A large number of businesses across the world are allowing their employees to work from home (WFH) during this coronavirus pandemic. This transition is very difficult and challenging for many of them having to adapt working with remote tools to run their business smoothly and effectively.
And usage of hosted VoIP phone systems is one of them, which allows users to make/receive group AV calls and attend virtual meetings anywhere in this world using their own devices like laptops, smartphones or tablets.
The demand for hosted VoIP phone systems has exponentially increased in the last 16 months which is more than ever before. More and more companies today are switching from traditional phone systems to hosted VoIP because of its salient features, cost benefits and tackle covid-like situations better.
What exactly is Hosted VoIP and how does it work?
VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. Using this technology, users can send and receive calls over the internet using their own devices (smartphones, tablets, laptops, IP phones), wherein the user's voice is converted into digital data.
All user devices are connected to a PBX (private branch exchange) system, which is a private telephone network setup within their organisation / company. PBX is then connected to a SIP trunk which is a virtual link between your PBX and PSTN (public service telephone network) using an internet connection.
What this means is that all your employees who are working remotely won’t need to use their personal phone numbers or require any specific equipment or third party apps like slack, skype, whatsapp etc.
Unlike on-premise VoIP (which requires a high setup cost, more equipment, software etc to host within your office premise), hosted VoIP is quite affordable and requires low equipment and setup cost. All installation, upgrades, maintenance, security etc. is managed by Hosted VoIP Service Provider for which you pay a monthly fee.
Moreover, hosted VoIP phone systems offer much better and advanced features than traditional phone systems at a much lesser cost.
Key Benefits of Hosted VoIP
Below are the top 10 key reasons to switch to hosted VoIP today.
Cost Savings
The biggest reason why businesses switch to hosted voip is significant cost savings. Because of low setup cost, less hardware, low long-distance calling rates and low monthly rates, you can see cost savings of about 40 to 75 percent after switching to hosted VoIP
Unified Communications
By integrating with your internet service, you get a unified communication system which just goes beyond voice. It includes voice calls, SMS/MMS messaging, video conferencing, internet fax, voicemail to email etc. This means better team collaboration, high productivity and improved communications.
Convenience
You can access your phone system from anywhere in this world where there is an internet connection using your IP phone, softphone or smartphone app. So, you are not tied down to any physical location.
Integration with 3rd Party Cloud Apps
Most hosted VoIP systems offer easy and seamless integration with popular third party Cloud / SaaS based apps such as Google G Suite, Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Slack etc.
Easy to Scale
As your business grows, it’s very easy to scale up with hosted voip. You can quickly add new phone lines, add/remove users, assign an existing deskphone to another user etc. in just a few clicks. Only
Better Customer Service
Since you have multiple ways to communicate with your clients, you can now offer instant, faster and better customer service all the time.
Automatic Upgrades
With hosted VoIP, you don’t need to worry about upgrading or maintenance of your phone system, it’s all done and managed through automatic upgrades by your hosted voip service provider.
Reliability
Service providers that offer hosted VoIP services have an in-house experienced team of IT experts to take care of system upgrades, maintenance, security, uptime, data backups etc. They are responsible for ensuring business continuity, guaranteed quality of service and 24x7/365 customer support.
Pay As You Grow
Most hosted VoIP service providers offer “pay as you grow” services where you only pay for services that you use or selected for. It is ideal for small and medium businesses.
Remote Working
Hosted VoIP is a cost-effective and practical solution for all those working remotely during coronavirus pandemic or having distributed teams. It enables better team collaboration and communication allowing your staff to work freely as usual.
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Paul Sturges
Managing Director, Tech Results Ltd.
IT Infrastructure, VoIP, Disaster Recovery and Cloud Data Migration Specialist
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