The way we communicate is always changing. The way we do businesses is changing too. Sometimes companies will make changes to increase revenue, improve value or save costs. You may have seen our post on the best VoIP home service providers and thought to consider hosted VoIP for business. Or, as is the case most of the time, hosted VoIP providers are selling their phone communication services based on cost savings. But, in a time when business is doing well, should companies be making the switch? Here are some major risks of switching to hosted VoIP solutions.
Anytime a company makes a change, there are associated costs like the service cost, performance costs, quality costs and productivity costs. When reading through the ROI and value of VoIP options, created by an advanced sales tools technology, decision makers have to keep these costs in mind. It is critical to weigh all the costs, risks and savings adequately.
What Is Hosted VoIP?
VoIP can be hosted in several ways. Hosted VoIP simply refers to how the VoIP is being supported. VoIP can be hosted on-site, meaning the servers that it uses are located in the office that is using the VoIP services. Or VoIP networking services can be hosted by a third-party off-site, which is much more typical. Third-party hosts are typically housed in large data centers. Now that you know there are different types of hosted VoIP solutions, you can learn all about whether VoIP is a good choice for business.
VoIP Cost And Quality
First and foremost, the actual cost of VoIP service is pretty straight forward. The providers will give you a contract or non-contractual monthly agreement. Oh wait, there are installation costs too. Be sure to have all the upfront hard costs.
Secondly, phone performance and quality are essential to many businesses, as is the amount of voice and data cabling necessary. Hosting a phone system on premise could take away from the performance and reliability of the calls. How so?
VoIP Requires Bandwith
Quite simply, VoIP requires more bandwidth. At the local level, internally, the company may be fine. However, it could run into constraints from the internet service provider, causing delays on the phone. I don’t think anyone wants to explain to their customers or clients why they had to call them from a personal cell phone, even if it is the best phone for LG fans. And, I would not want to imagine the business lost when employees can not answer calls.
Security Concerns
Thirdly, using the internet brings along security issues. Any information sent over the web can be targeted by hackers, DDoS attacks or unidentified data collection. Mobile VoIP and hosted VoIP communications are no different. Companies who host the VoIP would have to take additional security measures to combat these risks. And, according to the markets, VoIP security or IT security vendors are not cheap.
Productivity Costs
Lastly, making the switch to a hosted VoIP solution has productivity costs. If the team is currently running at capacity, who will have the time to oversee the installations, maintenance and oh yea, the downtime. Also, when the new system comes in, will employees lose time to be trained or adjust to the new technology?
These are all major risks of using a self-hosted VoIP solution. With many companies focusing on security for cloud platforms, we may expect a shift from self hosted solutions to cloud VoIP winning popularity. In addition, with many of the IT services moving to the cloud, it could be a better long term decisions. The cloud is presenting opportunities that could further change business telecommunications. Just take a look at the excitement in the Internet of Things industry caused by the cloud.
Better Sound Quality
Although there are risks associated with hosted VoIP solutions, there are also benefits. One of these benefits is better sound quality than traditional POTS, or plain old telephone systems. POTS uses ranges of about 300 Hz to 3400 Hz. These ranges can lack clarity and make conversations sound muffled or confusing to human ears. VoIP provides high-def audio quality with ranges between 50 Hz and 7kHz. These figures are miles better. The higher frequencies make it much easier to differentiate sounds. That is why VoIP phone services produce clearer phone conversations, and also why many iPhone champagne color users prefer to make calls over the internet. This is a huge benefit, especially for the hearing impaired.
Top Hosted VoIP
Hosted VoIP is an excellent alternative to hosted PBX providers, like Business Comcast, which can often be more costly. OnSIP is one such hosted VoIP that offers business phone services. In addition, Vonage, Nextiva and RingCentral are three top PBX providers that are actually affordable for many businesses, starting at just under $20 a month. Vonage and RingCentral also offer 30 day free trials. If you are considering a hosted PBX or VoIP solution, consider taking advantage of a free trial offered by one of the top hosted VoIP business solutions.
Before reading this post, did you properly weight the IT costs and risks of hosted VoIP? If not, did you learn anything new? What jumped out to you most? Please let us know below.
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