At Teleconnect Service, we have been addressing some of the common concerns of using cloud-based communications by disproving 7 hosted telephony / PBX myths.
More and more businesses are choosing to move away from traditional forms of on-site telephony systems, with more and more IT managers choosing hosted PBX solutions as a direct replacement, and for good reason! That being said, there is still a great deal of decision-makers out there who don’t trust cloud-based communications solutions. In this blog post, 7 of the main concerns and perceived disadvantages of hosted telephony have been addressed to show you that they are really just myths!
The call quality of hosted systems is not as good as on-site?
The myth: People often associate hosted voice with a variety of quality issues such as broken speech.
The truth: In reality, this reputation has come about from the VoIP systems that were first introduced over 15 years ago. Because this form of telephony relies completely on the internet, these calls were often unreliable due to the poor quality of the user’s connection. With modern-day connectivity like managed ADSL, fibre broadband and Ethernet solutions, this problem has completely disappeared.
Unified communications in the cloud are not as secure as on-site PBX?
The myth: It’s still widely regarded that by having a system on-site, it’s less likely to be hacked than a system that relies on the internet.
The truth: Most cloud computing solutions are much more secure and protected than their equivalent on-premise counterparts. When migrating your telephony to the cloud, make sure you pick a provider who really values security and one who makes their policies and procedures clear from the outset.
Hosted PBX phone systems are still a new technology and are not fully developed yet?
The myth: A common concern is that cloud computing is still in its infancy, and isn’t a fully-developed offering yet.
The truth: The cloud is here, and worldwide investment in the cloud is phenomenal. So much so in fact that, more than 3 in 4 businesses in the UK are using the cloud today. Over 60% of businesses are predicted to be using the cloud for all their IT and communications in the foreseeable future.
Internal IT staff will become redundant?
The myth: IT teams will have nothing to do once you move your PBX to the cloud.
The truth: Your cloud communications provider is responsible for the day-to-day maintenance, repair, and upgrade of your hosted phone system. That means your IT staff can spend their time using organisational resources to bring extra value to your business by being proactive with new and existing projects, rather than needing to react to problems and faults. Even with hosted, your internal IT will still be the champions of your cloud system and the first point of call for other employees.
Migrating to hosted voice is not cost-effective?
The myth: Businesses that have heavily invested in an on-site telephone system (upgrades, new hardware, engineering costs, and staff training) believe that changing the entire phone system will cost them even more money and won’t be worth it.
The truth: The way hosted voice systems often work, like most other cloud computing solutions, is on a subscription basis – usually a per user, per month charge, with no or very little upfront investment. This means you only pay for what you need, so if you’ve got 5 users you pay for 5, rather than having to buy a system that can support ‘up to 15’, with wasted capacity. Then when you need to add more users, you just increase how many licenses you have. Even the cost of the phone handsets is included in the monthly charge. And because the updates and upgrades are taken care of by your provider, there are no ‘refresh’ costs. So it’s the last phone system your business will ever need to invest in. It really couldn’t be more cost-effective!
On-premise PBX is more resilient?
The myth: Traditional on-site phone systems are less likely to fail and less susceptible to connectivity problems.
The truth: The phone system that’s at your site is probably at more risk of problems than cloud-based systems. Just think, if there was a natural disaster (fire or flood) or theft at your office, what would happen to your business’s communications?
The transition will take too much time and disrupt my business?
The myth: Once a decision-maker has decided that hosted PBX is right for their business, their next worry is in the ‘disruption’ any sort of transition might cause the business.
The truth: It’s true that any form of change can be a difficult and challenging time for businesses, and the same can certainly be true of hosted telephony migrations for IT managers. But that’s no excuse to move to a system that can prove to be hugely beneficial to your business in both the short term and long term. Your cloud communications provider should put a strong and clear migration plan in place, which details everything involved with your changeover, including timescales and expectations. This will make the transition as smooth as possible for everyone involved.
Cloud telephony is the future!
It should be clear from the points above that the common concerns about using the cloud aren’t really that valid. Whilst there’s some element of truth to a few of the concerns, they can all be overcome by proper planning or careful consideration. What we would say is that choosing the right provider really is the key to a successfully hosted PBX migration. You should be guided through the process with updates at every stage along the way, and you should be confident in their data centre setup too.
We supply Hosted Phone Systems to businesses of all sizes, across the UK.
Contact us today to find out more about Teleconnect Service and our fully secure, resilient, and cost-effective cloud telephony solutions.
