Why you should switch to cloud communications in 2024

Updated 02.01.2024

5 Reasons To Move Your Communications to the Cloud

So your business is growing. Sounds great, right?! Well yes, every business wants to expand and see the bottom line grow. Unfortunately, with business growth the number of complications also grows. More staff and locations to keep connected, more IT systems to manage and so on. With a traditional business phone system, such things were never exactly easy. Fast forward to 2024, things have become extremely tricky with a traditional on-premise PBX (Private Branch Exchange). Generational changes in the workplace, advances in technology, the gig economy and freelancers and most recently the need to implement homeoffice, mobile, hybrid and remote working models have all combined and changed how businesses view their communications solutions.

For these reasons, more and more successful businesses are moving their phone systems to modern cloud-based phone systems as they deliver much greater benefit when it comes to flexibility, performance and continuity. For this reason, we have decided to take another look at the top reasons why businesses are moving their communications to the cloud in 2024:

1. Simplicity & Ease of Use

No Hardware or Hosting Requirements

Unlike an on-premise VoIP phone system solution, cloud phone systems and cloud telephony solutions are software based and therefore do not require any additional onsite server hardware or virtualization infrastructure. As such, a cloud phone system greatly reduces IT workloads as ongoing system administration is no longer required.

Hardware is also a problem in that it has a finite life cycle and as we’ve seen over the last year subject to supply issues. As a result, forward thinking businesses now look to software solutions such as phone systems that offer desktop and mobile business communications apps that deliver all the tools they need to keep their teams and customers connected and working effectively.

Quick Cloud Phone System Setup

Having no or limited hardware requirements also makes the Cloud phone system setup process much easier and you can get started rigth away.

In the past, managing a traditional on-premise phone system meant that businesses and their IT administrators were responsible for the ongoing management and maintenance of the solution. This entailed managing all aspects from the network integration to security patches, installing updates and Firewall and VPN configurations to allow authorised remote user access. All of these tasks are time consuming and often required expert technical knowledge which either meant outsourcing or higher personnel costs. As a result, tasks were often overlooked, security patches were not installed and new feature updates went unnoticed with the end result being a low performing, out-dated phone system that both your users and your customers hated.

With a cloud phone system, all you need to do is simply setup your account, do the initial phone system configuration and download the desktop and mobile VoIP softphone and collaboration apps and you’re pretty much good to go in under 5 minutes. Most cloud phone system providers even offer a free trial period so you can setup and configure your cloud phone system even before committing to any financial investment.

More Secure and Always Up-to-date

Cloud phone system providers make things much simpler as they often offer a range of managed services. Such services will invariably include managing, maintaining, and securing the cloud hosting platform and ensuring that your business phone system is always kept up-to-date. As part of the offering, your chosen cloud phone system provider will then be responsible for ensuring the agreed levels of uptime and availability, ensuring that all backups are done for you and automatically installing all the latest updates, providing you and your team with the latest features and security updates without you having to lift a finger.

More Features

What’s more, as the hosting platform is managed by the provider, they know the infrastructure inside out, reducing the need for compatibility testing against the differing hardware servers and virtualisation platforms. This makes the development, testing and release of new cloud phone system features and functions much more efficient compared to traditional on-premise phone systems, meaning that your business as a cloud phone system customer receives all the updates and new features much quicker and allowing you to find new innovative ways to connect with your customers and therefore maintain a competitive advantage over your competitors.

2. Cost Savings

No Capital Expenditure

Traditional business phone systems were licensed on a perpetual user licence basis and often included recurring maintenance fees. This meant that the purchase of a new phone system involved considerable upfront investment on hardware and user licences plus the ongoing operational costs relating to server maintenance and hardware deprecation. What’s more, as mentioned above on-premise systems are normally managed “in-house” which incurs yet more financial and resource costs. Compare this to a cloud phone system that delivers everything required (PBX, Hosting, Updates, Apps, and Phone Number) in one solution, then it’s easy to see the cost savings fits that business can benefit from.

One Low Monthly Fee

Cloud phone systems are licensed on a subscription, meaning companies are able to spread the costs with an easy to manage monthly subscription. Subscriptions are normally sold on a per user basis, meaning businesses only pay for number of users that they need. What’s more, choose a cloud phone system provider that offers all-in-one pricing as this reduces the complexity in the decision making process and provides all the tools, features and functions you could require and eliminates the need to manage mutliple suppliers.

No Hosting and Maintenance Costs

A further benefit of a cloud phone system is that the subscription price should be all-inclusive. That means support, hosting, and maintenance should all be included in the monthly subscription invoice. This means no additional costs that you have consider, making budget planning simpler and saving time and money that previously was spent by dedicating resources to technical problem solving, installing updates, and managing your server infrastructure.

