Hosted VoIP: Changing the Landscape of Business Communications
Every day, companies across the United States try to do the same to improve their businesses. Whether it’s a typical “mom and dad” SMB, a midsize business with 250 employees, or a Fortune 100 company, they all share the same four basic goals. 1) Reduce costs. 2) Increase income. 3) Be more flexible to changing market conditions and 4) Reduce any risk of disruptions to your business model. Simply put, all companies want a better way to achieve their “Business Continuity” strategies.
So how are these various companies achieving these lofty goals? One of the quickest and easiest ways to tackle all four elements at once is to understand that technology has again changed the way we do business … for the better, and now is the time to embrace the change.
The companies of today (and tomorrow) are changing the way they communicate with each other. Gone are the old and expensive communication models. For those of us who are willing to show our age, you may remember the days of costly long distances. Remember when you asked to use someone’s home or work phone and the person paying the bill would always ask the same question: “Are you calling long distance?” Fortunately, with the Ma-Bell break-up in the 1990s, the competition cut costs to a manageable $ 0.03 per minute from the norm at the time, where it was roughly $ 0.40 per minute.
The transition came again with the advent of the Internet, and then e-mail, and again with conference calls and mobile services. Each new technology certainly experienced its own obstacles along the way, and each took time for the masses to embrace, but ultimately each new step brought us closer to the four goals mentioned above. Reduced costs, higher revenues, market flexibility, and reduced risk of downtime.
Today, technology has blessed us with yet another advance. Over the past decade, we have seen the advent of Cloud and Hosted technologies. What started as a slow crawl has accelerated into a sprint at the pace of Usain Bolt in technological advancements, thanks to cloud computing. As is the norm, it always takes a few years for the masses to understand and in turn embrace these new technologies, but once they happen, there is no going back. That’s where we are today, and thankfully for companies looking to upgrade their technology or capitalize on the impressive catalog of feature sets (now standard on most offerings), their business continuity goals are finally within reach.
If you haven’t yet started the transition of replacing your old dilapidated PRI-based phone system, then you’re doing your business a disservice, and that’s a delicately expressed understatement. Sure, you see your old phone system as an asset, something that you own, that is tangible and yours, but if you think about it beyond the obvious, what has your phone system done for you lately? I’m sure it rings and can make a call for you, but what if you could ring your extension anywhere you are visiting during the day, or even ring simultaneously with your mobile device? Never missing a potential customer call will help you dramatically increase your income. Or consider the amount of time it takes you each month to understand and rectify your paper bill. Are all of your rates billing correctly for each type of call you make? Doubtful, but imagine having an online portal that tracks each and every call, to and from (down to the extension level), so you not only know where your customers are calling and who your customers are talking to, but also ensures that every outgoing call is really included, FREE, with the system? That’s both cost reduction and flexibility.
Ever had to close during inclement weather? Your competitor already using Hosted VoIP services didn’t, because when they woke up to find 6 feet of snow on the ground, they just opened their smartphone, logged into the portal, and with a click of a button, they redirected all of their calls to your predefined emergency overrides, in real time! Guess what, they never lost a dollar in existing revenue, and better yet, they even got your lost revenue, because they were open to the public while your business was closed to the public.
The most common mistake when considering a hosted VoIP PBX is price. Most fear that such an advanced Unified Communications system (and that’s what it really is; this is not your grandfather’s phone system) will cost the same price as old phone systems, with a huge capital outlay, which deplete your business for cash until you get something a kind of ROI. That is obviously incorrect. Today’s hosted VoIP PBXs cost little to nothing in upfront costs, and are simply charged monthly just like your phone bill of yesteryear.
Included in the monthly costs are your new phone system and phones, all usage (domestic calls are generally FREE or UNLIMITED), dozens of voicemail features and options, automated assistants, software updates, fault repair, installation, training, intuitive user and administration portals (to manage service, pay your bill, chat, monitor extensions, and even view trouble tickets in real time) and a variety of other bells and whistles. Best of all, these systems, which are generally priced based on the number of phones ordered, are typically within 15% of your total current spend.
So the next time you have a staffing or budget meeting and are trying to figure out how to achieve your four main goals (again): increase revenue, decrease costs, become more flexible, and reduce the risk of downtime. I would recommend that you take a good look at Hosted VoIP PBX as an option. The only downside is that you haven’t done it before.
About the Author:
Jeff Keane, 38, is an expert in business telecommunications services with more than 15 years of experience in the industry. Jeff is frequently the top producing sales representative in his company and throughout his career he has helped thousands of clients save millions of dollars annually by implementing his recommendations for various voice, data, VoIP services. , IT and in the cloud. Jeff lives in southern New Jersey with his wife Brandy, 36, and their two children, Ryan Christopher, 14, and Emma Grace, 10. Jeff is an avid sports fan and also enjoys a variety of sports. music, art, food and technology.