09 Feb 2021 5 key features of cloud phone systems that promote business flexibility
By now you’ve heard of the cloud. You probably already rely on cloud services in your day-to-day business life. Tools like Office 365, cloud-based email services and many more have been transforming the way we work for many years already. These services have all combined to make work more mobile, more flexible and more remote than ever before.
You can already receive emails on your smartphone without expensive charges for forwarding them from the office. There’s no need to have an office in the US to use a .com web address. So why are you still tied to your phone line? The simple answer is that you aren’t. VoIP systems remove the need for a physical phone line. Instead they use ‘virtual’ phone numbers to route calls to you over the internet.
By itself this may not be a game changer. VoIP comes into its own when you start to think of phone systems like your email servers and move them to the cloud. Here we explore how cloud phone systems can help your business adapt smoothly and quickly to the changing business landscape.
Remote access
First and foremost among the cloud’s benefits for flexibility is the ability to pick your work up from anywhere. Cloud systems are accessible from any internet connection straight out of the box. This makes remote working simple for you, your staff and your IT team.
Because they’re not hosted on your office network, there are no security implications to allowing remote access to your systems. This means there’s no need to buy and maintain heavy-duty enterprise-grade network equipment to secure specialist servers in your office. Cloud phone systems like ours are secured behind the latest data centre security tech, and encrypt all internal communications with a proprietary security protocol. This guarantees your private conversations remain just that; private.
Devices and integrations
Cloud systems don’t just let you work from anywhere, they let you work from any device. With apps available for all major desktop and mobile platforms, our cloud phone system is the perfect remote working assistant. The apps put all features previously reserved for desk phones straight at your fingertips, helping you put an end to your reliance on desktop hardware.
Similarly, because cloud systems work over the internet, they are able to integrate with a huge range of third-party CRMs and other management software. This allows cloud VoIP systems like ours to act as a call routing component of your management software. Screen-popping and click-to-dial through CRMs, for example, bring enormous advantages to your staff without fundamentally changing their workflows.
Reliability
Cloud systems are inherently more reliable and simultaneously easier to manage than on-site alternatives. Cloud systems are hosted in multiple redundant data centres, protecting users from site failures and any technical glitches. Where a power cut, internet outage or hardware failure in an on-site system could knock out communications for an entire business, cloud systems keep you working.
After all, a huge part of flexible working is being able to easily and quickly recover from disaster. Insulating your core business services from any potential outage at your office provides an extra level of defence. Had a power cut, or an internet outage? No problem! Your cloud system is ready and waiting for you to work uninterrupted from home.
Hot desking
Hot desking support is baked in to cloud phone systems like ours. With committed adoption of flexible working policies, you may well find that you’ll have several unused desks on any given workday.
With this in mind, do you need as much office space as you have right now? Obviously this isn’t a decision to take lightly, but the savings you can realise by downsizing your premises can be enormous. By giving users the ability to log in to their extensions from any desktop, mobile or desk phone with a simple PIN code, cloud systems eliminate many of the barriers to efficient hot desking.
Hot desking is also incredibly useful for workers who split their time between different offices. Just like Office 365 and other productivity suites, cloud phone systems can replace your reliance on hardware with a flexible, simple and cross-platform service.
Simple deployment and scalability
The flexible billing and practically unlimited scalability of cloud systems make them ideal for businesses with seasonal demands or changing workloads. In just a few clicks, users can be added or removed. There’s no need to wait for costly hardware to be delivered, so new starters can be up and running in minutes.
This level of flexibility is available without any upfront investment in hardware as well, which frees up even more of your budget. With no requirements for complex, bulky and expensive servers, or even the traditional desk phone, cloud phone systems represent a revolution in the way businesses think of their core services.
Hopefully this article has made the benefits of cloud phone systems a little clearer. Do you want to find out how cloud phone systems can help your business? Arrange a free consultation with our experts today.
Contact the team on 0115 896 8860 or drop us a message at hello@oneconnectivity.co.uk