Skype for Asterisk: Lowering the Cost of Business Communication
For those of who have never heard of Skype, it’s a service that allows users to make free calls from their computers over the internet to other Skype users; and ultra-low cost calls to landlines and mobile phones globally. Asterisk is a popular open source PBX system that manages the routing of calls in addition to other features including unified communications. Companies like Dalcon provide the software that makes it easy to put this valuable new communications tool to use.
The Advantages of Skype and Asterisk
The main advantage of Skype and Asterisk is of course, value. Both Skype and Asterisk have been well known in the VoIP world as low cost alternatives to more traditional forms of communication. The growths of these applications have been spectacular, and as more businesses learn that the value they bring doesn’t come with a sacrifice in quality, the more they will continue to grow.
Skype to Asterisk, using software like the Dalcon Communications Manager, allows your company to:
- Make free calls globally from any phone on the Asterisk PBX to Skype users.
- Make low cost domestic and international calls (either with unlimited minutes subscriptions or low costs such as 2.1 cents per minute to many global destinations).
- Allow Skype users to call you on a Skype user address, receive the call on your Asterisk PBX and then route the call to any extension , IVR/auto attendant, queue, or even outside cell phone.
- Place a Skype button on your website so Skype users can call your company instantly from their computer.
- Allow Skype users to make a free Skype call from anywhere in the world into a conference bridge on the Asterisk system so that you can have a mix of Skype, internal, and external phone users on one conference call.
- Purchase a Skype-In landline phone number for your company ($5/month) in most any city worldwide. Calls to that number can ring into your company’s Asterisk/DCM system and be routed in any way you choose.
How it works
Once you have an Asterisk-based PBX, such as the DCM, you can order Skype for Asterisk connectors and sign up for your Skype business account.
Now your options are limitless. You can make Skype calls using softphones and desktop phones. Asterisk can be configured in many different ways to automatically switch between Skype calls and normal calls. For example, you might set the system up so that dialing *9 on a desktop phone allows you to “SkypeOut”—in other words, make a Skype call out to an international landline or mobile phone. Another possibility could be simply configuring Asterisk to automatically SkypeOut when you dial a number with an international country code. Using DCM you can set up any Skype user as an extension on your system and when you dial that extension on your desk phone it automatically routes the call to the Skype user over the Skype-to-Skype network.
Google Voice for Business?
Google Voice is a powerful new free, service from Google that offers some features similar to leading business IP PBX solutions like the Dalcon Communications Manager Asterisk based software. When the service debuted many people began to wonder about its potential as a business communications application. The answer, as turns out, depends:
• Yes: Google Voice is (currently) a good option for small and home businesses; though we will cover why this could change in the future.
• No: Google Voice is not appropriate for businesses larger than just a couple employees.
The functionality Google Voice provides is nothing new. So in order to support my two previous claims, I am going to analyze the one characteristic of Google Voice that differentiates it significantly from its competition—Google Voice is free.
Because Google Voice is free, it instantly adds value to any smaller businesses that cannot afford traditional business communications systems—if they couldn’t get any of the services before, than the services offered by Google Voice are certainly better than nothing. Although Google Voice is designed for personal use, it can be effectively set up to handle the communication management needs of a smaller business.
However, much like the old saying goes, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”; as economics 101 tells us, when you don’t pay with money, you pay with something else. Unfortunately for larger businesses, these hidden costs can be much more “expensive” than paying for a traditional business communication system.
Why Google Voice is Bad for Business
No live support: Many businesses rely on their telephony communications so much that when their phones go down, so does their business. However, as Google is an internet based company providing a free service, they do not offer support in the slightest. When the system goes down, your business is stuck holding the cards.
Potential Advertising: Google advertising is a major concern for businesses of all sizes. Google Inc. is a business; therefore even though they offer their services for free, they must find a way to capitalize on their services or else cancel them (which would be devastating to any business relying on Google Voice). Usually Google monetizes its services through advertising. This means that although Google Voice is ad free now, there is a good chance that soon your customers could be hearing “targeted” Google ads from your competitors every time they try to get in touch with you.
Less Functionality: Granted, for a free service Google Voice offers everything and more that an individual or a small business would need. However, for even slightly larger organizations, Google Voice lacks (or limits) the features necessary for business to run smoothly. For example, Google voice does not offer custom IVR (Interactive Voice Response) development, the ability to support toll free numbers, or even porting of existing business numbers.
Privacy/Security: Regardless of the size of your business, using Google voice to manage your communications means giving Google plenty of access to your private business information, including text transcripts of all of your voicemails. Should this information fall into the wrong hands, it is scary to think of the kind of information about you and your customers that could be data-mined.
In summary, Google voice is a great free service, but it isn’t appropriate for all but the tiniest of businesses. For businesses that are looking for a low cost business phone system that provides cutting edge support and functionality; an open source PBX such as Dalcon’s Asterisk telephony solution is a great alternative.
