Your e-mail is in the cloud. Your files are in the cloud. Your customer relations management system is probably in the cloud. Why is your phone service not in the cloud?

The business landscape has changed dramatically in just a few years thanks to smartphones and tablets, cloud computing and social networks. We’re no less chained to our work, but we’re definitely not chained to our office any longer.

A big part of that is due to the cloud. Instead of having our software on our computer we now outsource our computing needs to servers on the Web that deliver our customer relationship management software via Salesforce.com, our e-mail via Gmail and our files via Dropbox (News - Alert).

The advantages of moving our computing needs to the cloud are several, which is why businesses the world over are migrating to the cloud-based delivery model both for services they offer and services they consume, whether IT or otherwise.

One area both easy to migrate and impactful is phone service in the cloud. Voice over IP (VoIP) enables businesses to move their PBX (News - Alert) to the cloud. This delivers a number of benefits.

First of all, it eliminates the hassles and expense that come with managing and maintaining telephony infrastructure. With a hosted VoIP solution, businesses can get rid of that closet of wires and PBX equipment that sucks time and money. Hosted VoIP is a service, so there’s no equipment to buy or maintain.

Mobility is another big reason to move phone service to the cloud. With a hosted VoIP solution, phone calls follow employees wherever they go. Calls can be routed to cell phones or landlines at home or away. Messages can be checked through smartphone apps or a web interface in many cases.

At the same time, these calls can still be handled from a traditional office environment when needed. Companies such as Yealink (News - Alert) offer IP phones that can be installed in the office and deliver the familiar and comfortable experience of an office phone, but with the flexibility and feature set that comes with VoIP. The Yealink T4 series of IP phones, for instance, can come with a 4.3 inch 480 x 272 pixels extra-large display that makes pen and paper almost redundant.

The reasons such displays are nice is because VoIP also merges voice with the other modern communication methods. With a hosted VoIP solution, voice can combine with chat and video conferencing and document sharing to deliver a unified communications experience that moves the focus from how the communication takes place to what is being communicated.

In a nutshell, this is the overarching reason for moving phone service to the cloud: The cloud helps phone service stop being the focus so the job of communicating and running a business takes center stage.