There’s lots of buzz around the cloud these days and cloud communications is no exception. But buzz isn’t always an indicator of a business case for technology purchases. Smart businesses are asking what’s driving the rush to the cloud-and they’re getting solid answers. So why are so many businesses moving communications to the cloud today? Here are 10 real-world reasons.
1. Cost
Predictable monthly costs. This may seem like old news, but many companies don’t realize just how much they can save by moving their communications to the cloud. By hosting a phone system over the Internet, businesses are charged on an “as needed” basis, paying only for what they use. That makes cloud-based communication systems especially cost-effective for small businesses-eliminating the need to pay for the installation and maintenance of a traditional phone system.
2. Outsource IT
Get managed IT services that eliminate the hassles of working with broken, unreliable, or inefficient technology. The management of an on-site solution can be expensive. Because of the complexity of today’s communications systems, it can often take an entire IT department to manage. Cloud-based communications can alleviate the burden by eliminating maintenance, IT workload, and some of the more costly internal infrastructure, including servers and storage systems. However, if you are using Amazon Web Services and not Google Cloud, you might want to consider availing AWS managed services to help protect your business from any security breach event and also take quick action in case one does occur.
3. Scalability
Scale up or down based on users. Anyone who has moved or expanded an on-site phone system knows just how difficult it can be. Whether a business is growing, moving or downsizing, the cloud provides the flexibility and scalability the business needs now and in the future. And with cloud-based systems, businesses can access and add new features without any new hardware requirements.
4. Vendor Management
One vendor for everything. With cloud communications, a vendor manages communication systems off-site, and IT departments are freed up to focus on other high-priority issues. (Let IT get back to that email fix!)
5. Technology
Instant updates. With cloud communications, service is outsourced, and upgrades are deployed through automatic software updates. This allows organizations to stay focused on their business and leave the upgrades to the cloud communications vendor.
6. Quality Of Service
Maximize uptime and downtime coverage. For many businesses, uptime is pivotal. To keep things running, they rely on the ability to scale and leverage remote work teams or serve customers from anywhere. For these kinds of businesses, cloud communications maximizes uptime and coverage through multiple, remotely hosted data centers, helping them avoid costly interruptions and downtime.
7. Affordable Redundancy
Leverage shared resources. With an on-site communication system, hardware and software geographic redundancy can be challenging to deliver. But when multiple businesses share resources in a cloud environment, they get access to a level of redundancy that would be too expensive to procure with an on-site solution.
8. Disaster Recovery
Business continuity made easy. Businesses are using the cloud to protect themselves from the affects of disasters. With cloud communications, they can get up and running quickly after a disaster, or in some cases, continue running the entire time. Some reroute calls to remote locations and cell phones. Others rely on remote access to voicemail or use cloud-based auto attendants continue taking calls and providing information. It’s a hard-to-resist combination of reliability, resiliency and redundancy.
9. Cloud-based Applications
Access customized applications in the cloud. When businesses are connected to a cloud communications platform, they get access to the latest communications applications and developments, like customizable business workflows. These applications help boost productivity and revenue streams for their businesses in ways that traditional communications programs cannot.
10. Future-proofing
Digital transformation is here. Most companies have started transitioning to the cloud in one form or another to future-proof their businesses, as most applications today are being constructed in the cloud. Making the most of new applications requires the ability to integrate fluidly with business communications system. Integrating cloud-based applications with a cloud-based communications system is significantly easier than integrating cloud-based applications with an on-site one, so businesses looking to future-proof their operations are moving to the cloud.
Making Your Own Call
Is cloud-based communication right for you? Maybe so. Maybe not. But it is right for the 1.6 million business people who rely on our cloud communication technology day in and day out.