Does choosing a new phone system for your business really stress you out?
You have to figure out how many lines you need, what kind of functionality you require, and who to purchase from. All without blowing your budget of course.
Thankfully, new cloud-based communication systems make the decision an easy one. Read on to learn the numerous cloud advantages that come with choosing a high-quality cloud VoIP provider.
Major Cloud Advantages
Cloud-based phone systems are rapidly replacing landline communications for business applications. This is part of a larger trend towards service-based hosting, software, and distribution rather than purchased systems.
There are several compelling reasons that businesses are making the switch. Chief among them is the fact that VoIP is significantly cheaper than traditional landlines. Other important factors are:
- Security
- Compliance
- Scalability
- Accountability
- Affordability
- Time Management
With features like these, it’s easy to see why cloud-based phone systems are rapidly replacing landlines.
Security and Compliance
Securing a phone system against attackers isn’t as easy as you would think. Traditional systems are very easy to tap, reroute, or simply penetrate for social engineering attacks.
Just the physical security needed for a truly secure phone system becomes daunting very quickly. In the old days, a business had to keep their phones under literal lock and key to prevent bad actors from impersonating them.
That doesn’t even consider how easy it was to contact anyone with nothing but a phone number. Cloud-based communication offers significantly more security and compliance options. This is especially true for companies needing secure communications.
If you’re discussing a highly sensitive product or business information cloud communications offer you far more options. You can contact the other party through an encrypted connection that prevents anyone without the appropriate keys from listening in.
Doing the same thing on a traditional phone system used to require nation-state level resources.
If your business deals with sensitive personal or medical information cloud VoIP provide you with substantial compliance resources. You can maintain legally admissible records of all communications, verify caller identity in a trackable manner, and help prevent slip-ups.
Incredibly Scalable
A cloud-based phone system is far more scalable than a traditional phone line. If you needed more phone capacity on a traditional system you actually had to install more lines and upgrade physical systems.
This required you to plan ahead for years and decide if it was worth fully upgrading your current space or moving. A cloud-based system completely eliminates these growing pains.
As long as your building has sufficient bandwidth in your fiber-optic network you can expand infinitely. All you have to do is upgrade your VoIP plan or purchase a new software system.
This makes it much, much easier to scale up and down your capacity as needed. For a company that has highly seasonal business demands, this is an excellent way to save.
You can basically go from a few standard phone lines to a full call center setup with just a few administrative changes to your system. This allows you to rapidly expand your functionality when it’s needed and scale back when it’s not.
We don’t need to tell you how much you can save because of this.
Mobile and Flexible
One of the best features of a cloud-based VoIP system is the incredible flexibility it provides you. A traditional phone system is tied to a physical location.
It provides you with phone numbers and functionality only when you’re in your office.
A VoIP system has none of these restrictions. You aren’t purchasing carrying capacity so much as functionality. This allows you to log in to your cloud-based system wherever you happen to be, whether that’s at the office or on a beach in Thailand.
This makes it possible for workers to spend more time working remotely. It also allows professionals who travel frequently to client job sites to stay connected seamlessly.
Increased Reliability and Affordability
Every business owner knows the importance of minimizing costs and maximizing reliability. The numbers are clear, landlines cost more than VoIP. They also have significantly more downtime than a cloud system.
Cloud-based communication is basically software that runs on your network. Because of this, there are far fewer physical issues that can cause the system to fail.
If you maintain your own system a robust IT department can ensure you have the minimum possible downtime.
Cloud as a service phone systems have even fewer issues. The company you subscribe to handles all the back-end issues that could prevent you from connecting.
This lets you focus entirely on your business without worrying about communications failures.
The cost savings with VoIP versus a landline are easy to understand. With a traditional phone system, you have actual phone lines connected to physical phones that require advanced switching capabilities.
A cloud-based system only requires an internet connection to link up with an offsite server.
Time Management and Performance Metrics
If you run a business that is heavily call based it can be difficult to track employee performance. Call centers, customer service lines, and other non-sales based call professionals have fewer hard numbers they can provide.
With a cloud-based system, your administrators can now monitor specific metrics related to representative performance. You can either use out of the box features like average call length, calls per hour, etc or create your own.
This makes it much easier to create goals and quotas for your employees and hold them accountable to them. A VoIP system lets you get individualized reports for each employee. The information provided is much more detailed than what was available under previous call center systems.
Make the Right Choice For Your Needs
Before you ever sign a cloud services contract make sure you’re getting all the features and extras you need. There are lots of cloud advantages, but you need to make sure you’re getting the best possible deal for high-quality service.
If you’re looking for a new cloud-based phone system provider for your business, contact us here to learn more about our services.
