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Like most businesses, you’ve almost certainly making use of the cloud by now. Research shows that 81 per cent of businesses that have more than 200 employees use cloud technology, and 76 per cent of companies with 20 to 199 employees do.
Businesses use the cloud for any number of reasons. Common use cases include data backup and disaster recovery, using cloud resources to test new projects, and improve collaboration by allowing the organisation to work with remote employees, freelancers, and contractors.
Did you know that phone systems could also benefit from a move to the cloud? For as long as businesses have been using phone systems, the management of them has relied on on-premises infrastructure.
But this is changing as IT leaders come to realise the many advantages that come with outsourcing the phone systems to a hosted PBX provider.
The key advantages of hosted PBX systems
The first, upfront advantage of a hosted PBX system is that the management and maintenance of the system is outsourced to a third party. Your IT team will still have control over it, as they’ll be given a Web-based portal that they can log into to monitor analytics of the system’s usage, provision new users, and manage issues.
They’ll also be able to log into this from anywhere, rather than need to be on-site, as was the case with traditional PBX systems. But they won’t need to worry about uptime, lifecycle management, upgrades and equipment repair.
That in itself would be enough of a benefit for many IT teams – PBX systems are notoriously challenging to manage and maintain – but the benefits go much deeper that, and include:
1) Cost savings
One of the biggest benefits of hosted PBXs is that it means that you can locate your call centres anywhere. Because there is no physical equipment on board, it becomes possible to locate the major cost of a call centre in a cheaper geographical location.
Furthermore, because hosted PBX systems have call forwarding and routing systems built into them, you can maintain the perception that your entire organisation is locally located – your customers won’t realise that they’re calling overseas.
2) Scale quickly
Growing businesses hate PBX systems. Provisioning new phone lines as staff come on board often requires purchasing and integrating new, expensive equipment. That new equipment will come in capacities for a certain number of seats, and any unused capacity becomes a sunk cost. Hosted PBX solutions, meanwhile, scale as your business does, with a reliable monthly contract, minimising the potential of “bill shock” that can come after a wave of hiring.
This is also particularly useful for businesses that have large seasonal demands – they can temporarily commission as many phone lines as they need to, without needing to purchase additional infrastructure that won’t be utilised through the “off season.”
3) Flexibility
Hosted PBX solutions integrate with a multitude of devices – including mobile phones via applications. So, it no longer matters what device someone uses to answer a call. They could start the day out by taking calls at their desk phone, before moving the point of contact to their mobile as they get out and about.
This is a huge advantage for the customer, as it means that there will be no missed calls, and allows the business to run with maximum efficiency whereby the right person to address a call is accessible when they’re needed.
4) Security
PBX solutions are notoriously easy to hack. There’s an exploit called “dial-through fraud”, whereby the PBX is hacked into and calls routed through the system to high-rate premium-rate numbers. Hosted PBX solutions have some security issues of their own, with data now being sent over VOIP connections, but the hosting provider also has responsibility for ensuring that the environment, with patches, firewall and security upgrades being handled by the provider.
Most hosting providers will have a second layer of security in action, too, so even if the local network is compromised, the provider will still be able to prevent unauthorised calls and similar.
5) Business resilience
Finally, the hosted PBX – like all other cloud services – removes the technology from your physical location. So, should something happen resulting in a damaged or otherwise unusable office, then your business will be able to continue operating. Furthermore, hosted PBXs make your business more resilient to vandalism, as there are no more physical wires to cut.
Ultimately, modern businesses need to modernise their IT to meet the demand of modern customers. Customers expect companies to be highly available and responsive to their needs, and a hosted PBX solution, with its enterprise-grade presence and routing features, provides that capability to organisations of all sizes.
It also helps businesses manage their costs. One of the great drivers to the cloud has been the ability to shift cost from Capex – the purchase of equipment upfront – to Opex – a reliable, regular, monthly cost. Hosted PBX brings that capability to a business’ phone systems.