SLAs delivered by the VoIP providers you are considering. What are they guaranteeing? What is the recourse if they don’t deliver on their promises? These questions should be considered at an initial stage rather than in a business continuity emergency scenario. Of course, we don’t want your organization ever to have to use your enterprise VoIP in a business continuity emergency. We wish you and your company only happiness and success! But, it’s always best to be prepared. With these things in mind and following the guidance of VoIP consultants, you will be well on your way to protecting your business and the livelihood of your employees.