Over the last decade contact centers have experienced an extensive evolution overall. Many companies utilize a number of contact centers to manage all interactions with their customers (whether it is an in-house team or outsourced to third-party assistance). Hosted VoIP telephony is quickly becoming the standard communications platform for organizations of all sizes. The wholesale transition to feature-rich Hosted VoIP service (from traditional telephone systems) has already begun and offers considerable benefits:
Deployment of Hosted VoIP technology requires little on-premises equipment. In most cases, needed equipment is limited to a high-quality router, Integrated Access Devices (IADs), and IP telephones (Fig. 7). Analog telephones can be also used in some cases, but IP telephones are strongly recommended because they
IADs are used to allow companies access to their existing analog handsets, credit card machines, alarms, fax machines, etc.