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Over the last twenty years, the telephony world has truly evolved. And while we don’t hesitate to get the latest smartphone as soon its released, the same mentality does not apply to office phones. We’ve allowed our business phone systems to become outdated – making them increasingly expensive to maintain and impeding the ability for us to communicate effectively in the modern world.

Businesses of all sizes are realising that their traditional phone system is holding them back. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the issue, as many businesses found themselves struggling without a phone system when they were thrown into home working.

As a result, companies have begun to move to more modern solutions - moving their entire telephone systems to the cloud and completely doing away with the on-site infrastructure that a traditional phone system requires. Cloud-based (or VoIP – Voice over Internet Protocol) phone systems, such as Microsoft Business Voice, have all the functionality that a traditional phone system would offer and more, whilst reducing costs and ensuring your business communications are future-proof.

If you’re still holding on to an outdated phone system, here are some key reasons why it’s failing your business:
  1. It costs too much

Traditional phone systems can be really expensive – and these costs can spiral out of control, especially when the hardware becomes out of date. There’s also the initial setup, hardware costs, ongoing maintenance and potential upgrades to consider.

On the other hand, cloud-based phone systems don’t have these associated expenses, and charge less per minute than landline phone services. This allows businesses to manage their communication services in a less costly manner – ultimately increasing their profitability. For example, one of our clients, Proper Music, made savings of nearly £9,000 a year just by switching to Microsoft Business Voice.

Proper Music Case Study

  1. It’s hampering your customer service

If your traditional phone system has become out-of-date, there can be a myriad of issues as a result, such as below-par voice quality, dropped calls, and confusing menus. Moreover, if some or all of your staff are working from home, fewer people are available to answer calls as they are away from their desk phone. This means customers are waiting on hold for longer, causing them to become frustrated and damaging your reputation before they’ve even got through to you.

A cloud telephony solution offers a more reliable and unified telephone system, which your employees can access from anywhere (more on that later). Additionally, there are many features of cloud-based phone systems that can directly improve your customer service, such as call transfer, multi-level auto attendants, call waiting and call queues.  
  1. It can’t keep up with your business growth

As your business grows, the ability to quickly scale becomes a necessity. Your phone system should be able to do this too, yet many traditional phone systems can hinder – rather than help – your business growth. Adding or removing employees or office locations requires the company to adapt its phone system accordingly, which takes time and additional costs with a traditional phone system.

With a cloud-based phone system, businesses add or deactivate as many extensions as they need as and when they need to. With Microsoft Business Voice, there’s also no contract term, so businesses only pay for the extensions they need for as long as they need them; changes are made instantly; and your billing is automatically updated.
  1. It lacks the flexibility needed

As the past year has shown, flexibility is vital for business success. Since the pandemic, phone system mobility has been a real issue for companies that have remote workers, with traditional phone systems simply not being able to meet these needs. Moreover, with many businesses looking to incorporate a permanent flexible working arrangement, it’s no longer a viable long-term solution for many modern workplaces.

In contrast, moving to a cloud telephony solution means your employees can call, transfer and receive calls as normal, no matter whether they’re in the office, at home or elsewhere, on any device.
  1. It hinders productivity

With a traditional phone system, communications are kept separate from other business tools and functions.
A major benefit of moving telephony to the cloud is the ability to integrate with regularly used office tools.

Microsoft Business Voice, for example, integrates with Microsoft Teams (and the wider 365 suite), bringing together chat, file sharing, and calling into one platform. This gives staff a unified solution that provides a consistent business presence and enhances productivity.



Want to find out more? See how moving to Microsoft Business Voice can benefit your business:



 
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