To support the ever-increasing shift to remote work and build a competitive advantage, more businesses are making the transition from on-premises hardware to SaaS-based cloud offerings.
As decision makers consider moving their phone systems to the cloud, they may have questions about some of the issues they have historically associated with cloud-based communication services, such as security, audio quality and control over IT.
Businesses, large and small, have relatively similar requirements when it comes to selecting and managing their communications services: reliability, quality and simplicity. Cloud-based offerings were designed with these very needs in mind. Plus, with the enhanced scalability and flexibility these solutions can offer, business leaders can continuously look to innovate offerings, which will increase their overall market share.
However, even with these benefits, there are lingering questions that make enterprise leaders hesitant to invest fully in the cloud and move to a cloud-based communications solution. Despite the misconceptions that still exist, business leaders can rest assured that with their new cloud tools, they’ll secure more control over their PBX, enhanced security capabilities and improved call quality.
Let’s unpack each of these questions and de-bunk the myths that may be holding these decisions back.
Will I lose control with the cloud?
When their PBX is hosted offsite, business leaders may believe that they must sacrifice some level of control. In reality, the cloud helps businesses have stronger control and greater flexibility over their offerings using cloud-based systems. For instance, instead of needing to update or upgrade physical hardware systems to adapt to the business’ evolving needs, software centric systems make it possible to make changes in a streamlined and efficient way.
Control also encompasses how a business chooses to interact with their customers, the phone numbers they use, the telecom features they offer and how they make changes to these offerings. As a result, businesses and even channel providers offering these communication solutions can set their own playbook depending on their company and customers’ needs. Not only do businesses get more control with cloud solutions, customers will appreciate having tailored communication options at hand.
Is cloud telecom secure?
The cloud is a secure option and can provide a higher level of security than on-premise servers. Communication service providers (CSPs) and telecom carriers are dedicated to adhering to the latest and greatest security best practices. Security is a top priority for cloud providers. As such, they have internal and external resources in place to ensure compliance and certifications are up to date. Additionally, cloud services offer better backup options and quick pivot solutions in the event of a security threat. For example, some cloud providers can establish settings to redirect services to a different network if an outage or security threat arrives. While no one wants to plan on being on the receiving end of a hack or breach, who wouldn’t want that extra peace of mind?
Will I jeopardize my call quality moving enterprise telecom to the cloud?
One of the more common misconceptions is that sound quality on hosted systems is not as good as on-premises systems. In some instances, sound quality on VoIP and hosted phone systems will present issues if the business’ ISP network is not configured in a way that allows it to prioritize voice traffic. When the ISP isn’t configured correctly, users can experience latency.
Thankfully, this is largely a problem of the past. VoIP providers have taken steps to address this issue by providing dedicated bandwidth to support hosted-PBX systems with high speed and low latency. These changes have removed call quality concerns and provided CSPs with solutions to troubleshoot potential issues before they reach the business or customer.
Keeping these benefits in mind will help ease concerns about cloud-based solutions. As the global workforce embraces a more distributed layout, the adoption of cloud-based telecom will become more ubiquitous, which will lead to even more improvements and enhancements to these services. Not only will this progress help prove the inaccuracies of the myths and misperceptions, but CSPs, carriers, businesses, and end users will come to rely on and deploy these services more broadly.
