Managing growth and innovation in an all-IP world

Dom Norton at Spitfire outlines what businesses need to consider as the UK moves towards an all-IP telephony environment

Openreach has served notice that it will switch off the analogue Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) along with Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) telephone services in 2025.

In the UK we have relied upon a copper telephone network for nearly 150 years now but this is no longer a viable option. The existing copper PSTN will be entirely replaced by faster fibre-optic infrastructure with all-IP (internet protocol) traffic.

The 2025 switch-off isn’t very far away at all now, which means that UK businesses need to have all their ducks in a row. Many will have already begun preparing. If you find yourself late to the party, then there are technologies that can help your business to prepare for the big switch-off.

Don’t procrastinate

If your business does nothing ahead of the switch-off in 2025 then the outcome is easy to map. By not switching over to a different telephony solution by then, your business will be left entirely without service. But starting the process (choosing a new solution) sooner rather than later has advantages that will help to ease the transition.

For example, has your business already been offered the option to ditch a traditional PSTN phone line altogether in favour of “Voice over Internet” (VoIP)? If so, it would be a good move to make now. It means your business will stay ahead of the curve with respect to the switch-off date and avoid any potential bottlenecks due to large numbers of all trying to switch at the same time because they’ve all left it till the last minute.

The switch from analogue phone lines to VoIP is going to happen anyway, so why leave it late? With your current broadband connection, it’s relatively simple to add on VoIP services and keep your existing landline number.

Business benefits from the move to all-IP

When your business does make the move to VoIP telephony then there are currently two main options available – SIP Trunking or a Hosted (Cloud) Phone System.

Opting for SIP Trunking will allow your business to make calls through your on-site internet connection via your on-site PBX (“private branch exchange”, a private telephone network used within an organization.

If you choose a Hosted PBX solution, then you can switch your telephony system to a completely cloud-based solution. This will mean you won’t need any physical hardware for system management or to make and receive calls.

A hosted PBX fits in perfectly with the requirements of the modern workforce. With many businesses now coping with the challenge of remote and hybrid working, this solution allows teams to stay in touch productively with all calls made over VoIP. On the basis that you have an Internet connection, you can make a call from anywhere.

If you are a relatively small business, such as an independent high street shop that only uses one or two phone lines, then adopting a fully hosted solution is beneficial as typically you only pay for the capacity used.

In either scenario, a hosted PBX is relatively low cost, easy to manage and very scalable, allowing businesses of all sizes to grow successfully without any communications dilemmas.

Overall, your costs are likely to decrease when switching to VoIP. The SIP network (which VoIP calls are transmitted over) has been designed to make the management of the network much more cost-effective - that means cheaper for your business.

And, very importantly, your business will enjoy improved call quality. VoIP provides for better quality calls, clearer and sharper sound quality which is beneficial for productivity and efficiency.

Key elements in the switch to all-IP

When it comes to adopting IP telephony it would be naive to think that a simple switch of phone lines will suffice and – “Hey presto, I’m IP-ready”. There are costs associated with upgrading traditional on-premise systems and some complexity when it comes to migrating to hosted cloud-based telephony services.

There is little doubt that a key requirement for a successful IP telephone system is a robust and suitable IP data network infrastructure that ensures seamless connectivity and faultless call quality.

With little over a year remaining before the UK witnesses the dawn of the all-IP era, it is important that businesses of all shapes and sizes are up to speed with what the switch-off entails for them. There is no advantage to leaving things until the last minute and every reason to navigate your business ahead of the curve and get started today with VoIP.

Dom Norton is a Director of Spitfire, specialists in business-class Wide Area Networking, internet connectivity and SIP Voice over IP

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com