Why a Hosted Private Cloud is Better Than Just a 'Private' Cloud

As businesses move towards cloud services and VoIP systems, questions often arise whether or not to manage the company’s PBX using the in-house IT. 

It’s attractive mainly because of the security that it would ensure; all data is on company hardware and protected, as well as having the utility of VoIP PBX without the concerns about industry regulations.  There is often as assumption that keeping it in-house will cut down on costs as well since there is no middleman, but recent studies have shown that this is not the case.

The first thing that is commonly misunderstood is the ability of one’s in-house IT staff. In-house staff are generalists, in that they cannot possibly keep up with the changes in the hosted PBX industry. 

Even if they have been trained in a new technology, one has to consider the additional skills needed to integrate legacy equipment and new technology together and keep the PBX system optimized.

Even with an excellent in-house staff, are you ensuring that they are constantly being trained in the latest technologies?  How much is this costing you, or them, or you by paying them more so that they can stay abreast of new technologies?

Research shows that it is better to keep your in-house IT staff for your network, and use 3^rd party vendors for other systems such as hosted PBX.  They specialize and require less investment in hardware and software, just regular fees for management.

When looking toward the future, hosted PBX takes care of the work and complexity. If you have a premises-based solution, you have control but maintain the complexity.

A hosted PBX is also great for flexibility. It connects outside salesforce, multiple locations, remote workers or work from home employees. It’s also scalable. You only need to order exactly the number of phone extensions necessary with the features needed in the here and now. As business expands or contracts, it is easy to upgrade or downgrade service.

Clouds indeed have their silver linings, and keeping the cloud private while maintaining the most up to date systems can help IT departments improve efficiency while keeping costs down. 

Edited by Alisen Downey