Why Your Next Business Phone Should be in the Cloud
May 20, 2014
By Michael Guta, TMCnet Contributing Writer
By all accounts the days of the landline are numbered, and more telecoms are trying all they can to get out of the expense of maintaining a technology that is quickly becoming obsolete. Currently more than 91 percent of Americans own cell phones, while more than 63 percent own smart phones, with wired communication mostly coming from IP-based technology. As IP communication becomes the preferred solution for individual and businesses, landlines are becoming even less relevant.
With VoIP and new cloud based communication services, individual consumers and businesses can use big features previously available to large organizations at very affordable prices. In an article written by Steve Cerocke titled, "Keep Business Phone (News - Alert) System Up To Date" on rgj.com, he points out why a cloud-based telephone platform can be the right answer for a home office, SMB, startup and more.
Moving your communication solutions to the cloud can increase employee productivity, improve customer service and lower IT and communication costs. The beauty of cloud is it provides unlimited flexibility not only to grow, but also to implement customized solutions to address the needs of your customers using their preferred communication platform. With cloud you can make changes to meet any demand on the fly instead of waiting for days with traditional PBX (News - Alert) systems.
A cloud communication solution is designed for today's business environment in which every employee in the organization is connected to customers and coworkers, whether they're working on premises or they are on the other side of the planet. This technology doesn't place any limitation on how you can communicate with everyone that is essential to the well-being of your business. They can be on smartphones, tablets, computers, and desk phones along with many new and traditional phone features.
These features allow even a single home office to look like professional office with advanced phone, fax, and text messaging as well as on-hold message and music, auto-receptionist, employee and department extensions, voicemail with email notification, and call auto-recording. Additionally multiple locations can seem like an extension and they can be connected at the push of a button. What is more, these extensions can be added in minutes instead of days or weeks as with traditional phone systems.
The switch to a cloud-based solution is also much cheaper than on-premises PBX systems, requiring no equipment or IT staff to maintain. With all the boxes checked, the only thing to do now is find the best cloud-based communications service provider.
Edited by Rory J. Thompson