7 Reasons to Move Your Business Phone System to the Cloud

An essential aspect of running a successful business is having a high-quality and multifunctional office phone system for customers, employees, and remote workers to communicate. However, for a modern business, simply making and receiving calls is not enough. If you want to stand out from your competitors, your office phone system needs to be able to integrate to external apps and services.

Luckily, cloud solutions can provide a multifunctional cloud system that is packed with features and doesn’t break the bank. If you still doubt whether it is worth upgrading to a cloud service, let’s assess traditional phone systems’ effectiveness and how they meet these business needs.

Traditional PBX (Private Branch Exchange) is a business-grade phone system that requires expensive, complex-to-install equipment and constant maintenance. These phone system solutions (analog or on-premise) can be challenging to scale, migrate, digitize and automate, making it difficult and expensive to customize to meet modern business needs.

Often companies find that the main disadvantages of traditional PBX systems are the set-up and maintenance fees. On-prem PBX can often be complicated to accommodate as they require a separate room for storage and a team of dedicated technicians on hand for maintenance and troubleshooting. Not to mention, during the installation process, every system will need to be adapted to suit the individual needs of the organization. For example, to perform such a simple task as increasing the number of extensions or users, you need to buy additional expansion modules, or sometimes if upgrading of the current system is impossible due to limited capabilities, you may be forced to buy a completely new PBX system. PBX models are also limited in functionality; without the ability for software updates, the model you have installed cannot adapt to any new features rolled out by the provider.

In the world of modern business, such outdated solutions are hardly acceptable. Therefore, we are increasingly seeing a cloud phone system or hosted PBX (also called virtual PBX) rapidly replacing analog and on-prem phone solutions. One of the major benefits of transitioning to a cloud phone system, for example, Inperium Talk is that the vendor is responsible for housing the business phone system. The system will be hosted in the “cloud,” and available for the enterprise to connect to PBX via the public Internet.

Flexibility, scalability, and adaptability to contemporary business challenges are only some of the advantages of cloud services. Here are seven essential benefits of moving a business phone system in the cloud:

It Is Easy to Implement

To create a cloud PBX, you do not need to purchase and install any equipment in the office; all you need is a phone, tablet, or computer and a high-speed internet connection. Usually, the network settings can easily be configured in a personal internet account, and the IP provider company will take over the system, the current network infrastructure will not be affected during the installation process. With no need for configuration, modern phone systems such as “Inperium Talk” have made installation easy; all you have to do is set up an account. After just a few clicks, your cloud phone system will be up and running.

It Is Cost-Effective

An obvious benefit comes from the simplicity of the equipment for cloud PBX systems. Often business owners can be worried about the costs and downtime associated with switching to new technologies and will choose to add more and more features to their traditional systems that are already in use. As a result, their company’s infrastructure can become overloaded and difficult to manage. Time, money, and resources for the upgrade are literally wasted. Cloud technologies can minimize costs significantly; not only is there no need to install expensive equipment, but also most providers offer free internal corporate calls, low prices, and special rates for international calls, which minimize your expenditures dramatically.

You Can Use a Wide Selection of Additional Business Functions

Nowadays, there is not only a wide choice of cloud phone systems but there are also comprehensive products or even ecosystems that enable you to manage your business more effectively. Virtual PBX systems are designed to be multi-functional communication solutions and come with a wide range of additional business functions that are designed to increase sales, gather and analyze data and provide a comprehensive overview of all business processes.

Unlike traditional PBX systems, which often offer additional features at a fee, virtual PBX will come standard with a number of these useful business functions, the majority of which are free. With a cloud-based phone system, each company can access features that previously were only affordable for large enterprises, enabling businesses of all sizes and budgets to be able to handle incoming calls more professionally.

The most common business functions: integration with your website, CRM, and other systems, IVR, call tracking, call forwarding, recording conversations, callback option, call statistics, etc. Along with features, cloud PBX systems can automatically collect information about each call, such as the responsible manager, the time of waiting for a response, and the duration of the call. Cloud-based PBX can also back up data, analyze and store the text of voicemail and other valuable business information. Making sure that should your smartphone or laptop fails you can always access your archived information.

Cloud PBX systems are designed to keep your customers happy and connected. Regardless of if the entire office building is out of electricity, as the line is hosted in the cloud, meaning 24/7, the line is still working.

It Provides Mobility and Wide Geographical Business Coverage

As all you need is an internet connection, cloud PBX systems allow for collaboration amongst departments and remote teams. Regardless of where you are located, if you are at home or away for a business, you can still make and receive calls. Cloud PBX systems allow you to choose the phone number location, which means, should your company move office locations, the number can remain the same with no downtime or complications.
In addition, if your company has many divisions and outsourced employees, you need highly efficient voice conferencing capabilities. With cloud phone systems you can hold conferences online with any devices that have a camera and a speaker.

It Provides Your Business with Scalability

When a company develops, the structure changes, new teams are formed, and a new office is needed; this growth results in an urgent infrastructure increase, including in the number of users, phone numbers, and hardware. When opening a new branch or renting additional premises, with analog PBX you need to rethink the whole process organization, spending more money on additional equipment. Whereas, cloud solutions are designed to support scalability allowing you to connect or disconnect an unlimited number of users.

It Is Flexible

With traditional PBX changing call forwarding, voicemails and other settings can be a very complex, risky, and expensive process if using on-premise or analog PBX as changes can only be made from the office. Virtual PBX has flexibility and autonomy in resolving such issues as you can change configurations directly from the smartphone even on the go.

With Virtual PBX You Can Better Utilize Business Resources

With the cloud phone system, as the vendor is responsible for hosting the PBX and managing the processes, the implementation of data and applications are supported remotely, reducing the workload for your IT department, and freeing up both resources and employee time for new tasks.

Tips on How to Simplify the Implementation Process of Cloud Phone Systems

Despite all the above benefits, some companies can still be hesitant to completely switch to cloud technology. If you feel the same, try to see in this change a serious and important step forward. Your company will become more mobile and flexible, will be able to quickly respond to customer requests, combine remote offices into one network and easily move from place to place. Here are some ideas on how to simplify the implementation of virtual PBX:

1. Start with small groups. You can move to the cloud gradually - starting with small teams or departments. This can help you to evaluate all the possible difficulties: how long does it take to master new services? How well do they work? Are you comfortable with your provider? This will help reduce risks when it comes to a large-scale system launch.
2. Implement cloud phone systems step by step. Cloud services provide you with flexibility and mobility: you can implement them entirely or combine them with traditional familiar solutions (for example, a virtual PBX in addition to a regular one).
3. Ask for employee support. When implementing new services, to make the transition smoother, you should engage your employees. Demonstrate how cloud technology will help them in their work, how it will save time, simplify tasks and help them earn more. If necessary, you can arrange a special training session for them; the more comfortable everyone is at the first stages, the easier it will be to implement cloud services at all levels.

Virtual PBX, like other cloud services, meets all modern requirements: they are convenient for customers and employees, work faster and more efficiently at a lower cost, simplify communication with customers and within the company.

By moving to a cloud phone system, you can create a single space for employees and departments to communicate. Along with providing a comprehensive communication channel, cloud technology can simplify and improve business management processes by collecting customer information and gathering data for analysis. Cloud PBX will allow you to manage work processes more effectively and rationally allocate companies’ financial and personnel resources.