what is a soft phone

A softphone is a software program that allows users to make telephone calls over the internet using a general-purpose computer or mobile device rather than dedicated hardware. It can be installed on a desktop, laptop, or mobile device and behaves like a traditional telephone, sometimes appearing as an image of a handset, with a display panel and buttons with which the user can interact. Softphones can be used with a headset connected to the sound card of the computer or with a USB phone. Some softphones also support additional features such as video calling, click-to-dial, call recording, visual voicemail management, team messaging, and SMS. Softphones have all standard telephony features such as DND, mute, DTMF, flash, hold, transfer, and often additional features typical for desk phones. Softphones are helpful for colleagues to get in touch with each other quickly and arrange a video call to discuss an issue. They are also a good tool to examine the team’s performance and clients activity. Softphones are flexible and far easier to scale to business needs than hardphones.