Basic internet-based phone calls aren’t new to many of our readers. Skype has been around for over a decade and there are dozens of other free apps with limited features. Picking a voice over IP

(VoIP) solution for a small business is still a tricky prospect, though.

With more targeted attacks on social networking services than ever, private conversations with your business partners can become public information. To prevent this, Skype has released a new feature that ensures complete privacy by encrypting all types of communication.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) brings to mind robots that can perform tasks and think like human beings. While that's certainly possible in the future, AI today is simply an intuitive set of technology that automates business processes. It’s been around for decades, and now it’s poised to make significant improvements to VoIP technology.

Gone are the days when you have to spend a large amount of money each month on the telephone bill. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology has made it cheaper -- and in most cases, free -- to place and receive calls. Whether you’re a business owner or an individual user, there is a VoIP option that suits you.

According to several experts, Voice over IP (VoIP) phone systems are one of the top investments businesses make, and for good reason. The ability to call anyone from anywhere with an internet connection gives employees lots of flexibility. And with 2018 just around the corner, there will be new VoIP developments to look forward to.

Switching to internet-based phones gives you the chance to enjoy innovative new call features and significant cost reductions. There are a lot of options when choosing which voice over IP (VoIP) platform you use, but first you need to pick whether you’ll use an open-source or proprietary system.

There was a time when “voice” was the sole business communication solution. Then, we were introduced to emails, texts, and chats, all of which are extremely useful and are here to stay. But wouldn’t it be nice if there was a communication solution that integrated everything -- voice, messaging, video -- into one platform? That’s where unified communications come in.

At the Ignite conference in September, Microsoft announced that the Teams app will eventually replace Skype for Business as the primary communication tool for Office 365. This is a huge development, and there are undoubtedly many questions that need answers.

Business communication has come a long way since traditional landline calling. Today, it’s all about internet-based phone systems, aka, VoIP. But before investing in VoIP phones, you need to determine how you plan to deploy them -- in the cloud or on-premises.