Maximising your business profits requires managing and minimising operational costs. One area of saving you may not have considered is cutting telecoms costs through the use of a hosted telephony system. Whether you call it Hosted Voice, Hosted Telephony or VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol), internet-based call systems are becoming standard in many businesses.
Though a lot of business can be conducted via websites and emails, customers still favour the phone for all but the most basic queries, so for any growing business, a phone system providing internal extensions and call routing is essential. By using a hosted telephony system, you can increase your connectivity and business flexibility for less.
Cutting costs and promoting growth
A hosted voice system is provided by a host and/or telephone company, and delivered via the Internet using VoIP technologies, allowing you to make and receive calls via an internet connection rather than a traditional phone line.
The traditional ‘PBX’ systems are a constant drain on budgets: costs associated with onsite PBX include hardware purchasing, support and maintenance provisions, upgrades, ISDN line rental and even the electricity bill.
Moving to a hosted telephony system, many of these costs can be reduced, or cut out all together. The broadband connections are far cheaper to commission and run than traditional ISDN lines, helping to cut the costs of increasing capacity as your business grows too. Replacing the onsite PBX with a hosted service also means switching from a capital investment to an operational expenditure, paying for a low monthly or annual subscription rather than renewing hardware assets.
Best of all, hosted telephony systems are billed per extension, so your business only ever pays for its real usage, removing the issue of unused capacity. You can add extensions and capacity quickly, easily and cost-effectively, whenever you need them, giving you greater flexibility in expanding your business.
Increasing work functionality and clarifying billing
Hosted telephony systems can be accessed from anywhere you have an Internet connection. With the assistance of a supported smartphone app, employees can hook straight into the corporate switchboard, making and receiving calls from their work extension any place, any time. This ensures that they are always connected and available, even when they are out and about, ensuring your business provides better customer/client service and has better internal communication.
Other benefits of a hosted voice system include:
- Reliability – it comes with full service management
- Business continuity and disaster recovery
- Advanced call routing
- Security
- Development – as new features are developed they will become available to you without the need for re-investment
Hosted Voice improves your billing accuracy through integrated reporting and enabling better recording of calling stats and service. Using this information, you are able to assess your service and find ways to improve both the business process and client experience.
Making your life easier
The responsibility for setting up and managing the systems supporting a hosted telephony platform lies with the service provider. This means that all upgrades and maintenance are carried out as part of the subscription fee, freeing your business to focus on delivering an outstanding experience to your customers.
To learn more about hosted telephony, and how Complete I.T.’s Hosted Voice service can help your business realise all these benefits and more, contact one of our offices in Birmingham, Bristol, London, Manchester, Oxford, Peterborough, Swindon or Thames Valley!