Imagine typical business decision choices - white table-top for the work lab or black. Organize a business event or sponsor one. Extent the current product line or launch a new one. On-premise IT systems or cloud computing. Decisions. Decisions. Decisions.
Deciding which IT systems you choose to power your company processes have far-reaching impact on both, the speed and ease with which your business procedures move and workforce productivity. The communication and collaboration technologies you use have a direct impact on your profitability. So choose wisely.
One such crucial decision is choosing your phone system functionality - hosted VoIP or premise-based VoIP PBX. Here are the key considerations that you should examine to make the best choice of VoIP PBX solution for your company -- and how you can mitigate the risk of making a wrong choice.
Risk #1. Unexpected Overheads
Your internet calling system is sure to cost a whopping sum. So plan out the finances carefully. When weighing hosted VoIP against its on-premise counterpart on the cost-plank, hosted solution comes out as a clear winner as the initial investments and on-going maintenance fees is low.
However, the catch here is some providers need you to pay extra fees for enabling new functionalities. Customized features in most cases is not even a possibility. This piles up the overheads under your nose.
There is a way out. Scalable FreeSwitch IP-PBX phone system makes good economic sense if yours is a small business with limited funds and operation scale.
Hosted VoIP offers high availability which means low possibility of loss of calls due to glitches in
connectivity. However there is a flip side to it too....
Risk #2. Increase in Phone System Downtime
Ok, so you were smart to weigh the costs, both up-front and ongoing. Great. Going by the numbers, a hosted VoIP is an easy pick. But the downtime and lags in switching to the functionalities you need might be slowing down your business processes.
This is perhaps the biggest down side of a hosted VoIP. On the face of it, the hosted solution looks easy, convenient and cost-effective. But with a good, deep study into it you will be able to spot the cracks.
If yours is a large team spread across dissipate locations, an on-premise unified communication system might prove to be a dependable solution. You might want to have an asterisk PBX solution that is custom-built to your specific requirements and is scalable to accommodate future business needs.
Risk #3: Profitability of Your Business in Future Might Suffer
Speaking of future, it is unpredictable to a large extent. Just when you thought that a buyer is no more interested in your products, he calls up and places a big order with you. Such kind of surprises are good, in fact welcomed by business owners.
However, some incidents can catch you off guard, such as - spending a considerable amount on a non-hosted VoIP PBX solution, and later realize that you need to move to a larger office space. When you have a hosted phone system, it's easy to unplug the phones and plug them in the new connection.
It's a entirely a different ball game with an on-premise system. You need to move all the necessary hardware including phones and servers to the new location and run a setup once again.This cost falls on the profitability of your business.
Final Words
It's challenging to decide whether to have an in-house phone system or to outsource it with a hosted solution. This is because both have their pros and cons, no matter which route your business chooses.
So closely screen through your business requirements. Do your due-diligence about which phone system serves your current requirements most effectively, and would prove beneficial to support future business plans.
