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Best VoIP Solutions For The Remote Office: Page 11 of 11

While VoIP phones are out there, architecting a mixed voice-data network isn't easy. Network architects need to invest the time to engineer the WAN and LAN correctly for optimum voice quality and availability. Using third-party SIP products obviously complicates interoperability and deployment, but all the vendors today provide end-to-end solutions.

Branch office VoIP systems already provide significant benefits in some companies by helping them cut operating costs and reduce capital expenditures in new offices. With a common telephony system, customer calls to one office can be transferred to another. Users can call from any phone as if they were calling from the one on their desk, and mobile workers can gain the full functionality of their corporate phone system while on the road.

The risks of rolling out VoIP in a new branch office are fairly low. The bigger challenge comes in justifying and deploying VoIP corporate-wide, or in replacing an existing, functional PBX. Once a decision has been made, engineering the network is also a challenge. Perhaps the biggest issue is getting buy-in from line-of-business managers. Involving them in the decision process will go a long way toward managing expectations down the road.