Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Telephony is an increasingly popular form of communication and, across businesses, is beginning to replace traditional telephone systems.

The cloud refers to software and services that run on the Internet, instead of locally on your computer. There’s a good reason why ‘Cloud communication’ is a trending buzzword amongst businesses.

By replacing your on-premise phone systems, companies are discovering new, streamlined methods of communication, while reducing the number of risks. There are a variety of different cloud services including Google Drive, Apple iCloud, Netflix, Yahoo Mail and Dropbox.

The main advantage of moving your VoIP Telephony to the cloud is that you can access your information on any device with an internet connection. You can edit information at home and then pick up where you left off at the office and members of your team can access the same document. Hosted Telephony is a telephone system that resides in the cloud rather than in your office, so it eliminates many of the practical and technical headaches that plague more traditional onsite systems. This explains why over 4m users now use a Cloud-based system, a number that is on the increase by 11% each year. The truth is that the scalability and modular approach of hosted telephony provides organisations with many opportunities to increase productivity with cost efficiency, avoid the unavailability that enrages customers and allow each organisation to focus on growing their businesses by using telephony. But many people don’t know that office phone systems can also be cloud-based.

It’s definitely worth considering and here are our top reasons why you should move to VoIP:

• Cost – it can be significantly cheaper to move phone systems to the cloud. Most are priced on a per user, per month basis and you don’t need to spend thousands of pounds on hardware and installation.
• Back-up – using the cloud means your telephony data and settings are backed up in multiple locations. It can help keep communication flowing.
• Easy to reach people – with a cloud-based phone system, employees can be reached on their mobile phone, desk phone or laptop all by dialling one number, which makes life much easier. Calls go anywhere there is a WiFi signal. Calls are also free to national and mobile numbers.
• Automatic updates – with an IP Telephony system, updates are made automatically in the cloud so your service won’t become outdated.
• Saving time – for employees to be able to click-to-call from their computer screen can save hours over the course of a year. You can integrate software with mobile phones and emails and it will help make life easier.
• Easy to add new employees – with an IP Telephony system, you can quickly add a new site to the existing network as you don’t need lots of hardware installed.
• Keep in touch – a phone system in the cloud means you can remain connected to your customers no matter the environment. The system is unlikely to be affected by outside factors such as severe weather.
• New services can be added easily – you can change your phone system easily on the cloud and make it work for your business. Also, add-on’s such as hold messages allow you to promote your services while calls are waiting.