Are there viable alternatives to voice cloud hosting?
With so much hype around hosted voice technology and the benefits it brings to small and medium sized businesses, it is easy to get caught up in the excitement. However companies need to take a step back and take a pragmatic approach to what is right for their own individual company. There is no doubt hosted voice is here to stay and that the market for cloud technology has now passed from the early adopter phase to the early majority phase. It is fair to say that most companies will have fully embraced cloud technology by 2025. But what about the shorter term? Should you move to hosted straight away or should you be looking to increase the return on investment of your current PBX set-up?
If you have relatively new on premise phone technology installed, you are likely to want to get some more mileage out of your current solution and let the equipment depreciate further. You may be in a voice contract that has several years remaining and therefore the termination penalties are still high.
Some companies have a well-established IT departments with a strong security setup and prefer to keep voice services in-house. Although partnering with an experienced voice and IT provider would complement existing in-house IT skills and ensure cloud security is tight, some companies simply choose to continue with their PBX solution.
All the above reasons are understandable and valid arguments to continue with existing on premise voice solutions but, what about missing out on the added features and benefits IP telephony brings?
The good news is that you don’t have to completely replace your current telephony system in order to embrace the benefits of modern hosted voice systems. All you need is a clever little box that will upgrade your legacy system to become a viable alternative to a cloud-based solution.
If you are not yet ready to start your cloud journey, you can now efficiently manage future growth of up to 250 extensions per site and your workforce can now become more mobile. Built-in DISA transfers calls without the need of an operator and mobile phone integration means customer calls can be received anywhere. You can now not only benefit from the advanced, feature rich capabilities of a unified communications system, you can even have a call centre solution built in.
Smart hybrid systems grow the way you want and your business can immediately see improvements in terms of both efficiently and cost savings. Speak to a voice provider that will listen to your individual requirements and not simply sell you the latest hosted technology.
