Enjoy all the benefits of IP telephony

With IP telephony, organisations can access new features offering benefits such as simpler collaboration among employees or improved monitoring of communications. What do they need to know about this migration?

Interview with Sophia Kadri Product Boost

By 2024, in Luxembourg as elsewhere in Europe, the ISDN technology that still supports many telephone communications will no longer be in use. An extensive nationwide migration plan has been put in place to support organisations in their migration to All IP. In the future, all our voice calls will therefore go through the Internet Protocol (IP), just like all the digital communications we carry out in our daily lives when we surf the Internet or send e-mails.

This development affects all users of telephony services. It should enable them to benefit from a high-quality service and access new opportunities.

Voice over IP with comprehensive quality and security guarantees

It goes without saying that Luxembourg companies have questions about this development, and these must be answered.

For example, several organisations have expressed concern about having their communications exposed on the internet.

In the future, voice communications will be based on the Internet Protocol. However, this does not mean that they will go through the public internet. Many of POST’s business customers are already enjoying the advantages of Voice over IP (VoIP), and benefiting from high-quality communications backed by all the necessary security guarantees.

For this purpose, POST operates its own VoIP platforms in Luxembourg. Communications are routed through our secure private network. This separate line, which has no contact with the public internet, allows us to give priority to voice calls, thus ensuring optimal quality and security. Our VoIP platforms are also geo-redundant. This allows us to offer continuity of service in all circumstances.

Why migrate to IP telephony?

Analogue ISDN technology, which still supports voice calls for many customers, is becoming obsolete. It will soon be unsupported. Voice over IP is now the new standard adopted by all operators. This change is underway not just in Luxembourg, but across all European players. In the coming months, everyone will have to migrate to this new technology.

Looking beyond necessity, IP telephony offers many advantages.

What advantages does IP telephony offer?

Firstly, IP telephony allows for higher-quality audio exchanges. Secondly, it provides access to many features related to line management and call tracking. Voice over IP facilitates enterprise-wide collaboration. It makes it easier to forward calls from landlines to mobiles, set up a single contact number for each member of staff and route all communications channels to the same workstation.

What should people look out for in this migration?

Both private customers and organisations will be asked to make choices as part of this migration to ensure continuity of service.

This change may affect the proper functioning of payment terminals, fax machines or even lift call buttons. Companies therefore need to draw up an inventory of needs to ensure that the services they use regularly will still be accessible after the migration and, if necessary, arrange for them to be upgraded.

Can a company keep its telephone exchange?

To embrace the change, ensure that services run smoothly and enjoy the full benefits of All IP, organisations need to be prepared.

Does my company have a telephone exchange? If so, and if the company does not wish to replace it, the company should ensure it is compatible with IP technology by configuring a SIP Trunk gateway.

By using this link to POST’s VoIP platforms, professionals with a VoIP or even ISDN PBX telephone exchange can access all the features of Voice over IP without having to renew their infrastructure.

Consider current and future needs

This migration is also a chance to rethink telephony needs, taking into account the opportunities offered by modern technology. To do this, the company must take stock of the services that are essential to its operations, and also consider its needs. How many employees does it have? Do they travel around? Do they only work from the office? Do they work remotely? Do they need a landline phone or is there an opportunity to converge communication tools at their workstation?

Depending on the needs and opportunities identified, it is then possible to define the best telephony solution. For example, setting up a Cloud PBX, i.e. an exchange hosted and managed from the POST cloud, offers the company greater flexibility. It no longer has to manage on-site infrastructure and it also has easy access to a range of advanced features for line management, call forwarding and communication monitoring.