VoIP shines through loadshedding darkness
Rolling blackouts have given South African businesses a dark start to the new year, and with little reprieve in sight, it seems it will be survival of the fittest this year. Or will it – isn’t this the time that innovation happens? That smart technologies come into their own? Where the resilience of the South African nation shows what it’s made of, and we ‘make a plan’?
One such technology provider is Wanatel, a South African wholesale provider of Voice over IP (VoIP) and cloud private branch exchange (PBX) systems. The high-reliability, always-on services of internet telephony and related cloud communications are doing much to help businesses circumvent the challenges of loadshedding.
Wholesale channel manager, Evan Damon, explains: “Unlike landlines, onsite VoIP systems or even mobile telephone systems, our cloud PBX customers aren’t reliant on whether the system they have has power. The resilience of using cloud infrastructure means that they are 99.9% certain of uptime. Through their cloud PBX system, they are able to dynamically reroute calls during loadshedding, using time conditions to map to the loadshedding schedule, making sure no call is missed. The flexibility of VoIP and its features create a 24/7 communication environment, where the business is always on, always connected, regardless of power.”
In an environment where the future is unpredictable and costs are under scrutiny, using a highly flexible, feature-rich and low maintenance solution like Cloud PBX also frees up valuable resources for any business. In a fully-fledged VoIP environment, resellers rely on the wholesale provider’s Tier 1 licence and data centre facilities, with built-in resilience and failovers, as well as interconnects, to be assured of a secure network all the time.
Cloud-based VoIP systems are hosted over a VoIP provider’s servers, which handle call routing and signal processing on a business’s, alleviating the need for an in-house IT team. In contrast, a traditional business phone system uses an on-site PBX to route calls to the appropriate number or extension. A business is generally responsible for the PBX’s physical upkeep. Calls are transmitted through on-site networks of copper wires and switches, rather than the internet.
Simple features like call forwarding, where calls are redirected; or follow me, where extensions ring for a period of time and if unanswered forward to a second number and then third and so forth or even ring concurrently, are being used to ensure business doors stay open, even if the lights are off.
Because cloud PBX uses the internet to make calls, it doesn’t require nearly as much physical infrastructure or hardware as a traditional phone system. It also allows businesses to make or take calls from anywhere on any internet-enabled device, regardless of location.
Using the flexibility of their Cloud PBX network and the ability to divert and reroute, Wanatel is keeping communications up and running for VoIP resellers across South Africa.
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About Wanatel: Wanatel is a leading provider of VOIP and cloud PBX wholesale services across South Africa. The company, with offices in Johannesburg and Cape Town, offers cost-effective, white-labelled solutions to resellers, providing innovative solutions to billing, support and solutions portfolios to meet customer demand. www.wanatel.co.za | 086 WANATEL
