Hosted VoIP: changing the landscape of business communications
Every day, companies across America are trying to do the same thing to improve their business. Whether you’re a typical “mom and pop” 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 revenue. 3) Be more flexible to changing market conditions and 4) Reduce any risk of disruptions to your business model. Simply put, every business wants 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 address all four elements at once is to understand that technology has once again changed the way we do business…for the better, and now is the time to embrace the change.
Today’s (and tomorrow’s) businesses are changing the way they communicate with each other. Gone are the old and expensive communication models. For those of us willing to show our age, you may remember the days of expensive long distance calls. Remember when you asked to use someone’s home or business phone and the person paying the bill always asked the same question: “Are you calling long distance?” Fortunately, with the breakup of Ma-Bell in the 1990s, the competition reduced costs to a manageable $0.03 per minute from the norm of the time, where it was around $0.40 per minute.
The transition occurred again with the advent of the Internet, and then email, and again with conference calls and mobile services. Each new technology certainly experienced its own bumps in the road, and each took time for the masses to adopt them, but ultimately, each new step brought us closer to the four goals mentioned above. Reduced cost, increased revenue, market flexibility, and reduced risk of downtime.
Today, technology has hurt 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 Usain Bolt-paced sprint in technological advances, thanks to cloud computing. As is the norm, it always takes a few years for the masses to understand and in turn adopt these new technologies, but once that happens, there is no going back. That’s where we are today, and fortunately, for businesses looking to upgrade their technology or capitalize on the impressive catalog of feature sets (now standard across most offerings), their business continuity goals are finally within reach.
If you haven’t yet begun the transition of replacing your old, rundown PRI-based phone system, then you’re doing your business a huge disservice, and that’s a nicely phrased understatement. Sure, you see your old phone system as an asset, something you own, something that’s 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 have your extension ring anywhere you visit during the day, or even ring simultaneously with your mobile device? Never missing a potential customer’s call will drastically increase your income. However, consider the amount of time it takes you each month to understand and rectify your paper billing. Are your rates billed 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 from and who they’re talking to, but also make sure that every outgoing call is really included, FREE, with the system? That’s both cost reduction and flexibility.
Have you ever had to close during inclement weather? Your competitor who already uses hosted VoIP services didn’t, because when they woke up to find 6 feet of snow on the ground, they simply opened their smartphone, logged into the portal, and with the click of a button, redirected everything from your calls to your pre-designated emergency overrides, in real time! Guess what, they never lost a dollar in existing revenue, and better yet, they even earned their lost revenue, because they were open while their business was closed.
The most common misconception 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 ‘isn’t your grandfather’s phone system) is priced the same as old phone systems, with a large capital outlay, limiting its business for cash until you get some sort of return on investment. That is obviously wrong. Today, hosted VoIP PBXs cost little to nothing in upfront costs, and are simply billed monthly just like your phone bill of old.
Included in the monthly costs are your new phone system and phones, all usage (national calls are generally FREE or UNLIMITED), dozens of features and voicemail options, automated attendants, software updates, troubleshooting, installation, training, intuitive user and management 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 typically priced by the number of phones ordered, are typically within 15% of your total current spend!
So the next time you have a budget or staff meeting and are trying to figure out how to reach your top four goals (again): increase revenue, decrease costs, become more flexible, and reduce downtime risk, I would recommend that you take a good look at Hosted VoIP PBX as an option. The only drawback 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 often the top-producing sales representative in his company, and throughout his career, he has helped thousands of customers save millions of dollars a year by implementing his recommendations for various voice, data, VoIP, 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 music, art, food and technologies.
