Despite all the various advances in technology, there’s always going to be one
old standby that every business needs: the telephone.
Today, there are more telephone options
than ever before and deciding which one is
right for your business can be a confusing
and time-consuming process. One of the
hottest options out there is hosted telephony
— having your telephone services managed
and maintained by an outside third party.
“There is a trend in the business world of
moving toward Communications as a
Service (CaaS), which is IP telephony that is
managed, owned and housed by a third
party,” says Monty Ferdowsi, president of
Broadcore. “Hosted telephony centralizes all
voice applications for all your locations, and
it is the future of business class telephony.”
Smart Business spoke with Ferdowsi
about hosted telephony, how it compares to
traditional telephony, and how businesses
can determine if and when it’s time to make
a switch.
What are the pros and cons of traditional
telephony?
Traditional requires the purchasing of on-site, premise-based equipment for every different feature you need, plus you have to
obtain multiple services for Telco and
Internet. First, you have to select your systems and equipment, which means dealing
with different, biased vendors representing
multiple brands. Then, you have to choose
your phone company and what plans to use
— and there are a host of different options
when it comes to selecting a local, long distance or Internet service plan. All of this leads
to a large initial capital investment and an
even longer process.
And then the really hard work begins:
implementation. You’ve got to get the system
up and running, and then deal with ongoing
repair, maintenance, upgrade and training
costs. But, no matter how well you maintain
and upgrade your equipment, it still becomes
obsolete in a matter of a few years.
You’ve got to utilize internal resources and
staff to oversee the phone system. Plus,
you’re dealing with multiple vendors, which
can lead to finger-pointing issues when something goes wrong. Multiple vendors also
means multiple monthly bills, which means
time-consuming, erratic expenses. You don’t
have true control over the in-house system,
moves and changes — you’re fully dependent on your vendors for support.
Are there pros to traditional telephony?
Absolutely. It’s old, proven technology, and
it’s a mostly stable platform. And, if you have
the need to own your platform, it’s great. But,
with continually advancing technologies and
the need to do business better and faster, the
cons seem to outweigh the pros.
What is hosted telephony?
Hosted telephony eliminates the need for
in-house equipment, so you don’t have to
deal with all the issues associated with equipment, such as obsolescence, maintenance
and upgrades. Also, since Telco and Internet
services are provided on the same platform,
hosted telephony eliminates the need for
multiple vendors and multiple bills. There is
no equipment on-site to be maintained,
updated or repaired. You get advanced capabilities without the hassle and expense of
multiple systems, vendors and pieces of
equipment.
What are the benefits of hosted telephony?
It’s a truly consolidated service — one company provides you with all the PBX, Telco
and Internet services you need. Instead of
dealing with a phone system vendor, the local
phone company, a long distance company, a
broadband Internet provider and conferencing services, hosted telephony gives you all
those systems and services under one reliable and advanced platform.
Also, your hosted telephony provider is
responsible for the day-to-day operations and
maintenance of your telephone system,
including adding new lines and changing
faulty components. With traditional telephony, you’re responsible for these functions, as
well as the expenses that come with them.
Hosted telephony offers reliability, seamless
upgrades and complete mobility: manage
your calls and messages and use your cell
phone or a laptop soft phone as your business extension from anywhere using any
phone or any Internet connection. With hosted telephony, you can conduct business from
anywhere — from satellite offices, from
home — just as if you’re in the office.
Hosted telephony generally offers a lower
total cost of ownership than traditional
phone systems. Again, you’re not plunking
down a large initial investment, you don’t
have to worry about replacing obsolete
equipment and you’re combining your various phone charges into an all-in-one package.
Are there drawbacks to hosted telephony?
Since it does not require a core equipment
purchase, hosted telephony may not be desirable to people who have to own and touch
equipment. A potential problem with all
phone systems is that when the connection
to the outside world (i.e. phone lines, PRI, IP
T1 services) goes down, you’ll lose the ability
to make and receive calls. However, with
hosted telephony, you can still receive calls
and conduct business even if your connection is down. Since everything is run at the
provider’s data center, all your systems will
continue to function normally, even if your
office is offline. This is particularly beneficial
if your office is hit by a catastrophic event.
MONTY FERDOWSI is the president of Broadcore. Reach him at (800) 942-4700 or [email protected].
