Today lots of businesses are making the switch to Voice Over Internet Protocol (or VoIP for short) as a way to save money on expensive monthly telephone bills. Of course consumers are also taking advantage of internet telephony but it's the business world that typically has the most to gain by incorporating VoIP into their telephone service, for a number of reasons. Here are some of the top reasons why businesses should consider VoIP.

Integrated Communications and Added Features

Far from being just another telephone service, VoIP actually integrates several forms of communication. Of course, you get a lot of the standard features you'll find with most telephone services, VoIP can also incorporate enhanced calling features not available anywhere else, at least not for the same low price. Some of these features include:

• Integrated voice mail and email: Listen to your email on your VoIP-enabled phone or read your voice mail on your computer)
• Web access: High end VoIP phones come equipped with screens that allow you to surf the web right from the phone itself
• Softphone support: You can access your data and make phone calls from any computer connected to the Internet by using specialized software to place and receive calls...you'll no longer have to go "find a phone" when you're traveling and won't have to burn up costly mobile phone minutes to keep in touch with the office.

One of the biggest concerns when switching to VoIP is what type of equipment you will need to make the switch and how much it will cost. Of course depending on the answer and how much calling you do, it might not make sense to switch to VoIP. However, most businesses (and even consumers) can realize significant savings by switching to VoIP and can do so while keeping most of their legacy phone equipment.

Mobile and Flexible Calling

With options like softphones and "follow me" features, your mobile workforce has plenty of alternatives for placing and receiving calls. In fact, using the "follow me" feature, your mobile staff can have their phones ring both in the office and on their cell phone or other mobile device so they're always within easy reach.

Reduced Cost

If you've ever tried making heads or tails of your monthly phone bill, you quickly realized that the phone company nickel and dimes you for everything under the Sun and varies how much they charge per call based on which calling area the recipient is in. This sort of nonsense is great for the phone company but makes it difficult to gauge what your monthly bill is going to be in order to make projections for down the road. By using VoIP service for out-of-area calling, you get to enjoy the simplicity and lower overall cost that comes with paying a flat fee. This is one of the biggest benefits of switching to VoIP since it can relieve quite a few headaches and significantly impact a company's bottom line.

To get started making your transition to VoIP, your first step should be researching the different options available to you. There are several VoIP info sites online that provide this type of info as well as the sites for the individual companies that provide internet telephony service. Be sure to evaluate the various plans each company has to offer, the contractual terms and how the plans can be incorporated into your business.

Pretty soon, you'll be able taking advantage of the lower cost and better features that come with incorporating VoIP into your business telephone system and most likely, you'll never look back once you adopt this increasingly popular technology.