In today’s increasingly competitive environment, the key to success is to embrace communication tools that ensure flexibility, reduce overhead and investment risk, and are suitable for providing a secure working environment for remote and mobile staff. Most organisations choose to use IP telephony to achieve this, with a growing number exploring hosted telephony along with unified communication and collaboration (UCS) tools to address these requirements. However, to guarantee the success of cloud communication in the long run, organisations must develop an extensive and maintainable infrastructure evolution roadmap, which should lead to a thorough investigation into the communication tools and providers available.
In its report, called “A Sustainable Approach to Hosted IP Telephony and UCC Services Development,” consulting firm Frost and Sullivan highlights the advantages that hosted IP telephony and UCC services can deliver to businesses of all sizes and sectors. It explains how they can be used to improve return on communications investments, as well as being used to capitalise on technology to gain a competitive edge.
According to the researcher, cloud communication infrastructures could be particularly beneficial to small businesses and companies that have small sites, as well as to distributed virtual organisations with a large base of remote and mobile workers. They would also prove beneficial to companies whose technology budgets are focused on operational expenditure.
Communications program director at Frost and Sullivan North America, Elka Popova, said that companies generally turn to cutting-edge communications solutions when their current infrastructure becomes too old to be worth maintaining, since it often causes service interruptions and requires frequent repairs.
The switch to hosted communications is often driven by expired contracts with providers, as well as by companies’ growing ambitions to respond to user needs over current infrastructure failures. Another reason could be winning a competitive advantage through solutions that limit expenses, boost user productivity, and improve business processes. Whatever the reason, businesses must know that before taking the plunge, they need to evaluate their existing inventory and take note of its age, functionality, and amortisation schedules of existing investments, Popova added.
Companies need to be perfectly aware of user needs to ensure they add only the most necessary solutions. Other important aspects of hosted communications that require organisations’ attention are ease of use and management, networking, and end-point requirements. As well as this, it is important to take note of service quality, security, regulatory status, and total cost of ownership.
Organisations could also examine a particular solution’s capacity to integrate with other platforms and services, as well as customisation requirements. If they still want to ensure they are making the right choice, companies can peek into the profile of their selected provider and find more about its market position and track record.
To discuss business telephone systems, IP or hosted telephony for your organisation, contact Direct Voice & Data on 0800 84 999 84 or visit our Website.
