Small businesses always have it rough for the first few years of their existence. The problem is that due to the size of the business, it is caught in a catch-22: they need to grow larger in order to attract more customers, but they cannot access and leverage the resources they need because of their small size. It is a known fact that the majority of small businesses will falter within five years due to this problem.

The largest need that small businesses have is for effective communication. The business likely does not need to handle internal communication volume, but it does need to be able to reach customers easily. Customer service is the backbone of the UK economy today. Regardless of whether the business offers a good or a service, catering to their customers is the number-one priority.

The only way that small businesses can communicate with their customers in the beginning is either by phone or by e-mail. Beyond these two options, small businesses really do not have much choice until they grow larger. Once they go, their customers will probably start becoming more regular, which means that they will have a larger volume of regular external calls. This could necessitate installing a private branch exchange in order to handle the call traffic if the volume grows too large.

Fortunately, a new technology has arrived that many businesses large and small are adopting at an increasing rate. It is known as Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP. VoIP works by digitizing the voices of callers and sending them over the Internet, thus completely by-passing the entire public switched telephone network assembly. The benefits for a small business is that the traditional telephone line can be done away with and the calls and and internet usage merged into one, thus effecting a significant saving in company overheads.

Small businesses can eliminate their phone service bills by switching to VoIP. There are several free services such as Skype Business or there are paid services such as those offered by Vonage. Regardless of whether the free or paid route is taken, the fact is that a small business can do away with one area of expense while trying to get on it's feet. Small companies suddenly find that they have much more spendable capital than they used to.

Reducing phone bills while also increasing worker productivity is a great boon for a small business. VoIP helps boost productivity by enabling businesses large and small to integrate their internal and external telephony systems with their Internet service. As a result, teams achieve day-to-day goals more effectively than they might consider possible. As an example, employees no longer have to balance talking on the phone while manipulating information on a computer. As the telephone and computer systems are now integrated, any problems disappear.

VoIP promises to become an incredible robust technology as it matures. Currently, small and large businesses are adopting VoIP systems in order to cut costs and more closely integrate customer service functions within their overall business plan. VoIP lets businesses focus on getting off the ground, which is the first step in succes