What is SIP calling, and why is it so essential to the future of communications?
Business leaders have searched for ways to make their operations more efficient, cost-effective, and manageable for years. But as businesses grow and workplaces evolve, so do the number of communication channels organizations need to govern.
Legacy communication solutions like PTSN and ISDN lines have made it notoriously difficult for companies to scale and enhance their communication strategies without excessive cost. SIP calling tools offer a valuable alternative.
With SIP, companies can move their existing PBX phone system into the cloud, manage voice, video, and instant messaging through the same platform, and pave the way for consistent growth. Here’s everything you need to know about SIP calling and why it’s essential today.
What is SIP Calling? The Basics
Session Initiation Protocol Calling, or “SIP calling,” is the process of transmitting communication data through the Internet using SIP trunks or channels. It allows organizations to run voice, video, and instant messaging interactions through an internet-based service provider.
The Session Initiation Protocol works similarly to concepts like HTTP and SMTP. Devices using SIP calling solutions communicate either directly or through a proxy, allowing users to share packets of data. On a fundamental level, SIP offers a valuable alternative to traditional phone systems.
Previously, companies relied heavily on PSTN or ISDN connections to facilitate calls. With these technologies, communication information is transmitted through copper wires and switches in regions worldwide.
Though PSTN and ISDN were once the norm for many businesses and consumers, they’re becoming increasingly outdated. These technologies can no longer accommodate the needs of evolving businesses as communication channels grow and companies scale worldwide.
As the inefficiency and complexity of IDSN and PSTN tools have grown more apparent, governments and communications vendors around the world have begun actively pushing consumers toward alternatives. By 2025, BT in the UK will be switching off the PTSN and ISDN lines entirely.
This means every company will need to embrace an IP-based communications strategy, either through SIP trunking or VoIP.
How Does SIP Calling Work?
SIP calling might sound like a complex concept, but it’s relatively straightforward. SIP solutions take advantage of the existing capacity of your internet connection, whether it’s Wi-Fi or enterprise broadband. This means to ensure exceptional SIP calls, companies also need to invest in building a robust network environment.
SIP eliminates many middle-man steps involved in a standard calling structure. Although it might seem like you can simply plug in a handset and start calling people worldwide with a PTSN or IDSN phone, many moving parts are under the hood.
Traditional lines rely on primary rate interface (PRI) lines, private branch exchanges (PBX), and hardwired access to the Public Switched Telephone Network. With SIP calling, PRI lines are rendered unnecessary. Instead, a SIP trunk uses the internet to form a direct line from the PBX to the PTSN.
This eliminates the copper cabling requirement, enabling companies to take advantage of global communication opportunities with exceptional audio quality.
Is SIP Calling the Same as VoIP Calling?
VoIP and SIP calling have a lot of overlapping elements. They both empower companies to move their communication networks into the Internet realm. This makes SIP and VoIP ideal for organizations looking to stay ahead of the PSTN/IDSN switch-off.
However, there are some critical differences between VoIP and SIP. SIP calling uses technology to establish, adjust, and end multimedia interactions, such as VoIP calls and conferencing sessions. Requests are usually processed by a SIP proxy, ensuring messages are received in their original format.
This means companies can use SIP technology to transfer not just voice but also instant messages and video calls. SIP phones can also perform independently, without a computer, and SIP services can be used to manage SIP device registrations for things like VoIP desk phones.
On the other hand, VoIP is a solution that utilizes a family of technologies to send voice over the internet. VoIP phones must be connected to a computer and can only manage audio content (not video or messaging).
What is SIP Calling? The Benefits of SIP Calls
So, what is SIP calling good for?
The most significant benefit of SIP for businesses today is it allows them to maintain communication continuity. As PSTN and IDSN lines worldwide are switched off, SIP calling and VoIP technologies are becoming increasingly essential.
Without these technologies, future companies simply won’t be able to connect their teams, communicate with customers, or maintain productivity.
However, a SIP strategy can also have other benefits, such as:
1. Cost-effective Communication
SIP can reduce average business communication costs by as much as 70%. Legacy communication tools incur higher prices for a range of reasons. There are more maintenance and upkeep fees to maintain the wires and cables these systems require.
Additionally, when you rely on traditional communication tools, your costs for international calls can increase due to the number of switches and different carriers you need to access. SIP calling has virtually no installation and maintenance costs. It allows for unlimited toll-free calling and even reduces service disruptions, making you less likely to lose business.
