Flexibility is a Key Aspect of Small Business Voice Telephony Solutions
September 19, 2018
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If you are in the market for a new business communication system, then solution flexibility should be a key requirement.
Today, businesses have a choice in their path to the future. They can choose to get the benefits of IP communications (e.g., SIP trunking, unified communications) by upgrading / utilizing an all IP-based PBX platform, moving everything into the cloud or deploying a mix of premise- and cloud-based features.
Your vendor should offer all of these solutions, not just one of them. This way, you can confidently buy what is right for you. And the vendor can more freely give advice once they understand your business better. The vendor can become your trusted partner.
For instance, the cloud may not be the right fit for your business right now. Maybe you simply need to update an aging PBX system or you still want to “own” the communications experience. In these cases, flexibility means the ability to choose an IP PBX platform that fits your business and your needs.
However, moving everything into the cloud has its advantages and may be the right thing for your business right now. For one thing, it allows your IT team to get out of the phone business by shifting hardware maintenance and software upgrades onto the cloud provider’s shoulders. Cloud-based communications platforms also provide higher levels of efficiency that allow businesses to quickly add and activate licenses as new employees are added. Some cloud communications platforms provide added resiliency by hosting applications in a high-performance data center with built-in redundancy and disaster recovery. That can be an important feature when disaster strikes because it allows business communications to stay up even when the rest of the business is shut down.
Flexibility also means the best mix of price, performance and features. It’s not enough to simply replace the communications features you have today in the cloud; you should look to improve on what you have today by focusing on providers that can:
- Deliver “big business” call features such as Music on Hold, Callback When Available, Auto Attendant, Time-of-Day Call Routing (including after business hours) and more;
- Provide options to port your existing numbers or choose new phone numbers outside your region to expand your operations;
- Automatically provision new devices and onboard new employees in minutes rather than hours or days;