Lower Call Costs

It is also definitely worth mentioning that cost savings that businesses are able benefit from thanks to VoIP telephony. Compared to traditional fixed-line (wired landline) telephony call charges, VoIP telephony connection charges are considerably cheaper. On top of this, internal VoIP calls are free of charge, so making calls to remote colleagues and branch busines locations will not incur any additional charge. This is especially advantageous if you have international colleagues and business locations as long as they are connected to the cloud phone system. Even calls to colleagues who are travelling won’t cost you a connection fee if they are using their desktop or mobile sotfphone. In fact, research from 2006 estimated that VoIP phone services can reduce a business’ telecoms expenses by upto 30%. These days, this figure may likely be higher as businesses switch long-distance international calls to virtual online web-meetings and video conferences which are often included in the cloud phone system subscription at no or little extra cost.

3. Freedom to Work From Anywhere, At Anytime, On Any Device

One of the most attractive benefits of cloud phone systems is that they offer an unparrelled ability to work from anywhere and not just the office. As the phone system is hosted in the cloud and accessed via the Internet, all that is required to connect is a stable Internet connection. As such, a cloud phone system removes the need for complicated, cumbersome VPN solutions and therefore makes light work of connecting global offices, branch locations and homeoffices. Even field sales, remote employees, and freelancers can be effortlessly connected to the rest of the team and your customers.

While at their core, cloud phone systems are designed for telephony purposes, modern solutions have evolved into complete cloud communications platforms that deliver all the telephony, messaging and meeting functionality your business needs in one place. In addition, top of the range cloud phone systems also include softphone apps for desktop and mobile. Such apps are perfect for keeping your team connected and making them available on their office number no matter where they work from or which device they prefer to use. On this note, even colleagues who prefer hardware phones can be catered for as the majority of cloud phone system providers support a range of leading IP Phone vendors.

4. Greater Flexibilty

Grows with your Business

One of the most attractive benefits of a cloud phone system is scalability. Compared to a traditional PBX, virtual cloud phone systems are not restricted by limited hardware resources, performance requirements, or expensive perpetual user licensing. As a result, they offer greater flexibility and can be scaled as your company grows and your busines will only pay for what you actually use. Adding new users and phone numbers can be done in a matter of seconds via your choosen cloud provider’s web portal. Once booked, setting up new users and extensions could not be simpler and requires limited expert knowledge thanks to the easy-to-use phone system admin UI. pascom’s new user e-mail invite tool is so user-friendly that most of the process can be done via the self-service setup assistant allowing you to connect your new office or workspace with just a few clicks of the mouse.

Increase your Geographical Reach

Whether you are looking to expand into new regions or attract new talent to your workforce, setting up new offices and onboarding remote employees with a cloud telephone system is quick and easy. This greatly enhances your business’ ability to search for, attract and retain the best talent within the workforce, even if your Head Office is located in the middle of nowhere. Furthermore, as cloud phone systems are accessible from anywhere via the Internet, they can be centrally managed. As a result, opening new national or international offices no longer requires additional onsite phone systems per office or complicated call routing and VPNs to connect back to the head office. Even if you need local numbers for new international markets, the Bring Your Own Provider concept ensures that you can boost your local presence by choosing a VoIP provider that best suits your business requirements.

Choose The Device and Channel For You

Thanks to all-in-one softphone and collaboration apps, your new employees can be online and connected with the rest of the team in no time. Unified Communications tools, such as Video conferencing, Instant Messaging, and Presence Management, ensure that remote employees and subsidiary offices are immediately connected and available to colleagues and customers on their preferred channel and device. Even if you require new hardware phones, they can be onboarded in a matter of minutes with a minimum of fuss.

5. Continuity & Redundancy

Business Continuity

Finally, another major benefit of cloud communications that pre-pandemic was often overlooked is business continuity and redundancy. As mentioned above, cloud phone systems are accessed via the Internet and deliver users the ability to work from anywhere. This is obviously a perk for the employee, but it is also an excellent business continuity tool. The importance of having the ability to instantly switch from office-based working to remote working was highlighted early in March of 2020. If your business solutions and processes were not up to the task, then it is quite likely that while you were playing catch up, your customers who had been trying to get hold of you had moved on and purchased from someone else who they could get in contact with.

Maximum Availability

When it comes to redunancy, any serious cloud phone system provider will host their solutions in approved Data Centres which are monitored round the clock and kept up-to-date with the latest security protocols. Some business still think inside the box when it comes to redundancy and quote Internet outages as a reason for maintaining an on-premise solution. Yes it’s true that without Internet access, your VoIP phone system won’t function. But what’s more likely, the Internet going down at your office or at a state of the art Data Centre? Should your office suffer from an Internet or power outage, then your on-premise solution will go completely dark and can’t be accessed by anyone, anywhere. Conversely, a cloud phone system will ensure that all your telephony services are still accessible to remote employees and branch offices. Even your office based team will still be available to customers and colleagues thanks to their mobile apps.

Discover pascom

If you have any questions about pascom’s Team Messaging and Collaboration apps and the pascom phone system and how they can help your business prepare for tomorrow’s workplace, then we’re here to help. Just give us a call on +49 991 291691 0 and speak to one of our experts. Alternatively, get started today with our free cloud phone system trial.