Don’t let your legacy phones put your business on hold.
The phone is the front door for customers to your business and the primary tool for employees to collaborate and get work done. Research indicates 65% of people still prefer to contact a business by phone versus only 24% who prefer a web form. It’s also reported that 48% of people call businesses from a mobile search, making mobile search the #1 call driver. Despite this, many businesses still rely on old on-premises phone technology that was installed before the smartphone was even invented. It’s a new world—and competitive companies in all industries are switching to less costly and more flexible cloud-based business communications to keep current with customer needs.
So what are the three ways cloud-based communications systems can benefit your business over hard-wired, on-premises legacy phone systems?
1. They help you maintain better contact with your high-touch customers.
As the lifeblood of your business, business phones let customers contact you, place new orders, reach account managers, and get support. But the legacy, on-premises phone systems are usually subject to downtime that’s out of your control. Natural disasters like hurricanes or a simple power outage could take your phone system down for hours, days, or even weeks. This could cost your business thousands of dollars, or worse, diminish your reputation and credibility with customers.
But it isn’t just the risk of downtime. In today’s mobile world, customers expect to reach you the first time they call— wherever you are—and they expect everything to be “always available.” Research shows 73% of U.S. adults say that valuing their time is the most important thing a company can do to provide them with good service. In the event of a natural disaster, cloud-based phone systems that offer mobile integration allow you to conduct business over your mobile phone as if you were in the office.
2. You can attract talent and optimize their productivity.
The Pew Research Center reported that more than one in three American labor force participants (35%) are millennials who grew up living in a mobile world, making them the largest generation in the U.S. labor force. And they aren’t the only part of the workforce that expects to be able to work from anywhere, optimize their commute time, take calls outside of business hours, and more. Leading companies realize that speed and agility offer a distinct advantage against the competition, including providing employees with the tools to connect and collaborate whenever they need to, wherever they are, and on any device.
3. You can reduce costs and eliminate surprise expenses.
Many businesses have invested large sums of money in installing an on-premises business phone system. But an aging on-premises phone system can be hard to scale and complicated to manage during periods of business growth or consolidation. Further, on-premises phone systems require regular maintenance for everything from hardware updates to surges in call volumes, business expansion, new offices, or service resolution. Over time, these support costs—often unexpected—can become very expensive.
On the other hand, cloud-based phone systems can be activated in minutes and costs shift from capital expenditures to operating expenditures through a flat, per-user rate that scales with your business—you buy only what you need. There are also no surprise expenses, all infrastructure, support, and management/admin costs are included in one predictable subscription fee.
