Why Now Is The Time To Move To A Cloud Based Phone System

It may be that the current contract for your premises-based phone system is up for renewal soon – or that you’ve simply been hearing great things about VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), hosted telephony, and SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) trunking. Whatever the case, now more than ever, it’s worth giving serious consideration to moving your business telecoms system into the future on a platform that’s based in the cloud. Here are some reasons why.

Your Traditional Technology Is Out Of Date

Even if that on-site PBX (Private Branch Exchange), cabling, and switches of yours haven’t fallen victim to corrosion, wear and tear, or performance-related issues, the simple fact of business today is that traditional telephone technology simply can’t keep pace with what’s demanded of the modern enterprise. The needs of your company and your consumers dictate an efficiency and productivity level that’s likely beyond what legacy hardware and systems can provide.

Patchwork Doesn’t Fit

Buying in ad hoc pieces of hardware and software to supplement your existing installations is one approach. But this results in a continuous and haphazard investment in a patchwork of different technologies that may be difficult to monitor and maintain – and may not even deliver the performance you require, when taken together as a whole.

ISDN Is Toast (Nearly)

Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) technology has been a standard for businesses for some time, now. Yet despite its ability to combine traditional analog and end-to-end digital data on the same network, ISDN is fast giving way to SIP-based telecoms systems. So much so that government in the UK has decided to phase ISDN out completely by 2025.

This wind-down is likely to have effects on the wider telecoms market – and it’s in your best interests to be prepared for this fact.

Your Working Practices Are Changing

Life isn’t static, and your business is doubtless having to make changes to keep pace with new conditions. The size of your organization may be changing (upwards, ideally), you may have taken on more remote or mobile workers, opened new branch offices, etc.

The cloud offers a common platform for all your operations, wherever they may be. And its ability to mix voice communications with document and data-handling, multimedia and collaboration tools is becoming an essential part of how the new breed of expanding businesses have to operate.

Everyone’s Going Mobile

From Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies to the rise of the home-based, remote, or traveling employee, smartphones, tablets, and mobile computing devices are becoming the preferred option for business users. It’s been estimated that three-quarters of the US workforce will consist of mobile staff by 2020 – and cloud-based phone systems will be the glue binding them together.

Business Is 24/7 And Global

Our consumer-led business culture demands support, service, and communications round the clock – and with a global market of internet-enabled users and customers, businesses are under pressure to ensure that their own workers are always available to meet these demands. Which means always-available telecoms tools and contacts management systems that cater for workers at any location – just what cloud-based phone systems are designed to do.

Voice Alone Isn’t Enough

Though a simple phone call is often enough to initiate contacts and maintain some links with customers, staff, and partners, the data-driven business environment demands a blend of tools incorporating multimedia, video, conferencing, collaboration platforms, and productivity applications – the kind of mix that cloud telephony and Unified Communications (UC) can offer.