While very functional to this day these legacy PBX systems can be very expensive, especially when compared to more modern options such as a cloud based business phone system. What follows is a brief overview of how a cloud based phone system not only saves your company money but also increases productivity and streamlines your work day.
When switching to a cloud based phone system you gain unified communications solution that not only offers you a technological edge but also saves your company on upkeep expenses. As this study shows when using a standard business phone system expenses (and considering a workforce of 600 employees) of over $500,000 per year are common. These expenses are a combination of hardware/software upkeep, fax systems, traditional phone lines, added video conference expenses, and paying industry experts to keep the system itself current and operational. Also such expenses tend to be static and rarely see a decrease year to year.
By comparison a cloud based phone system’s initial expenses is roughly $71,000 for the first year with a decreased yearly expenses of roughly $11,000 following the first year. The bulk of expense occurs during the integration and setup period and once successfully ‘rolled out’ expenses are greatly reduced to the above standard upkeep figure in year two of usage. This reduction in cost is related to equipment upkeep. Traditional PBX systems have a great deal of hardware and physical components that require maintenance and professional monitoring which drive up costs. Also the need for outside fax lines and video conferencing solutions further add to expenses. Cloud based phone systems are a unified communications solution in that they can handle not only phone calls but also faxes and videoconferencing which further saves your company money.
When considering cloud based phone systems also consider that they easily integrate with existing software your company may already be making use of. Many cloud based phone systems are also unified communications platforms meaning they can easily integrate with workplace software such as Google Apps For Work, Office 365, and Salesforce. Being able to integrate your cloud based phone system seamlessly with mission critical software platforms saves on the upkeep and installation of additional communication platforms.
Another key area where a cloud based phone system positively impacts business is on the employee level. When using a unified communications system your employees are more accessible by both existing and potential customers which increase overall employee earnings. Also many employees in modern technology driven companies telecommute or work from home offices. With a cloud based phone system they can easily connect to your company's phone network from home and use their own equipment. This not only saves on equipment and overhead but also makes for increased employee productivity due to being able to use their own devices.
As the above information shows a cloud based business phone system can offer your company several advantages. Aside from offering a ROI of 182 percent within three years they also integrate with existing software and increase worker productivity through ease of access and ease of use.