It was just a few short years ago when businesses needed to be educated on the merits of hosted VoIP. At sipVine, we receive calls every day from businesses who have already decided upon going with a hosted service for their voice telephony. This is a drastic change from years past, as callers were inquiring about a phone system or service, and had to overcome fears of running their service over the internet to an off-premise system.
In particular, small to mid-sized businesses are investing less and less in on-site systems and moving to the cloud for their telephony and other applications. There are several driving factors in this change:
- General Business Climate Improvement – Through the recession, businesses deferred spending on infrastructure, keeping their older systems in play and, in many cases, on life support. As economic conditions have improved, businesses are in a position to take advantage of the technological improvements that surfaced in the previous decade. The good news with deferring the investment on VoIP is that stronger providers have emerged and are now thriving. Businesses have a choice, and the top providers have different areas of strength to match with the needs of the business.
- Low Up-Front Investment – Upgrading technology is not overwhelming with a Hosted VoIP system. Instead of investing in the on-site system and server, businesses are simply purchasing the VoIP phone handsets or softphones. Additional minor equipment may be necessary for analog device conversion, such as a fax machine. This level of investment is a fraction of what it will be when compared to an on-site service.
- Flexible Deployment – With a hosted system, it doesn’t matter where the phones are located. Thus, businesses may outfit their office as well as deploy a work at home model as the situation warrants. If businesses have multiple branch offices, they can all be on the same system and take advantage of centralization of functions, peer to peer extension dialing, and general cost savings through scale pricing offered by the hosted providers.
- Technology Improvement – It is amazing to hear what some companies have been suffering through the past several years. Simple things like caller ID receipt and direct dial numbers are table stakes with VoIP technology, but many analog systems didn’t allow for such features. Personal voicemail boxes with voicemail to email are welcomed additions for businesses suffering through old technology. But, there are many advanced communication features and opportunities for custom programming so that the new system is built to meet or advance your voice communication practices.
Has your business hopped on the wave? It is worth an exploration. Give us a call and we’ll help you it!
About the author: Mark Greim is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at sipVine, a provider of a variety of digital phone solutions and services. Mark has extensive experience working for start-up or entrepreneurial organizations and has a passion for affordable, reliable, and purposeful technology solutions in those environments.
