Cloud Phone System Pros and Cons
Clarity Technologies Group weighs the pros and cons of using a cloud-based phone system so that you can make an informed decision for your business.
Cloud based phone systems are phone services that your business can purchase over the Internet. Rather than maintaining phone system software on a server like PBX in your office, you can purchase cloud phone system service from Clarity and pay for these services on subscription basis.
What are the pros of a cloud-based phone system for small businesses? And what are the cons? Here’s a look at the biggest pros and cons of these services.
Cloud Based Phone System Pros
1: Cost Savings
Small businesses that switch to VoIP can minimize the cost of their local calls by up to 40%. Those same small businesses can minimize the cost of their international calls by up to 90%.
At Clarity, we charge less per minute than the leading landline phone services. No matter what your call volume and usage, it’s almost guaranteed that Clarity’s cloud-based phone system will cost you less every month than a landline service.
Unlimited minutes packages are reasonable for call centers with high traffic, while Pay-As-You-Go pricing models can accommodate these businesses that use minutes sparingly. And hosted platforms don’t need you to purchase expensive hardware that needs maintenance and installation saving you quite a bit as judging from the example above.
2: Geographic Flexibility
You don’t have to be at your desk phone to make calls on a cloud-based phone system. ClarityCloudtm phone systems allow you to work anywhere with an Internet connection. You can set up an IP phone, plug in your laptop or use a softphone on your smartphone to make phone calls from your cloud phone system. This means you can work remotely on the go or as a full-time remote employee.
ClarityCloudtm phone service offers free phone applications that allow you to work from wherever you like. You can:
- Extension dial your team.
- Call the public switched telephone network (PSTN).
- Use phone presence that tells you when your coworkers are occupied with calls.
- All without stepping foot in the office.
- Windows Softphone
- Mobile Softphone for iOS and Android
- Secure Tunnel
Geographic flexibility is also a great tool for connecting your offices with one phone system. If you have offices in different locations, ClarityCloudtm phone system can connect your whole company to the same phone service and have it managed by a single administrator from remote location if needed.
3: Reliability
Because the components of ClarityCloudtm phone system are not on premises in the same location, most providers have a less amount of service downtime and very few disruptions. “Geographic redundancy” is the industry utilized for this decentralized setup. The word “redundant” is utilized to signify that all the different servers are a mirror replica of the others.
For example, if a service provider hosts servers in New Jersey and Atlanta, either of those servers can act as backups should an extravagant event knock one of the servers out of commission. If the server in New Jersey experiences a major malfunction, the traffic will be routed through the server in Atlanta.
Cloud systems usually have much less amounts of downtime due to geographic redundancy. If you’re going to purchase for a cloud phone system, ask the provider what the downtime of their service is to get a sense of how much these disruptions affects their service. If they have good redundancy, the figure should be nearly zero.
4: Hosted PBX
ClarityCloudtm houses our phone system hardware offsite. Generally, all you need with cloud hosting services is an acceptable ethernet connection and working IP phones.
This means you won’t have to bear the cost for maintenance of the equipment, mechanical malfunctions, or any other IT hours to keep your system up and running. All these issues are dealt offsite by your service provider.
Clarity has a dedicated customer support team that take your questions over the phone or through email. The smaller issues you experience can be answered by experts and professionals most of whom are in the US.
VoIP Phone System Cons
1: Phone and Router Purchases
Switching to a cloud-based phone system may need you to purchase equipment to get up and running. With a hosted cloud system, you will have to purchase IP phones if you don’t already have them. These phones are typically available in economy ranges and require an Ethernet port to operate that means you may need a larger router and more Ethernet cords.
2: Outside Disruptions
If your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is enough reliable and your cloud phone system has high redundancy, you don’t have to worry about dropped calls and connections. But if you have an ISP that often drops your Internet service then it will critically disrupt your cloud-based phone system. Of course, if you find an expert ISP then the problem will be solved. The issue only becomes serious for those who are locked into Internet service providers through contracts.
The Cloud VoIP Era
Cloud phone systems are becoming massively popular for businesses of all stripes. VoIP solutions for small and medium-sized businesses with enterprise business options give customers a new type of flexibility and reliability when it comes to phone systems. If you think you may benefit from these platforms, it’s never too late to switch. We highly recommend that you take the time to check out cloud business phone system reviews to find the best fit.
Clarity is proud to have been providing one premises and Cloud Hosted Telephony to the America’s and the world since 2006. Our clients are worldwide and currently using our unified communications platform. Clarity Technologies Group, LLC surpasses expectations.
Call Clarity at 800-354-4160 today or email us at [email protected]. We are partnered internationally around the globe and we are open seven days a week 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM EST/EDT. http://45.33.92.219 and https://dotmantech.com.
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