Cloud technology has streamlined costs for many business functions. Phone systems and telephony are no exception. Across both the public and private sectors, organisations are making full use of cost-saving (and flexibility enhancing) cloud telephony alternatives to traditional PBX phone systems.
You may have come across terms like cloud communications, cloud calling, cloud hosted VoIP, internet-based voice, cloud phone systems etc. These are all terms for the same revolution in voice technology; cloud telephony.
In this weeks blog, we’re going to give you a brief overview of Cloud telephony, how cloud phone systems work, and why they come at such a low cost compared to standard analogue phone systems.
What is Cloud Telephony?
‘Cloud’ in the modern business sense refers to a group of technologies that users operate/engage with via remote access. That’s a simplified version, but you’re not here for a complete history of cloud computing.
Even if you’re not hugely technical, Cloud Telephony is straightforward to understand. It’s enabled by technology, but the term actually refers to a service (Unified Communications as a Service, or UCaaS).
Cloud telephony, in the simplest possible terms, is a 3rd party hosted/managed service that allows businesses to run their phone system through their internet connection.
How much does Cloud Telephony cost?
How much your Cloud Telephony costs will of course vary depending on provider, use, functionality etc. There isn’t really an average cost you can express in the same way you would appraise traditional phone tariffs on pence-per-minute call costs.
However, that doesn’t that the cost-saving benefits of Cloud Telephony aren’t obvious. The cost-efficiency implications of Cloud Telephony are crystal clear.
Integrated functionality
Traditional PBX phone systems have one function; voice calls.
Yes, there are additional bolt-on functions available like auto attendants and call routing etc, but no matter how many bells and whistles in your system, they’re only enhancements of that same basic function.
Other communications needs have to be met with different tools and solutions. Think video conferencing, business SMS, fax for document sending etc. The costs for these quickly mount.
Cloud Telephony, being a UCaaS service, can bring all of these functions into a single tool. To use the cliché, Cloud Telephony can be included as one extension of a Swiss Army Knife comms package. This brings all comms channels, including voice/phone calls, into a single subscription.
Scalable service packages
Traditional PBX systems have many advantages. Flexibility isn’t one of them. Upscaling (or pruning) an analogue business phone network is an expensive and time-consuming task. Not only are service agreements and provider contracts often renewed annually, but larger changes require on-site engineers to carry out changes to the network.
As Cloud Telephony is internet-based, service packages are scalable at a to-the-user level. Changes can be made from a browser window, and as long as new users have a headset/handset and device to connect them to they’re good to go.
Entire teams can be added with zero engineering hours required. And, since Cloud Telephony and UCaaS services are subscription-based (often monthly), you never run the risk of paying for services you aren’t using, nor do you face additional charges for making changes to your SLA.
99.9% Uptime and failover security
If there’s one thing that leaves more of a dent in your budget than your phone systems themselves, it’s the business impact costs of them going down.
Network downtime leaves your staff unable to work and your customers/clients unable to reach you. We don’t need to tell you why this can be disastrous for your business, both in terms of missed revenue and damage to reputation.
Cloud Telephony systems can offer 99.9% uptime by way of failovers and disaster recovery/business continuity processes. Say there’s a flood or fire in your central office. On a traditional PBX, your phone system would be out of action (and your business unreachable) until the damages have been repaired. On a cloud telephony system, staff can work from home and be reachable at the same extension.
Quite literally, your entire central office building could collapse in a freak Earthquake and your customers would have no idea. The only change they’d notice is that the person on the other end of the phone is working from home today.
Cloud Telephony: The cost-effective future of PBX systems
As you can see, you don’t need to be a tech enthusiast to see how a Cloud Telephony solution is much more cost-effective than the physical phone systems you may currently be relying on.
These are just some of the benefits, too. We haven’t even touched on the fact that Cloud phone systems come with no installation costs and require exactly zero hours of hardware maintenance.
If you want to know more about how Cloud Telephony can streamline your comms costs, or have any other cloud or telephony queries, why not give the Immervox team a call? We’re already helping hundreds of UK businesses take advantage of cheaper, more flexible phone system SLA’s with cloud-based calling. Get in touch to find out the value we’ll bring to your business by including you on that list.
