WHY WOULD YOU CONSIDER CLOUD TELEPHONY?
Telephony still dominates the business to business marketplace as the first tool of communication with customers but telephony is changing with delivery of telephony via the cloud growing.
What exactly is Cloud Telephony?
It’s a telephony system that is housed in a Data Centre hosted within the Cloud and you access it via a high speed internet, rather than having to buy your own physical telephone system. In effect you rent a part of a much larger system.
Advantage of Cloud Telephony:
A major benefit for businesses is the ability to control costs more effectively.
With a cloud system most of the capital outlay covering the service including the line rental is removed and a simple per user per month cost system is in place. This teamed with not having to rely on in house expertise for maintenance makes a cloud telephony system a more attractive option for companies.
Another advantage of Cloud telephony is the scalability.
These systems are ideal for growing business due to their flexible and scalable nature. Business can rent what they need now and add users or features as their employee base and needs grow, with minimal disruption. Sub offices can be connected to the Head Office system, meaning that growth of business is not delayed by the need to build new infrastructure.
Disadvantage of Cloud Telephony:
Technically cloud telephony relies on an Internet connection for calls to be made. If the Internet connection from your business premises to the cloud system is poor then the call quality will also be poor. With this in mind it is important to research to ensure that a high speed internet connection can be provided.
A big issue is how Cloud Telephony is sold in the market place. Though the technology is capable, the buyer needs to do their research carefully. Headline prices may not tell the whole story and support of the system is an issue too.
Key Questions for the buyer:
- What is the reputation of the service provider?
- What is their charge model?
- How reliable is their service?
- Can they provide maintenance cover for the service?