A cloud-based (hosted) business phone system can provide a number of benefits compared to traditional on-premise solutions. Not only does a cloud-hosted phone system offer numerous useful features, but it also comes with significant cost savings. While saving money might be what sparked your initial interest in this type of phone system for your business, let’s talk about what you get for the money you do put into your cloud-hosted system.

Here are just a few ways that these types of phone systems help you generate a positive return on investment.

Eliminate Redundant Costs

Multi-location businesses with multiple phone systems can save money with a cloud-based phone system, as it allows them to eliminate redundant costs like carrier services. Long-distance phone costs are also generally eliminated when your business switches from an on-premise system to a hosted business phone system in the cloud.

Additionally, cloud-hosted systems offer features that you may have to pay additional fees for when you have an on-premise phone system. For example, with an on-premise system you might pay extra for personal conference bridges that enable you to have conference calls or video calls with multiple people. With many cloud-hosted solutions, this service is included at no extra cost.

Pay Only for What You Need

With an on-premise phone solution, a growing organization typically has to make a significant investment for equipment, software and hardware based on its anticipated needs. That means that the business could very easily be paying for more than it needs for quite some time before it starts seeing a return on its investment.

Since you pay for cloud phone service subscriptions as a monthly cost on a per-user basis, businesses only have to pay for usage on an as-needed basis. Companies can adjust their phone systems as they scale instead of paying for what they might need in the future.

Reduce Support and Maintenance Costs

Cloud-based phone systems also help reduce overall support costs. When you work with a managed service provider (MSP) for your hosted business phone system, you pay one low fixed cost on a monthly basis, which includes all necessary support and routine maintenance. 

With an on-premise system, you pay for support annually. But this means that if there is a major release with new updates and features that requires some work on your phone system, you have to pay an additional project fee to get your system running with the updates. With cloud-based phone services, updates roll out as they are developed and released, which means there are no monumental updates; you constantly get access to new developments as they become available.

Experience Less Downtime

With an on-premise phone system, if you have issues with your hardware or software, you may find that you are without a phone system until the issue is resolved. If you lose that line of communication with customers and vendors, your business could experience a loss in productivity, not to mention a potential loss in sales or revenue.

However, with a cloud-based phone system, even if you lose the internet connection, you can still stay connected with customers, vendors and each other. Even when your business internet connection goes down, your calls are still being answered by an automated system in the cloud and forwarded to your extension or your mobile phone.

Improve Mobility and Productivity

Another way that cloud-hosted phone systems will help improve your company’s ROI is by boosting productivity and making your team more mobile. A cloud-based phone system costs far less when you want to take your team mobile or add another physical location. Your team can take calls while traveling or working from home since the phone system isn’t tied to a physical location.

Offering the option to allow your team to work remotely or from home can help boost productivity. When employees have a more flexible schedule they feel empowered, and they tend to be more productive. By allowing employees to take their work out of the office, your business may experience increased productivity that boosts your bottom line.

How an MSP Can Help

When you’re ready to start using a cloud-hosted business phone system, you’ll need to decide if your business will manage the service itself or if you will get help from a managed service provider. While many small business owners may initially try to manage the service themselves to save money, they soon realize that they are sacrificing their company’s time and resources that could be better used elsewhere.

Most small businesses don’t have the time or desire to understand and implement their cloud-based phone system in a way that allows them to get the most out of the system and its features — while an MSP has professionals that live and breathe the technology. They know how to implement the system efficiently and understand the capabilities of the system and how call flows work. They are able to customize the system to meet your needs, provide support when you need it, and explain the features and capabilities to your staff in plain language.

With a cloud-hosted phone system through your MSP, you only have to spend a small amount upfront to get your system up and running. Your costs are also more predictable with a cloud-based system because you know what your monthly fee covers. This allows your business to invest the cash you are saving in other ways that benefit the company.

CoreTech is ready to help you find the right cloud-based phone system for your business. Our team will recommend the right system, take care of all your setup needs and provide support and maintenance along the way.

Ready to get started? Contact us today.