5 SIP trunking considerations to maximize your ROI

SIP trunking is getting a lot of love from companies looking to cut costs and beef up the features and functionality of their telecom infrastructure. More than half the respondents to a recent survey from industry researcher Infonetics said they have  deployed SIP trunking. By 2016, more than three-quarters of businesses will have taken the plunge, with the market expected to reach $18 billion by 2018.

The growing popularity and adoption rates of SIP trunking speak to the benefits organizations expect to gain as they make the switch from traditional systems: They’re counting on centralized trunking, improved reliability and faster deployment and service changes – and all with a cost savings of between 30-60 percent over existing systems. But getting to the Promised Land is posing some challenges.

More than half the attendees at a recent Enterprise Connect Webinar  had SIP trunking deployments, but they tuned in for advice on how to get the most from their investments.

Businesses can leverage lessons learned to make “smarter” SIP trunking deployments, said Brent Kelly, President of KelCor, Inc., and a unified communications and collaborations analyst featured in the webinar. He outlined key considerations for overcoming some of the top challenges organizations face with SIP trunking deployments:

Location. Location. Location. SIP trunking deployed within a given country may be relatively painless, but going international means working with third-party carriers, and each one has a different process, cautioned Kelly.  Ask service providers about their relationships with carriers in key geographies.

Avert disaster. When considering cloud-based or on-premise disaster recovery, enterprises need to think about the implications to their business if they lose power or if they lose their last mile of connectivity, said Kelly.

Keep an eye on traffic. Monitoring ability is a standard capability in most SIP trunking systems, but Kelly advised adding a session boarder controller as a demarcation point between the organization and its service provider. It also allows administrators to define triggers for limit thresholds and billing segmentation, said Kelly.

One-number nirvana. As business goes increasingly mobile, single-number reach is becoming an important consideration.  Kelly pointed to call centres, which are offering customers an additional channel for service through SMS.

Your call may be recorded. The ability to capture calls can be particularly useful in call centres, but Kelly advised organizations to consider three factors before deciding: current investments, the sensitivity of the information being recorded and how fast you may need to retrieve it.

Next steps: Learn more by watching Allstream’s SIP trunking Webinar, read a Canadian SIP trunking case study and download the ever-popular SIP Trunking eBook: A Complete Buyer’s Guide.