As we have looked at previously, there are three categorically different types of cloud business phone system companies in the marketplace: do-it-yourself mass market vendors, carrier service providers, and established cloud solutions providers.Clearly, you want to partner with a cloud solutions provider, and steer as clear as possible from the other types of companies — because your happiness, success, ROI and shortest path to value all depend on it.To help you make this critical choice — and filter out companies that are unworthy of your time from those that deserve your consideration — here are 5 questions to ask prospective...

On today’s relentlessly fast-paced and hyper-competitive business landscape, there are only two directions: forward towards growth, or backwards towards…well, we all know how that horror story unfolds. To say the least, it ain’t pretty.It goes without saying that every business — whether it sells jet engines or coffee cup lids — needs to head towards success, and away from failure. This is so blatantly obvious, that they don’t even teach it in business school. (At least, we hope they don’t need to teach this.)Yet despite this truth, many businesses are held back from achieving their full success and profit potential...

One of the most beneficial aspects of a cloud telephone system, is that employees and all other authorized system users (e.g. consultants, contractors, remote workers, etc.) can easily make calls in not just one, but four different ways:IP Phone An IP phone (sometimes called a VoIP phone) is designed for placing and transmitting calls over an IP network, instead of a conventional landline public switched telephone network (PSTN). Among the most popular, trusted and recommended IP phones are those in the Yealink T5 Media Phone series.Installing an IP phone is extremely simple. Simply turn them on, plug them in, and that’s...

What do Apple, Amazon, Disney and Google have in common? Yes, they’re massive multinational enterprises that employ hundreds of thousands of people, including an army of accountants to keep track of their billions in annual revenues and profits. But there’s something else that these companies have in common that is the stuff of entrepreneurial legend: they were all born in a garage.If you’re at the helm of a dynamic new startup, it’s important to dream big. After all, if Apple, Amazon, Disney and Google can go from concept to unicorn, why not your company? Yet at the same time, it’s...

While a hosted cloud phone system is significantly — and in many cases dramatically — less costly to operate than a conventional landline phone system, the benefits of switching are not just about the bottom line. Employees also get access to a wide range of enterprise-grade features, such as mobile calling, voicemail-to-email, auto attendant, and the list goes on.However, there is a key feature that some employees aren’t familiar with, but once it becomes part of their life they can’t imagine how they survived without it — especially if they work in a sales capacity: live call transfer.The Old DaysTo...

We’re all familiar with the wisdom that “you get what you pay for.” Frankly, there probably isn’t anyone out there who hasn’t learned this lesson the hard way, whether the situation involved a car repair, home improvement project, and the list goes on.Sometimes, we even KNOW that we’re headed towards disaster, but we just can’t help ourselves. We silence that little voice in our heads that says: “Are you seriously going to do this again?” Alas, we end up spending more money, wasting more time, and suffering more stress. So basically, we hit the trifecta of purchase-related misery. However, there is...