There has been a lot of hype in our industry about cloud technologies, cloud computing has been around for a while; however cloud telephony is a technology that is hot on its heels.
So if you are considering switching to the cloud for your computing solutions, you should take a look at the cloud for your business telephone systems.
Cloud telephone systems are also known as managed telephone systems or hosted telephone systems, this basically means that the telephone system processor is located in a secure hosted environment offsite as opposed to being in your data cabinets or fixed to the wall on site.
With a cloud-based telephone system, you would still buy the telephone, setup and training, but instead of purchasing the telephone system processor you simply pay a monthly rental for ports on the offsite telephone system. Your office telephones would then connect via the Internet using VoIP to the telephone system that is offsite.
This is a new technology that is here to stay and set for massive growth as our Internet connections become faster, more reliable and less costly. However, right now a cloud-based telephone system may or may not be the right solution for your organisation; there are a number of factors to consider first…
- Your location and available Internet products
- How many staff you have in how many locations
- Your network cabling infrastructure
- Your views on opex vs. capex costs
- Your views on cost of ownership
- Your budget
Here are a few of the big benefits of a cloud-based telephone system…
- Any number anywhere – with a cloud-based telephone system you can operate from an office in Preston with a London or any other STD phone number. Also if you move office in the future you can take your main telephone number with your, whereas with a traditional telephone system this may not be possible.
- Cost – with a cloud-based telephone system you get state-of-the-art technology at a fraction of the cost because you are renting ports from a high spec fully functional telephone system, as opposed to making an investment in an on-site system to offer you the same features.
- Scalability – increasing or reducing the number of telephones you have is very simple with a cloud telephone system, all you need to do is request an additional port and a VoIP telephone that you can plug into the Internet. Whereas a traditional telephone system will require an engineer to attend your site and possibly upgrade your phone system and install/program a new user locally.
- Flexibility – if you have staff that is often based in different locations or work from home, a cloud telephone system works as if you were all in the same building, you can answer and transfer calls between all your staff regardless of their location.
- Disaster recovery– in the event of a disaster affecting your normal place of work it is vital that you can still communicate. With a cloud telephone system, you can divert all your calls to ring straight to your mobile or any other landline.
If you are considering your options and want some advice on which type of telephone system might be most suited for you, please contact us to discuss further, all we need is 10 minutes of your time to offer you some free advice and an idea on costs for the different options available. Call 0800 50 533 50 or visit our Cloud Telephone Systems page for more information.
You may also find our article on what is a hybrid telephone system a useful read.
