It’s hard to ignore the significant shift that’s taken place in business operations over the past few years. As the demand for remote and hybrid work continues reaching unprecedented levels, we’ll continue seeing businesses enquire about moving their business phone systems to the cloud and adopting Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) solutions. UCaaS incorporates phone, video, and messaging in one place, enabling organizations and their workers to be more efficient and productive. It’ll also help managers attract top-tier talent, stay competitive, and grow the business.
If you haven’t taken advantage of the benefits of a cloud phone system, there’s no better time than the present to make this transition. Below, we’ll explain what it means to move your business phone to the cloud, why you should move to a cloud-based phone system, and the benefits of upgrading your phone system to a UCaaS solution that keeps your organization competitive in today’s business world.
What Does It Mean to Move Your Business Phone to the Cloud?
Small businesses are looking for ways to cut costs, stay innovative, and eliminate geographical boundaries. A cloud-based business phone system, often referred to as a cloud phone, is a phone service that enables you to conduct calls over the internet instead of a traditional analog system that uses optical fibers or copper wires. Cloud-based phone systems are hosted in offsite secure data centers, meaning you’ll stay connected no matter what.
Moving your business phone to the cloud means that it can be used with various devices, including computer softphones, smartphone apps, or VoIP phones. Instead of maintaining your phone system in your office, it’s hosted securely in the cloud by a third party and accessed over the internet. This means you won’t have to worry about equipment, system upgrades, or reliability issues. You’ll save money on costly maintenance as everything is updated in the cloud.
Below, we’ll explain some additional benefits of updating to a cloud-based communication solution.
Why Move Your Business Phone to the Cloud?
Many employees have voiced their concerns about returning to the office full-time and are seeking a hybrid work model, while others are opting to go fully remote. Organizations that have failed to adapt have lost workers to companies with more flexible work models, which is one reason so many businesses globally are adopting cloud communications.
Small businesses are looking for ways to cut costs and stay innovative. One way to do this is to move their phone system to the cloud. Some are moving because they’re already reliant upon the cloud for other IT needs, some are looking to increase flexibility for their remote or hybrid workforce, while others want to reduce their dependence on infrastructure that’s hosted on-site. Approximately 61 percent of businesses are still operating on antiquated, premise-based phone systems, meaning many businesses are in need of a modern business communication platform.
Premise-Based Phone Systems | Grand View Research
Businesses that move their phone system to the cloud will notice immediate benefits, some of which can be truly game-changing for their organizations, including enhanced opportunities for innovation, total cost of ownership (TCO), and faster time for delivery. Once you’ve made the choice to move to cloud-based communications, your business will become more flexible and agile, which are vital for meeting consumer and market demands.
Top 5 Reasons to Move Your Business Phone System to the Cloud
Below, we’ll discuss the top five reasons to move your business phone system to the cloud:
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- Cost Savings: Everyone has different goals for why they’re moving their business phone system to the cloud. However, money talks, and making this move will net your business substantial cost savings. Cloud-based services will save you money over traditional phones. Traditional services are costly to set up due to hardware costs. Cloud-based business phone systems can be updated without additional equipment purchases or installation, and you can easily add users yourself. Another way your business will save money is through reduced maintenance costs. Traditional phone hardware can break, requiring an expert to repair them. With cloud-based phones, your company won’t worry about hardware failures or maintenance issues or the associated costs and inconvenience, ever again.
- Scalability: With traditional on-premise phone systems, scalability can be a challenge. For instance, you may only need to add five users, but your plan requires you to purchase 10 lines at a time. With a cloud-based phone solution, you can scale your system in a way that you’re never paying for users you don’t need. Adding new users is an easy process handled through a simple web-based portal with a couple of clicks. Easy scalability is an important factor when you are considering the transition to a cloud-based phone system.
- Flexibility/Mobility: Having a cloud-based business phone means having flexibility in your phone system as well as mobility for your workers, and your business as a whole. Transitioning to cloud-communications means that work is no longer tied to a single physical location. As your staff become more mobile, your system must give them access to communications tools whether they’re in the office or working remotely. UCaaS gives workers the ability to access their communications wherever they are, whenever they need them, on whatever device they choose to use, because it uses a single, web-based system. This gives your business the flexibility to configure your communications system to fit the way your team works, which increases operational efficiency. It also allows them to work where, when and how they need to, which keeps them happy, working for you, and not looking for a more flexible work situation elsewhere.
- Productivity: Switching to cloud-based business communications directly translates to increased staff productivity. When you provide your team with a modern cloud communications solution, it eliminates time spent struggling with an outdated, inefficient phone system. UCaaS enables them to communicate via video, phone, or text, share documents, and collaborate live from wherever individual team members may be. This streamlines the communications process, allowing your workers to get more done, which maximizes efficiency and cost savings for your business.
