For organisations across the globe, communications are a vitally important part of their business. And when so much of that conversation is conducted over the phone, it’s vital to have the right phone system in place, making communications not only simpler but more efficient. Many businesses opt for a hosted phone system, and there’s a reason they’re so popular – in fact, over 50% of European countries are now using IP Communications as a hosted telephony solution.

What is hosted telephony, you may ask? It’s a form of telephone solution that’s based in the virtual cloud rather than in the office. The IP part of it comes in through the handset or even mobile phone (softphone) – which connects to the communications system via the cloud. Every call that goes through a hosted telephony system is made over broadband, rather than a more traditional in-office PBX method.

Now we’ve got the basics down, here are the reasons why telephony solutions can be a major benefit to your business:

More control

Put control back into your own hands with a cloud-based system. On a traditional system, there are certain rules and methods you have to follow, but this kind of telephony solution not only gives your business more freedom, but also the chance to mould your phone systems in the exact way you need them. Want to change your parameters, or add new features? Maybe you want to be able to have more of a hold over your resources and be able to adapt them at a moment’s notice. This is where telephony is king. You can change what you need when you need to – and your call system will be all the better for it.

Less cost

Expensive on-site technologies and hardware are a thing of the past with cloud-based communications. You can also forget about the maintenance man coming to the office for a fee to keep your PBX system on track – none of that is required. Traditional phone systems are tied into all sorts of related costs that a virtual system doesn’t require; money that can go into a different physical resource or other business costs. You pay for what you need, and you can increase or decrease what you need when you need it – and even include mobile phone service in your plan for less. For previously expensive in-office or internal calls, you’ll no longer be charged.

More convenience

It can be a pain to adapt to situations and changes with a traditional phone plan. With a hosted phone system, you can do what you need to when you need to do it; scalability is easy. The flexibility of being able to change according to requirements, requests or even time of day is incredibly useful when it comes to efficient call management; helping your staff do their jobs better and making your callers happier. Integrating mobile and fixed line services also makes it easier to keep track of your team, and for them to stay in touch with you no matter where they are. You’re no longer tethered to the office desk.

The time and resources previously spent on management and development within internal departments is now a breeze – and allows you to re-allocate staff to places where they’ll make more impact on the growth of your business.

More continuity

We’ve all had the nightmare of an internal PBX system ‘going down’. In the worst case scenario, you’re left with staff who are unable to complete any work – and in the best case scenario, you’re put behind schedule. With a hosted phone system, that panic is a thing of the past; it’s more reliable, thanks to the manner in which your telephony services are hosted, and offers advanced features like all rerouting to other sites should one go down, saving you time, money and anxiety. With cloud-based technology, you’re not only safer – you’re more efficient, too.

ASL Group is a managed document solutions company, that streamlines and improves the print operations of its clients: https://asl-group.co.uk/