An Internet telephony service provider (ITSP) provides Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and digital telecommunications services to either residential or commercial enterprises. Digital telecom services eliminate the costs associated with traditional phone services and allow individuals or companies to make substantial cost savings with no loss of quality. With a general knowledge of ICT it is a relatively straightforward manner to set-up in business as an ITSP. At each stage of the process other services exist to enable the correct management of your telecommunications business. A common benefit citied by ITSPs for selection of this business model is the scalable nature of the service and how it allows an enterprise to build their business free from the traditional high capital expenditure costs of ownership that other telephony solutions would entail.
Stages to Consider when setting up as an ITSP
There are three stages to consider when setting up as an ITSP. These are the choices over which VoIP platform or switch to use, which VoIP carrier to chose and the selection of end user equipment. These decisions are all explained in more detail below. Furthermore, information is given on a number of suppliers at each stage to enable the potential ITSP to make and informed decision.
What does VoIP Platform or Switch do?
Why is VoIP Carrier important?
Selecting End User Equipment
Firstly, you will require a VoIP platform or switch. This platform provides the class five features for your service. Class five includes features such as voicemail, hunt groups and call-forwarding. A number of companies who offer VoIP platforms are reviewed below to assist in the selection of this first stage in becoming an Internet telephony service provider.
The next requirement to establish as an ITSP is to engage a VoIP carrier. This is known as a class four service. Considerations to make when selecting a VoIP carrier are coverage and origination. For this reason it is important to check the footprint of a particular carrier in your target market before engaging their services. Factors such as quality and the availability of support should also be given careful thought before any decision is taken. Many companies will offer automated support as part of a free package and some companies even offer free support from human operators. With the large number of VoIP carriers in the market it is worth spending sometime comparing the features and support packages that come as standard.
The final requirement is the choice of end user equipment or software. Some ITSPs may prefer to allow the client to use their own equipment whereas others provide this directly. Using an analog telephone adapter (ATA) allows existing equipment to be used in the ITSP system within substantial additional costs. Alternatively, an IP phone is a popular choice that gives access to the class five features directly from the phone unit.
Companies who can help you become an ITSP
Below, the details a number of companies who provide the services required to become an ITSP are given alongside of the factors that might affect your decision to engage these services.
ITSP's Products from ICT Vision
ICTCore from ICT Innovations
Multi-tenant PBX from Thirdlane
QueueMetrics from Loway
ICT Vision offers a veriety of ITSP's software based solutions from school management system to complete contact center system . Following is list of products offered by ICT Vision for internet service providers
ICTContact Service Provider , start offering hosted / cloud inbound / outbound contact center, CRM communication integration and business process automation, inbound ivr and progressive dialing services to your customers
ICTBroadcast Service Provider , start offering hosted telemarketing and unified mass communications services , ICTBroadcast offer inbound , outbound and dynamic modes of communications and best product to automate business communications of any organization
ICTSchool Service Provider , start offering communication integration and feature rich advance school management system to school owners as SaaS
ICTUstad , start offering on demand home services like provisioning of skilled labour like offering electrical , plumbing work, carpenter work and other routine on demand ICTRoshni , start offering paid consultancy and information services to your customers like offering legal services, medical information services and education consultancy services to your customers
ICTHospital Service Provider , start offering communication integrated hospital management software to hospital business executives as SaaS
ICTCRM Service Provider , start offering communication enabled CRM software as SaaS to your customers
ICTFax Service Provider , start offering hosted / cloud fax services to your customers like offering email to fax, fax to email, ATA faxing and web to fax services to your buisiness customers
ICTCore is CTI based communications framework and if you are interested to enter into Voip business to offer twillio / plivo like services by offering Voip API's rather than offering only wholesale and residential Voip then ICTCore is best choice , It enable you not only to offer API to your customers to integrate their application but it also provide you opportunity to bundle communications services and offer these services customers in attractive way never happened before.
ICTCore core is open source unified communications framework for developers and integrators to rapidly develop ICT based applications using their existing development skills. By using ICTCore , developer can create communication based applications such as Auto attendant, Fax to Email, Click to Call etc.. they can program custom business logic that can control incoming and outgoing communication instances.
ICTCore having primary focus on integrated and automated communications. ICTCore goal is to be a common server-side software / back-end for CTI (computer telephony integration) related projects. Further as a framework it can be extended to develop new communication solution and services using user’s existing development skills and infrastructure.
Thirdlane offer supported solutions for their multi-tenant PBX. The company has become a popular choice for ITSP because of their powerful end user features which include features that go beyond the basic VoIP package. The company also sells telephony equipment and other devices suitable for the ITSP to offer to their clients. Their built in support function aims to reduce the amount of reliance upon operators. Furthermore, the company offers pre-programmed support in multiple languages to allow an ITSP to expand their business on a global basis.
For an ITSP data and user metrics are very important. The same is true for your clients. Those managing call centres use a range of metrics to assess the efficiency of campaigns and to ensure their employees are operating according to company protocol. QueueMetrics from Loway offer a range of services designed for the requirements of operations managers call centre team leaders, call agents and IT managers. The same software allows these distinct groups to see the metrics that are important for their role. For example, agents can see the inbound call traffic volume and data on the calls they are handling. Team leaders are given access to data on agent availability; real time reporting and remote monitoring for call quality purposes.
Summary
In summary, becoming an ITSP and generating a sustainable revenue stream from business or residential customers is now an option open to any individual who wishes to spend a little time researching the market. The proliferation of companies who offer support for Asterisk based business solutions and the use of Opensource software means that customized features are possible for each client of the ITSP without substantially increasing expenditure. An ITSP can be created on a global basis to meet the telephony needs of clients in a wide range of situations and by choosing a reliable provider of VoIP platform and carrier seamless integration into existing networks is a simple matter.