For those who haven’t gotten the memo: Analogue is dead.
Traditional phone lines still are used by many, as are newspapers. But the shift to all-digital is a fait accompli; digital won.
With good reason: Digital is more flexible, more mobile, more cost-effective, and able to deliver higher quality, among other reasons.
This is no less true for IP-based phone systems, which often offer flat-rate pricing, the ability to follow users whether in the office or on the road, and integrate with other digital communications mediums such as chat and video.
Businesses are swarming to IP-based phone systems as a result.
While IP-based phone systems can take the form of on-premise or cloud-based solutions, businesses that have not already adopted IP calling would be wise to consider the cloud-based route.
The cloud-based calling solutions, also known as hosted phone systems, offer a number of benefits over their on-premise counterparts. The eliminate most of the capital expense of infrastructure, and they save businesses the need to maintain and upgrade the hardware and software to support their IP calling systems.
Further, cloud-based calling solutions are more scalable than on-premise IP phone solutions, because hosting plans can be reduced if less phone lines are needed or increased as businesses grow; it is as simple as changing the subscription package the business has chosen.
Another reason that businesses making the jump to IP calling should consider the cloud is because it aids in the process of migrating to IP, as a recent BroadConnect blog post noted.
One important aspect to consider when moving to IP calling is making sure that the right security architecture is in place, noted the BroadConnect blog post. A hosted solution helps take care of security, which means security best practices are employed and the business does not have to deal with them.
A second important aspect is training users to use the new system. Here, again, the cloud makes sense; hosted providers usually come with 24x7 support, so businesses always have the training material and guidance they need as they move from analogue to digital calling.
So businesses that have not yet adopted IP communications would be wise to make the move soon—and going with a cloud solution makes a lot of sense.
Edited by Alisen Downey