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What is Collaboration and how is it Supplemented by VoIP?

The new era of web 2.0 has given us a new way of doing business. We are in the era of collaboration, sharing of data and information, and "virtual business" that allows individuals across great distances to work together on a project as if they were in the same room. Business VoIP, along with simple Web 2.0 tools such as wikis, whiteboards, B2B marketplaces, and web conferencing have made this all possible. And what's more, this collaboration is easy to achieve, inexpensive, and available to even the smallest of businesses.

Earlier eras of technology promoted hoarding of data that was "stovepiped" into isolated databases. Inter-departmental projects often encountered some level of resistance because it required department heads to share information; even today some department heads are reluctant to relinquish any control over their areas, treating it as a virtual fiefdom. This is simply bad management. While data access must certainly be regulated and controlled, sharing access on an as-needed basis with others who need it most is a must for modern-day successful businesses. This begins with business VoIP, which delivers features to users above and beyond what is available in normal circuit-switched telephony.

Business VoIP enables more than just Cost Savings

Business VoIP, in addition to providing features like an auto attendant, easy conferencing, and integration with back-end data, also delivers on these big features at low cost. The ability to send both voice and data over the same line also saves significant infrastructure expenses, and simplifies applications that require integration of voice and data, such as call center applications that tie data to a customer on the line.

Collaboration in the Web 2.0 era often means collaborating across great distances of course. Telecommuting has moved far beyond an occasional phenomenon to being a standard way of doing business, and today, there are even some companies that operate on a completely "virtual" basis with no physical headquarters at all. For smaller companies operating in this mode, business VoIP is often achieved through a simple, hosted model, which allows individuals in different locations to operate as if they were connected by a physical PBX. The business VoIP system would allow for example, a virtual employee in Chicago to dial a three-digit extension and reach another employee in Bangkok. Calls can be transferred between parties easily, again as if they were in the same office.

Business VoIP also forms the basis of extended collaboration by making possible the innovation of unified communications. This type of collaboration allows individual parties to easily connect to others through any convenient means of communication, including a VoIP call, IM, text, chat, or cell phone.

In short, through business VoIP and other Web 2.0 innovations, business collaboration has reached a new level of ease. This has resulted in a dramatic change to the very nature of employment, since it is often no longer necessary to be physically present in the same building; the end result is a much greater incidence of telecommuting and teleworking; and individuals contracting with multiple companies to provide services as opposed to standard employment. The age-old dream of "work from anywhere" can at last become a reality.

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