Small Business Hosted PBX
Although adopting hosted PBX systems and other cloud technologies offer innumerable benefits to small and medium-sized businesses, many companies remain reticent to fully leverage the cloud. However, if SMBs would take more time to investigate the available solutions and fully vet their communications solutions, the cloud would emerge as the go-to choice for these firms.
Home office supplier Brother surveyed 500 small business owners earlier this year, finding that 42 percent of them have not yet implemented cloud-based solutions. One reason for this lackluster adoption rate could be because 28 percent of those polled indicated that they did not completely understand cloud computing. PC Magazine also noted that lingering security fears prevent many SMBs from leveraging hosted solutions such as virtual PBX.
Learn to Embrace Adopting Hosted PBX
This remaining trepidation about adding a hosted PBX system to your business will likely only hurt your business in the long run. PC Mag noted that solutions like a hosted PBX system bring with them significant cost savings. They also deliver mission-critical services more efficiently.
To address these lingering fears and fully realize just how beneficial the cloud can be, telecommunications professional Riaan Pietersen recommended that businesses answer these questions first before adoption:
- Does the vendor care about you? This is an easy question for a trusted virtual PBX provider like AccessDirect to answer, but it is far less obvious with other providers. Although a company can claim it offers a quality product at a great price, a solutions provider that does not answer an organization’s unique communications needs will ultimately install a subpar service.
- How will the solution affect customer and client communications? Even if a hosted PBX system is incredibly cheap, it will yield a terrible return on investment if it causes customer service or client relations to suffer in any way. Take latency, reliability and network connectivity considerations into account before bringing in any new system.
- What equipment will be used? SMBs should be sure to develop a complete understanding of what is powering their systems and who is responsible for its maintenance prior to adoption. For example, while one configuration may be ideal for a startup business, that same system could soon prove inefficient if the company experiences exponential growth.
- How much money will be saved? Although cost savings is not the only factor businesses should consider before adopting cloud solutions, it is still important to take into account. For example, SMBs ought to determine how much more cost effective a hosted PBX system is when compared with an on-premise configuration both on a per-month and a per-year basis.
- Is the vendor for real? The classic saying goes that if it’s too good to be true, it probably is. A cloud service provider that claims to offer absolutely everything may be exaggerating, which is why companies should thoroughly vet the CSP to ensure they do good work and are highly regarded.
“Any time is a good time to get an expert in to review your communications setup,” Pietersen said. “The worst that could happen is that you find out you are on track with your current setup. In my experience, it’s more than likely there will be some hole that can be plugged with a cloud-based service, thus enhancing the productivity of your business.”
