Businesses have been using telephones as a tool since the telephone was invented. While there have been advances in the telephone industry over the years, the basic concept has not changed much for over a hundred years. It wasn’t until well into the 20th century that we began to move away from the analog telephone. Not until the beginning of the 21st century, have we seen a major shakeup to the business phone industry.
While the essential function of business telephones has remained the same — connecting people and services over a long distance, the method of sending that information has changed dramatically. Similar to the rise of cellular phone service, business phones have been rapidly becoming more intelligent and economical.
Sure, there are still reasons to remain with familiar technology. For one thing, they are a known quantity. If your business has recently invested a lot of money in a new business telephone system, it might make sense to at least be hesitant to upgrade. But, years from now, that system will become obsolete and need replacement.
That being said, if you are even thinking about upgrading your business phone system to the cloud, here are some reasons you should consider:
1. Get up and Running Quickly and Economically.
The capital investment needed to install a traditional business telephone system can be pretty steep. The costs could include network upgrades, servers, new hardware, plus setup charges. Making the move to the Cloud is much easier on your pocketbook. Already have a business-class data network? Great! You’re already ahead of the game. When you decide to upgrade to a cloud-based service, the biggest investment is buying IP phones. Installing a cloud-based phone system is easy compared to an on-premises setup. Configuring traditional phone systems can be costly and time-consuming, taking months to set up. Cloud-based systems need relatively few physical components and often be up and running within days. Setup can take place all at once or over time, depending on what works best for your business. Once the system is in place, making changes is a snap.
2. Use the equipment you want.
Using a traditional business phone system typically means you’re required to use certain vendors and their exclusive equipment. With a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system, you’re free to use equipment from multiple providers.
3. Use your resources more efficiently.
For most business communications networks, you’ll need one line for voice, and another for data. Once you move your system to the cloud, you can combine those lines into one system. Freeing up these lines allows you to increase bandwidth, keep them as a backup, or eliminate them. Joining your voice and data lines will benefit you in other ways. Because you will be transmitting voice over your data lines, you will be able to take advantage of unused bandwidth.
4. Make your Accounting Department happier with simplified costs.
Conventional telephone systems come with variable expenses. Your monthly costs vary to support organizational changes and antiquated or aging components. It would be great if you knew when any of these expenses will change. With a cloud-based phone system, those costs won’t vary, making it easier to correctly anticipate your monthly charges. Your billing is normally based on the number of users. With unlimited local and long-distance calling, there are no surprise charges. If you use your phones more frequently during peak time-periods, it won’t impact your monthly costs. Plus, you no longer have to pay for software upgrades, licensing, and hardware maintenance.
5. Our price is the price you pay. That’s it!
With traditional phone systems, the price may sound great until you find out about the little hidden fees. Because many of the features from traditional phone providers aren’t built into that system, you could get nickel and dimed into paying a lot more than you planned on. To support the most advanced features, you need to add hardware, software, or licensing fees. With a cloud-based phone system, you get over 150 features built-in. The price you pay is exactly what you expect. No Taxes, No Fees. Simple pricing with no surprises. Your business is free to grow without any discussion on the cost of expanding your phone service.
6. Geo-Redundancy
In business, you need to be available no matter what is happening in the world around you. A traditional on-premises phone system operates with what is called a “single point of failure.” If one point of the system fails, it will stop the entire system from working. Until that failure point is repaired your company has no communications. With a cloud-based system, you have geo-redundancy. Geo-redundancy involves distributing key infrastructure components (e.g. servers) across several data centers, which are located in different geographic regions. As a result of this setup, if one component falls below acceptable performance standards due to heavy usage or fails due to a local power outage, the workload seamlessly shifts to another component. It’s important to note that customers do not have to make any configuration changes whatsoever. The switching to/from components is automatic and continuously monitored by our support team.
7. Ready for Work From Home Solutions
Traditional phone systems limit your ability to quickly move your workers to remote locations. Unless you are ready to shell out a premium cost for advanced features and upgrades, traditional systems won’t provide the features required for a mobile workforce. VoIP systems, on the other hand, can send phone traffic anyplace with an Internet connection because they are cloud-based. Whether you are sending a call to your team’s home or the home office, there is no difference. As a plus, advanced voice features and functions can be used anywhere, just like in the office. Additionally, workers can use a softphone app on their personal devices for business tasks, a trend called BYOD (bring your own device).
8. Unified Communications As A Service
Cloud-based unified communications as a service (UCAAS) means every customer has access to a full range of enterprise-grade features such as auto-attendant, voicemail-to-text, live call forwarding, dial by name directory, call recording and so many more. Consolidating all of your services into a single bill leads to better, more consistent communications with co-workers and customers by giving them the ability to easily customize their telephone experience.
9. Integrate with your critical applications and devices.
Moving your telephone system to the cloud affords you call-center-level efficiency without the added cost or operating requirements of a call center. If you use a customer relationship management (CRM) platform, cloud-based phone systems are easier to integrate.
Integration with a CRM tool allows customer statement data to be viewed on a computer screen making it easier for your employees to pull up important account information and better serve the caller. Information from the call can be easily managed and recorded as well. Having this important data will make future customer interactions easier.
10. Support multiple locations without taxing resources.
With a traditional phone system, deploying service to multiple locations can be extremely expensive and complicated. Performing otherwise simple tasks like transferring a call can be difficult. On the other hand, a cloud-based telephone system provides all your locations the ability to simply connect into the same virtual service via the Internet. No matter where they are located, you can use extension calling, just like being in the same building. Your business has the appearance of being one large entity while maintaining localized call routing, auto answering and forwarding features, and more.
Conclusion
There has never been a better time to move your business phone system to the cloud. Let’s face it, business-as-usual is a thing of the past. Being able to make quick changes to your business is crucial to survival in today’s ever-changing market environment. If you’re not already operating partially in the cloud, you will be in the next few years. Why wait to play catch-up with your competitors? Contact Carolina Digital Phone, your remote work solution in Greensboro, today to learn how simple and affordable it is to move to the cloud.
Call us today at (336) 544-4000 or chat with us during business hours by clicking the chat icon on the lower-left of your screen. We are proud to be a local Greensboro, North Carolina-based business with many 5-star reviews!