- Improved Customer Experience: Providing top-quality customer experience is the #1 priority for any organization. Long phone hold times, gaps in communication, and inconsistent or incorrect information are all unacceptable in today’s fast-paced world. When a customer contacts your business, you need to respond quickly via their preferred communication method. That can be phone, email, text, or all of these. And those responses need to be flawless, tracked, and available for future interactions. Cloud communications allow your sales and customer experience teams to meet or exceed customer expectations at every point of contact. UCaaS enables your staff to respond without delay, with the most up-to-date customer information available to all team members in real-time. That eliminates slow response and mistakes in communication, which can damage a customer’s perception of your organization. A cloud communication solution lets you provide world-class service and support that’s speedy, consistent, and accurate. That, in turn, means happy customers, repeat business, and referrals, all keys to growing your business.
UCaaS Is the Solution
If you’re considering upgrading your business phone system to UCaaS, it’s vital to understand what the solution offers. Cloud communications boasts advanced tools, applications, and features, making it a wise move for a small-to-medium-sized business. These can include:
- Voice
- Messaging
- Video
- Team Collaboration
- Document Sharing
- Software Integrations
- Call Center Features
Organizations of all sizes stand to benefit significantly by adopting cloud-based business communications. But you may be asking, “how will it help me improve my business?” Upgrading to UCaaS will help grow your business by allowing you to offer:
Remote and Hybrid Work Options
UCaaS gives businesses and their employees the advanced communications tools they need to be productive and efficient wherever they choose to work. Conventional phone systems don’t offer that flexibility, meaning you’ll be limited in the staff you can hire because it’ll be challenging to accommodate remote or hybrid workers. Employees globally have become accustomed to using modern and integrated communication platforms to do their work. With a UCaaS solution in place, you can offer flexible work models that will attract the best talent from across the globe to work for your organization.
Better Team Connection and Collaboration
Remote and hybrid work isn’t a trend – it’s the future of how we work. However, one need employees mention is collaboration, specifically a lack thereof. When a company doesn’t have proper collaboration tools, some employees can feel disconnected when working remotely. Queue in UCaaS – with versatile, streamlined communication options, your remote teams will always feel connected. Employees can meet in real-time via video, share screens, files, and discuss important projects across platforms. They’ll work together more efficiently, and be more connected as a team.
Advanced Call Management
One of the biggest complaints among customers is the inability to reach the person they need. Optimizing your business phone system and embracing cloud-based technology enables your workers to respond to customers quickly and easily. Team members can manage customer communications on the device of their choice, whenever and wherever they are, ensuring that they handle all interactions promptly, smoothly, and accurately. Call center features allow supervisors to efficiently manage customer call volume and route calls to available support team members wherever they are. With UCaaS, phone tag is a thing of the past.
Centralized Workflows
UCaaS does what an outdated business phone system can’t – it brings multiple communication processes into a single platform. Your staff has access to all communications from their web-enabled devices, allowing them to work from anywhere at any time. Remote teams can collaborate more effectively using a streamlined workflow. Software integrations enable the management of communications from business applications in the same platform, which speeds up processes and reduces chances for human error. In other words, working at the airport on a business trip or collaborating with your team from a coffee shop is not only possible, but it’s also practical. That’s because centralized workflows provide the efficiency that businesses need and the flexibility that today’s workforce desires.
UCaaS will help you better serve your customers, make your staff more productive and your business more efficient, and enable you to attract global talent looking for a company that offers flexible work models.
Crexendo® VIP™ Will Revolutionize Your Business Communications
When it’s time to upgrade your business communications, Crexendo® can help. We’ve heard all of the reasons why it won’t work, like upgrading your phone system doesn’t fit in the budget or that it’s too technologically advanced for your small business. However, these are precisely the areas where Crexendo®’s VIP Platform can help your business flourish – let us show you how.
Crexendo®’s VIP Platform is the fastest-growing UCaaS platform in the United States, supporting over two and half million users globally. Our customers rave about our cost-effective solutions and their ease of use and setup. We stand behind our customers and offer a 100 percent Uptime Guarantee. Crexendo®’s award-winning platform also comes with a U.S.-based customer experience team for anything you might need, and our cloud-based business phone systems can save you up to 55 percent over a traditional premise-based phone system.
Cost savings and a team to help you install the system? Wow! There’s no reason why your small business shouldn’t switch to a superior cloud-based business communications system. Don’t have to take our word for it – our customers love our service so much that they’ve shared their opinions far and wide! It’s time to start saving money and take advantage of everything Crexendo®’s award-winning VIP Platform has to offer.
Call us now to learn more or give us a try by scheduling your free demo today!
