SIP Trunks have changed the telecommunications landscape considerably by reducing costs and increasing capabilities. Now if only government organizations would make a leap to affordable IP Phone Systems! A recent article by Federal Computer Week claimed “videoconferencing slow to gain ground in government“, which is an adoption issue that is costing Americans money. A poll recently released by Telework Exhchange found that despite a presidential mandate and potential to save billions of dollars yearly, only around a third of employees are taking advantage of it. Of those polled, the biggest obstacles listed were tools and bandwidth. Well, seeing as we all want lower costs and especially lower taxes, here are some tools and tips to help with those issues:
No worker will take video seriously if it is not easily accessible. That’s why I am going to recommend an easy to use video phone on every desk. While some may argue that replacing desk phones with softphones is the quickest way to encourage video usage, I think having a tool at hand can dramatically alter the work habits of employees. Futhermore, this can happen without the setbacks related to new technology adoption and training. A phone is a phone, having the video component integrated into a familiar tool can organically lead to the savings expected from videoconferencing.
Affordable Tools to encourage videoconferencing
- SIP Trunking – available from Level(3), Call Centric, and more
- 3CX Phone System – an Open Platform IP PBX
- Grandstream GXV3140 – a SIP Compatible IP Phone