2. Easy Scalability
Scaling a traditional phone system as your business evolves is expensive and time-consuming. Alternatively, upgrading and advancing your SIP strategy is much easier. With the right SIP calling vendor, you can instantly add new lines and numbers to your services.
SIP solutions make it easier to flex as your business evolves. You don’t need to buy more physical lines to handle additional phone numbers and concurrent calls. SIP solutions can even scale across multiple countries worldwide, making them ideal for global businesses.
3. Improved Efficiency and Productivity
SIP calling technology allows companies to create a unified virtual environment for various communication channels. Instead of consistently switching between different video, voice, and messaging tools, you can synchronize everything in one place.
This leads to better collaboration, efficiency, and productivity among teams. With SIP calling, employees can communicate anywhere, provided they have an internet connection, which supports remote and hybrid work. Additionally, SIP allows calls to be routed to mobile devices, so teams can continue to access calls on the move.
4. Reliable, High-Quality Interactions
Physical landlines are designed to be secure and stable, but they can often fail when companies need them most. Power outages, bad weather, and system outages can all lead to dropped calls. SIP calling ensures a consistent way for companies to receive and manage calls no matter what.
Today’s SIP services also support high-definition calls with extended frequencies to ensure voice and video are transferred clearly to each user. This can help to improve both user and customer experiences in your business.
5. Exceptional User Experience
If you’re worried that investing in SIP calling will mean training team members to use new technologies, you can relax. SIP is notoriously simple to install and use. You can usually manage everything about your SIP account from a centralized interface.
Your SIP provider will ensure you can easily manage everything from call routing to extensions without additional training. Some solution providers can even embed SIP into the apps you already use, such as Microsoft Teams.
6. Greater Customer Satisfaction
SIP calls can even help companies to improve their approach to customer experience. Traditional phone systems can make managing many incoming calls and contacts difficult. However, SIP technologies provide access to intelligent routing solutions and tools for managing call flow requirements.
Companies investing in SIP solutions with a UCaaS vendor can even use analytics and insights to help them improve call quality metrics and better assist customers. Plus, SIP tools make assigning calls easy, forwarding them to the right customer agent, and even recording conversations.
Is SIP Calling Available for iPhone and Android?
One of the significant benefits of SIP technology is its ability to support mobility in the workforce. Hybrid and remote work are becoming increasingly common, and today’s employees are rarely tied to a physical desk. This makes an internet-based calling solution crucial to continued productivity.
SIP solutions allow companies to empower their teams with calling tools wherever they are, on any device with an internet connection. Mobile phone leaders like Apple and Google even offer developers tools to help them integrate calling capabilities into phone apps.
Most top SIP calling vendors today offer dedicated mobile apps for remote and distributed employees as part of their comprehensive service. Once the SIP service has been configured for a company, employees need to download an app to access all of the business calling and conferencing features they need in one place.
These tools simply leverage the Wi-Fi and mobile connections available on today’s smartphones to turn every portable device into a potential business phone.
The Evolution of the SIP Calling Market
The question “What is SIP calling?” has grown more common in recent years as companies have been forced to move away from traditional communication platforms. Business leaders have been exploring the potential of IP connections for everyday communications for years.
However, solutions like SIP, VoIP, and UCaaS became increasingly essential when the pandemic struck. The rapid growth of remote work pushed businesses to invest in more flexible, cost-effective communication tools.
The SIP industry is expected to reach $26.82 billion in value by 2027.
SIP services are also evolving due to changing technology trends in the modern world. Advanced internet connections and solutions like 5G will benefit SIP technologies. They’ll help companies empower employees with higher-definition voice and video content, stronger connections, and better resiliency.
At the same time, solutions like artificial intelligence will make routing and managing SIP calls more straightforward and convenient for business leaders. Automated tools can already assess information about SIP calls to help transfer sessions to the right agent. Intelligent software can even implement automated redundancy and failover strategies for brands.
SIP Calling: The Future of Communications
So, what is SIP calling?
In simple terms, the technology is here to replace the outdated legacy phone systems of years passed. PSTN and ISDN solutions may have been enough for businesses a few decades ago. But now the world of work and communications is changing.
Staying “old-school” with your phone system doesn’t just put you at risk of higher operational costs. It could harm your productivity and make it impossible to scale your business.
Moreover, with the PSTN/IDSN switch off just around the corner, the switch to SIP calling will soon be mandatory for many business leaders. SIP, VoIP, and unified communications are here to stay. Don’t let your business lag behind in the communications revolution.
from UC Today https://ift.tt/v49uV1n
0 Comments