Why SIP? 11 Benefits of SIP Trunking

Voice-over-IP telephones (VoIP) are quickly becoming the most common way for organizations to manage voice communications. Adopting VoIP and SIP trunking allows organizations more communication options than legacy PRI and Centrex services via major telecommunications providers.

Organizations who are considering ways to save on their phone bill may consider SIP trunking as an option. With a cloud provider for SIP services, the initial investment is minimal. If you’re confused by SIP, its purpose, and what it replaces, you are in the right place.

Continue reading to learn what a SIP trunk is, how it works, and how your business may benefit from adopting this communications technology.

What is SIP Trunking?

SIP Trunking uses Internet Protocol (IP) to enable organizations to place telephone calls through the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). SIP trunking technology requires either an Internet connection, or a VoIP vendor, an IP-enabled PBX, and a border element or gateway to support IP-based voice communications. Using SIP, voice becomes an application on the IP Network like email or web is an application.

There’s no physical trunk associated with SIP, despite the fact that it sounds like a bulky, cumbersome technology. Instead, it’s a lightweight set of protocols delivered via an SIP provider, enabling your organization to unlock the benefits of Internet-based phones.

To learn more check out SIP Phone Service: 10 Things You Need to Know

10 Benefits of SIP Trunking

Organizations considering the switch to SIP are often familiar with its cost savings potential. If your firm places a lot of long distance or international calls, you may save a staggering amount compared to traditional phone service.

While this attribute of SIP is attractive, the benefits are far more than just financial in nature. Let's look at the ten most-common benefits of SIP Trunking.

1. Cost Savings

With traditional phone service, your organization is subject to different, often mystifying charges for local, long-distance, and international calling. SIP trunking allows organizations instant access to simple, understandable pricing generally billed per-user basis.

Instead of monthly shock and confusion over your voice communications statement, organizations that switch to a SIP provider usually enjoy predictable monthly costs. One study revealed that the average company who made the switch to SIP saved 50% each month, though that figure is often much higher for organizations with a high volume of long-distance and international calling.

Switching to SIP is probably a lot easier and cheaper than you may think. Demystifying the Transition to SIP Trunking provides more details.

2. Immediate ROI

With many technology investments, organizations may not appreciate returns on investment for years. In some cases, the tech investment is a gamble due to a lack of case studies providing ROI. Fortunately, SIP is a well-established technology with minimal upfront investment costs. Without a capital investment, organizations who switch to SIP begin appreciating cost savings from the first monthly billing statement.

3. Global Potential & Mobility

SIP supports your organization’s need for fast growth across multiple geographic locations. By combining your voice and data into a single network, your organization’s geographic locations and remote workers can be consolidated. The fast scalability of SIP also allows your organization to scale with extreme flexibility as you open new sites or establish full-time remote workers.

4. Unified Communications

SIP can act as a gateway towards Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS). When selecting a SIP provider that offers a full suite of communication tools such as video conferencing and fiber-optic Internet connectivity, your organization can unlock the benefits of an IP-based communications suite that includes mobility, instant messaging, collaboration apps, and other flexible, cloud-based tools for business productivity.

5. Mobility

SIP allows your organizations to connect your employees' mobile devices via flexible, user-friendly VoIP apps that can be securely installed. This allows your mobile workers to remain connected to your on-premise based communication systems, and fully reachable at all times via a single, dedicated business phone line. The mobility attributes of SIP and VoIP also enable organizations to maintain communications if the Internet connection fails.

6. Network Consolidation

Most companies still pay for telephone voice service and data separately, even when using a single provider. SIP trunking enables organizations to move their voice and data into a single network, treating voice calls as a form of data transmission.

While this will increase the bandwidth demands on your data connection, it ultimately saves significant money and increases reliability, especially with fiber-optic Internet connectivity.

7. No More Physical Infrastructure

With traditional phone service, expanding your organization’s infrastructure can be challenging. You may need to wait lengthy periods of time for the local telecommunications company to install new phone lines.

Remote employees or individuals who work from home often need a company-provided mobile device, which is another investment on the part of your organization, just to communicate with colleagues.

With SIP, your organization can add phone lines by simply connecting handsets to your data connection. Individuals who work off-site can be integrated into your company network and be reached by a dedicated internal phone number and five-digit extension.

