Are you looking to increase your communications efficiency without incurring high hardware costs? Fortunately, moving away from legacy systems to newer solutions can achieve just that.
However, many businesses aren’t ready to fully move to cloud-based communications. Instead, they may prefer a hybrid approach. If this sounds like your business, then SIP Trunking may be for you. If you want to leverage your existing infrastructure while modernizing your communications, you should consider the following questions:
- What is SIP Trunking?
- How does SIP Trunking work?
- What are the features of SIP Trunking?
- What are the benefits of SIP Trunking?
- What should you look for in a provider?
- Why choose Intuity?
What is SIP Trunking?
SIP Trunking is a service delivered by a provider like Intuity. It is an overlay to your existing broadband connection (cable, DSL, T1/E1, Ethernet, etc.) or can be bundled with your IP network service. Put simply, it leverages Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) to make a connection from a Private Branch Exchange (PBX) to the Internet.
How does this help your company? It allows you to take advantage of the Internet for your communications. By replacing your traditional lines (such as your voice T1s and PRIs) with SIP Trunking, you can reap cost benefits and gain more flexible calling. For example, with SIP you can support multimedia communications (voice, video, messaging, etc.).
In other words, SIP Trunking can support:
- Intracompany calling
- Business continuity
- Unified Communications
- Call Centers Virtual presence
In short, SIP Trunking is seen as one of the most popular ways of saving money and maximizing your current investment in your PBX.
How does SIP Trunking Work?
How does SIP Trunking work, though? The SIP protocol is used to connect numerous types of communications devices (phones, PBX systems, servers, etc.). It does this by establishing an IP session online (for anything from voice calls to videoconferencing) and routing these communications over the Internet. Once your SIP Trunking is enabled, calls are then routed through existing VoIP or PBX systems.
Your voice or video communications are converted into data packets and sent across the Internet. Once the call reaches its destination, the data packets and transformed back into their original form.
If you want to enable VoIP through SIP Trunking, you usually need a SIP-compatible PBX (or an IP PBX) or a Unified Communication (UC) platform. You also need a SIP endpoint. A SIP endpoint can be anything from desktop phones, softphones, or mobile devices.
What are the Features of SIP Trunking?
With modern SIP Trunking, there is a large range of features that can help meet your needs. If you want to successfully deploy a SIP Trunking solution, it is important to make sure it has the right mix of features for your company. Some of the most important features include:
Interoperability with existing systems – As discussed, one of the best features of SIP Trunking is that it can oftentimes work with your existing equipment. Because SIP is an industry-standard protocol, it is commonly supported by software and hardware that businesses are already using.
- Toll-Free numbers and unlimited long-distance calling – In addition to local calling, SIP also supports toll-free numbers and features.
- Voicemail and caller ID – These basic features are supported in SIP Trunking.
- Business continuity – If a natural disaster or some other emergency occurs (such as a fire, flood, etc.), SIP Trunking can automatically reroute your calls to an alternative location.
- Call data records – With call data records, your business can review real-time or archived data to gain insight into how your communications can be improved.
- Nomadic 911 – This feature allows for the automatic routing of emergency calls associated with your physical address.
While this is not a comprehensive list, the aforementioned features should illustrate just how valuable SIP Trunking could be to your business.
What are the Benefits of SIP Trunking?
When you compare a Cloud PBX to an on-premises PBX, it becomes evident that a Cloud PBX has more advantages. However, if you pair an on-premises PBX with SIP Trunking, you can gain a lot of the benefits of a Cloud PBX. It’s a great way to use your current infrastructure to gain modern rewards.
Here are the most common benefits of SIP Trunking:
- Cost savings – There are a few different reasons why SIP Trunking can save you money. For one, SIP limits the amount of time calls travel over networks. If you have a lot of long-distance calling, this is especially advantageous. With SIP Trunking, you also only have to purchase what you need. With traditional calling, you typically have to purchase in bundles. In short, you can oftentimes save as much as sixty percent off of your monthly phone bill by switching to SIP Trunking.
- Better performance – With SIP Trunking, you can consolidate your voice and data services. This frees up bandwidth and can help accommodate seasonal spikes in call volume.
- Scalability – SIP Trunking lets you accommodate business growth. With traditional phone systems, you would have to physically install new lines. SIP Trunking is more flexible because it is virtual. Therefore, adding or reducing channels is simple and low-cost.
- Flexibility – As mentioned, SIP Trunking is very flexible, mostly due to it being virtual. If you want to operate internationally, SIP Trunking is a great asset; it allows you to operate with local number codes.
- Simple integration – You can integrate SIP Trunking with IP PBX, VoIP, and UC solutions. It is straightforward and simple, permitting you to leverage specific capabilities of the applicable systems.
- Centralized communications – SIP Trunking can serve as a hub for all of the different ways we communicate. Whether through desktop phones, home phones, cell phones, or softphones, you can centralize them all with SIP Trunking. Now, instead of using different phone numbers for each device, you can use one number for all.
- Risk mitigation – While working with a single direct connection can put your business at risk if it goes offline, SIP Trunking has built-in redundancies to lower the risk of downtime.
What Should You Look for in a Provider?
If you want your SIP Trunking solution to be successful, you need a good provider. A good SIP Trunking provider is vital to helping your business integrate the technology and manage it long-term. Therefore, you need to choose carefully. The wrong provider may result in a slower integration and long-term problems. Here is what you should look for when making your decision:
- Security – Choosing a provider that offers security-enhancing features is a top priority in this day and an age. If your business handles sensitive or confidential information, this is especially true. It should be a key consideration, because a security breach can hinder not only your communications but your business reputation as well.
- Customer support – One of the most important aspects of a company is its communications system. Thus, you need a provider that can offer responsive, customer-focused service if you have a problem.
- Cost savings – While cost savings shouldn’t be your only consideration when choosing a provider, the right one will have a pricing model that works well for your company.
- Features – When choosing between platforms, you should decide which provider offers the features that most align with your company’s requirements. Some providers offer features a la carte, and this can often be best for you.
- Scalability and reliability – Is your potential provider able to grow with your company? Can they offer the uptime you require? You need to make sure that your provider can handle your long-term needs.
Why Choose Intuity
Intuity understands that business is about relationships. Without reliable communications, it is challenging to have a beneficial relationship. Our SIP Trunking solutions permit companies to use the power of their existing PBX systems by enhancing them with SIP. Here’s how we can help you:
- Replace your expensive dial tone – Because your costly PRI and POTS trunks aren’t needed any longer, we can save you up to sixty percent off of your monthly phone bill.
- Pay for only what you need – You only have to buy what you use. Under traditional PBX plans, PRIs are bundled into 23 channels; whether you need all of them is not. Intuity can start you with as few as two SIP Trunks and expand to over ten thousand.
- Handle call volume spikes – With Intuity’s bursting capabilities, we can handle your seasonal or business-related call volume spikes.
- Consolidate voice and data services – You can make the most of your bandwidth by using your IP network for both voice and data.
- Uninterrupted service – The Intuity SIP platform is georedundant, with multiple East and West Coast data centers.
The Takeaway
As illustrated, there are many reasons why SIP Trunking has grown in popularity. It offers businesses a simple and cost-efficient method of modernizing communications while leveraging existing equipment.