When we analyze a customer’s telecommunications needs and present a customized solution, the first thing we usually hear is: “wow, I had no idea that we could be saving so much!”
Of course, there are several reasons why a hosted cloud phone system dramatically reduces telecommunications costs.
However, the other side of the coin that we want our customers to understand, is that conventional premises-based phone systems are (and always have been) excessively expensive. Here are the key reasons why:
1. Maintenance Fees
Maintenance fees for a conventional premises-based phone system can reach into the thousands of dollars a year. What’s more, most businesses have no choice but to pay the exorbitant fee, because they lack the in-house expertise to maintain the system on their own. It goes without saying that this profitable detail is not lost on phone companies that view maintenance agreements as cash cows.
2. Service Charges
Few things in this world are as frustrating as getting “dinged” by vague, unexpected and usually unjustifiable service charges. Well, phone companies take this to the next level by billing for anything and everything they can that falls outside the Service Level Agreement (which as noted above, businesses are already paying for).
And that’s not even the worst of it: fixing telecommunications-related problems isn’t cheap. A single on-site visit from a technician will cost a few hundred dollars, and all replacement parts (such as a new handset) will make the bill even bigger — and more infuriating!
3. Weird Monthly Fees
Phone companies are famous — or make that infamous — for charging weird monthly fees that show up on the bill. Sometimes it’s a few dollars, other times it can be $50 or more. Over a year, it can easily add up to several hundred or more than a thousand dollars. But for what!? Nobody really knows. The basis for these charges are rooted in an incomprehensibly complex agreement that even give lawyers a headache to read.
4. Scaling
Everyone who launches a business hopes that they’ll grow big. However, phone companies have a different dream: one in which they bill expanding businesses through the nose when they want to add new numbers.
5. Adding Calling Features
Last but certainly not least, businesses that want — or need — carrier-class calling features like voicemail-to-email and auto attendant will see their phone bill rise, rise and rise some more. Evidently, phone companies haven’t received the memo that voicemail, caller ID and call forwarding are no longer “super-ultra-mega-advanced features”. They’re basic staples that all businesses expect, and so do residential customers for that matter. This isn’t 1990.
The Carolina Digital Phone Advantage
At Carolina Digital Phone, we don’t charge for maintenance, and we never tack on weird and inexplicable service charges or monthly fees. This not only helps our customers save money, but they get cost certainty as well, which makes budgeting easier and more predictable. Plus, our hosted cloud phone system comes with a full range of carrier-class calling features, and scaling up to add new employees is fast, easy and remarkably affordable.