8. No Costly Hardware Investments

SIP trunking does not require additional hardware investment. With many alternative methods of telephony, such as PRIs, your organization may need to invest in costly additions to hardware as you scale phone lines. With a SIP provider, adding phone lines or add-on services is as simple as purchasing an additional handset and scaling your monthly service agreement.

9. Reliability

While traditional telephone service can be interrupted due to weather events, shenanigans in the telephone room or a drunk driver hitting a telephone pole, SIP trunking is a reliable technology. With a vendor that offers mobile-failover as a form of redundancy, your phones can be used for communications even in case of some failure by allowing you to route your calls to other offices or employee mobile devices.

10. Simple Management

Your IT team will never have to use their mobile device to wait on hold to speak to a customer service representative again. SIP trunking and VoIP phones offer easy-to-use administrative portals for on-site management, including actions like adjusting call routing, changing extensions, or adding phone lines fully on-demand.

11. Security & Compliance

Security in SIP trunking relies heavily on robust encryption protocols, like Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP). Deploying TLS and SRTP fortifies SIP trunking infrastructure against threats, ensuring communication confidentiality and integrity.

The baked-in security protocols of SIP trunking help companies in highly regulated sectors like healthcare, finance, and government stay compliant. For instance, HIPAA mandates stringent protection of patient health information (PHI), while GLBA and SOX require data security and privacy standards for financial institutions. 

Examples of  the Benefits of SIP Trunking in Organizations

What do all these benefits look like in reality? Here's how SIP trunking can be beneficial for companies in healthcare, finance, education, and retail in improving communication, reducing costs, and enhancing productivity,

Healthcare

• Improved Communication: SIP trunking facilitates secure and efficient healthcare communication, aiding appointment scheduling, telemedicine consultations, and medical record sharing.
• Cost Reduction: By consolidating voice and data services, healthcare organizations can reduce communication costs associated with traditional phone lines and fax machines.
• Enhanced Productivity: Features like unified communications and mobile integration allow healthcare professionals to collaborate effectively, streamline workflows, and provide timely patient care.

Finance

• Improved Communication: SIP trunking enables seamless communication for financial institutions with clients, transactions, and customer support.
• Cost Reduction: SIP trunking reduces telecommunication expenses and maintenance costs for financial firms by eliminating the need for multiple phone lines and hardware.
• Enhanced Productivity: Unified communication tools streamline financial professionals' access to client info, meetings, and document sharing, enhancing productivity and responsiveness.

Education

• Improved Communication: SIP trunking facilitates effective communication among students, faculty, and administrators through voice calls, video conferencing, and messaging platforms.
• Cost Reduction: Educational institutions can cut communication costs by switching to SIP trunking for long-distance calls and campus-wide communication.
• Enhanced Productivity: SIP trunking can boost collaboration, engagement, and educational outcomes for students and educators with virtual classrooms and mobile connectivity.

Retail

• Improved Communication: SIP trunking offers retailers omnichannel communication options, enhancing customer service and satisfaction.
• Cost Reduction: Retailers can cut costs by using VoIP technology to consolidate communication services, reducing expenses on multiple phone lines and hardware.
• Enhanced Productivity: SIP trunking streamlines retail sales and support processes, enabling efficient customer inquiry handling with call routing, voicemail-to-email, and CRM integration.

Is SIP Trunking the Right Choice for My Company?

While SIP Trunking is a very well-established gateway to significant cost savings, reliability, and flexibility, no two organizations are the same. There are no technological silver bullets. While SIP trunking offers few disadvantages compared to alternatives, it requires sufficient data connectivity bandwidth to work effectively. Organizations who choose SIP trunking as part of an on-premise VoIP solution will need to plan for some up-front capital investment in equipment, and may have trouble finding skilled telecommunications professionals for implementation and ongoing maintenance.

However, SIP is the right choice for many organizations who are ready to reap the benefits of Internet-based phones and establish a relationship with a hosted VoIP vendor and move their business communications to the cloud. If your organization has ever struggled with confusing monthly phone bills, unreliable phone lines, high calling costs, or balancing on-site phone lines with employee mobile devices, you may benefit significantly from making the switch to SIP.

To learn more about how SIP can enhance your business communications and how much you stand to save with SIP trunking, we recommend The Business Phone Buyers Guide for more insight into selecting the right options, vendors, and handsets for your organization.