Should I use an Open Source VoIP Server?

If you switch your business to VoIP you can save a lot of money, from 50% to 75%. There are a lot of studies that actually validate this transition, but companies don’t stay at this plateau for long, they want to reduce their costs even more and address the open source VoIP solutions because these are generally less expensive than commercial products, but they can’t guarantee that this is the best solution for everyone.

Next I will address the pros and cons of using open source VoIP server.

When you are implementing a new project you must assess and consider the costs and with the help of an open source VoIP server you’ll be in balance in no time because this service will likely beat the price tag on any offering from a commercial vendor. Besides the costs, an open source option allows for more flexibility, this will enable your software to run on any server configuration that meets the minim specifications. Going even further, open source software enables freedom to modify the source code to your specific needs. It doesn’t matter if you are talking about building an application programming interface used to allow your system to work with other tools or you are creating additional modules or features to make the product better. So we can say that costs and flexibility represent a huge plus, but about the downside?

When we are talking about the minuses or cons of an open source VoIP server we first have to address a main issue that bothers anyone and can be detrimental to your business when the servers crash and that is support. Many companies don’t offer this component and users must rely on the community through forums and user created documentation. Of course some apps offer paid support, but when you are wheying the benefits you find out that the cost reduce aspect that I talked about earlier is not irrelevant. Security represents another issue, commercial vendors rely on reputation of secure products to makes sales and the VoIP solutions are sometime probed for vulnerabilities.

Like any software offering VoIP services must adapt to the client’s needs and business scopes and of course have to be a great fit regarding the technical abilities of the staff tasked with managing it.

Categorised in: Did you know, VoIP