The use of video-enabled unified communications (UC) cloud solutions is a growing trend for SMEs as they allow them to lower the cost and complexity of deploying and using a telephony system onsite for a broad range of services. Those that elect to use hosted phone solutions are offered “services that are run from within the cloud but managed via a virtual PBX (News - Alert) switchboard,” explains a post featured on ITProPortal.com.
Other than being free from physical constraints, a cloud-based PBX will allow for a hosted phone system that enables a business to scale as it begins to grow or expand. Rather than having to install costly upgrades onsite, it can have a service provider handle the changes. Through the cloud, businesses can tap into the many benefits of a VoIP service: from improved productivity to mobility communication and flexibility that enables employees to work from anywhere.
Once the decision is made to look for an IP telephony solution, the challenge is finding and then choosing the right hosted IP-PBX provider, for adopting VoIP services that will facilitate the building of B2B/B2C relationships. But not all small enterprises are onboard when it comes to the use of business VoIP and cloud-based communications services. Even medium-sized businesses are not faring much better, as a Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) post on Monday pointed out.
A report released in January of this year from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) “found that just 28 per cent of businesses with fewer than 20 employees were making use of IP-based telephony, and 39 per cent of medium-sized businesses (20-199 employees) were making use of the technology.” The report also mentions that 35 per cent of small businesses use Skype (News - Alert) as a primary communication service to make and receive voice calls via their broadband Internet connection.
Skype, which is best known for its free video chat, is a freemium voice-over-IP service and instant messaging client; this alone attracts many start-ups looking to keep their costs down. Skype is one of the first peer-to-peer IP telephony networks (first released in 2003), which competes with SIP and H.323-based protocols used by other VoIP apps. Today, Skype continues to evolve and change under the Microsoft (News - Alert) banner as a Microsoft-owned VoIP and messaging application, although the VoIP software and service continues to be licensed by and operated by Skype Communications S.A.
Many favor Skype as a good entry-level, low-cost VoIP service and communications tool; it allows users to place unlimited voice calls (or video calls via a Webcam) to other Skype users for free. According to the SMH post, “Microsoft, for its part, has been aggressively pushing the idea of Skype for small businesses for a few years now.”
Skype is generally affordable but offers basic calling features, and it may not be all the VoIP a business may ever need. While Skype uses similar technology to other VoIP services, it lacks features that a business might find essential. For example, Skype does not allow its users to execute call flows between people—i.e., transfer calls between staff; it also lacks the ability to set up broadcasting or call pickup groups, which is a key feature for many businesses that need groups of employees to work together wherever they are located.
Skype, and other basic VoIP services, might not be the best solutions for businesses, but, nevertheless, companies that are not considering hosted services might be missing out on savings and efficiency opportunities. VoIP and cloud, maybe, are not for everyone, but for the majority of businesses they can allow that flexibility that modern, dispersed workforce requires.
Edited by Alisen Downey