More businesses are making the move to a hosted digital phone service platform and freeing themselves from the costs associated with maintaining their phone system. Cloud computing and other hosted applications are making their way into the norm as businesses look for ways to refine their cost structure and minimize investments with a high potential for technical obsolescence. Phone systems fit into this decision trend in many ways.
System Administration – As businesses drive efficiency with
technology, IT support resources are at a premium. Moving applications and systems to hosted providers lessens the amount of internal IT support required for day to day operation. Hosted VoIP providers become the IT support for phone system changes, whether it be simple user related changes, new phone provisioning, or complex call flow changes.
Investment Costs – On-site phone systems can be an expensive undertaking. Outside of the costs to acquire, there are installation costs and profit-rich annual service contracts to consider. Money spent on corporate infrastructure can be better applied to company product and service enhancements or research and development that can have an impact on company profitability and customer satisfaction. With the typical hosted VoIP service, the investment costs are limited to the costs of the phones and some minor network equipment.
Technical Obsolescence – Upgrading your business’ technology is a great thing, but with the rapid advancement of such technology, such investment has a real danger of quickly becoming obsolete. With hosted digital phone technology, the responsibility for keeping up with technological advancement is shifted to the hosted digital phone provider. In order to remain competitive in the marketplace, these providers are incented to advance their offerings accordingly and pass those improvements in features and functionality along to their customers.
Operating Flexibility – Hosted phone applications will shift paradigms and free your business to operate in ways not easily implemented before. Traditional phone systems operate solely within the walls of the enterprise, literally. With hosted applications, your workforce can be deployed where they are the most efficient, whether it is at home, in satellite offices, or even at a large customer location. To the external caller, it will appear that all employees are under the same roof. Internally, employees can reach each other through extension dialing, whether they are reaching another associate in the next office, at their home, or in a satellite office in another state!
Consider these benefits before you try to find parts for your outdated PBX or pay that next annual service contract and get out of the phone business! Let your hosted provider be your phone administrator and caretaker of your technology investment.
