VoIP in Philadelphia
A friend recently referred me to a customer who was looking for VoIP in Philadelphia. She did a Google search and asked around, but really didn’t get a whole lot of results to choose from. We spoke over the phone and it became clear right away that her business was suffering from issues that VoIP could resolve. They had very little control over routing calls to the appropriate person and had a difficult time prioritizing and responding to voicemail messages.
Because we were able to configure a new service to capture every call and help them get back to the important business opportunities right away, they were willing to increase their monthly expenditure on telecommunications.
Do you know where to look for VoIP in Philadelphia?
I was very happy that I was able to help them, but what was more interesting to me was the fact that she wasn’t able to find an answer by simply Googling “VoIP in Philadelphia”. The results from that search gave her a few residential-grade results and a few local providers whose sales reps weren’t prepared to listen to or resolve her business needs.
This is not uncommon in the VoIP world – many of the larger providers with recognizable names have little experience with sophisticated applications that businesses need. In addition, many of the expanding startups have a tendency to overhire a sales force to knock on doors before they know the product well enough to offer real consultative direction to the customer.
What also became clear to me was that she had a perception that she needed a provider of VoIP in Philadelphia. Certainly the last time she ordered phone service or expanded her phone system, that was the case. But what she and probably most other business owners aren’t aware of is that with today’s hosted VoIP technology, you don’t need a Philadelphia VoIP company to order VoIP in Philadelphia.
Hosted VoIP is changing the rules.
Hosted VoIP is currently revolutionizing the way businesses use telephones, and there are major advantages to those businesses, many of which I’ve written about in this blog. One that hadn’t occurred to me to talk about in the past, though, was that choosing hosted VoIP as a service also has the advantage of including non-local providers.
The reason is that with this new type of phone service, the “brains” of the system are located in high-availability data centers that the carriers manage, as opposed to at the customer’s location. The support that they provide is all done remotely via IP, therefore they don’t need to roll service trucks to the customer’s location. If a company wanted to purchase a phone system in the past, they would have to get a local phone provider that could come onsite to perform the install. Businesses have been so used to buying phone systems this way that they naturally assume that they need to continue buying local.
How does this benefit businesses?
What this means for businesses is that they now have a widely expanded set of options for phone service, no matter their location. Of course, there are many differentiators between providers, their platforms, and the way they support their service (see my blog page for more info on these differentiators). But in the end, having this wide variety ultimately benefits businesses by lowering costs and eliminating companies that provide poor service.
It also means that when a business moves from its physical location, it can take its numbers with it. My very first VoIP customer chose my service many years ago because they were moving to PA and wanted to retain their NJ numbers that they’d been publishing for many years. Hosted VoIP was the best, cheapest option to be able to accomplish this.
Good Hosted VoIP providers can service your organization from anywhere.
There are many reasons to live and work in this great city. I have been based here for many years and know some excellent local providers of VoIP in Philadelphia. I can also tell you that there will soon be even more options for VoIP in Philadelphia from companies looking to tap into the U.S.’s 5th biggest market.
This may make it more challenging for businesses to understand that their communications options aren’t confined within the city limits as an influx of local sales reps will be knocking on doors. Ultimately though, businesses should benefit from this increased competition. In the meantime, they will need to do their research to get the best service – or rely on an experienced consultant to help them choose the best option for their business.