How cloud telephony is impacting the growth in businesses
Whether you are a tech-enthusiastic business maverick or a startup greenhorn, here are some advantages of cloud telephony to augment your business.
The startup culture is booming at an unprecedented rate. Technology is empowering this boom, with its influence in various factions such as job search engines, cab companies, food delivery services and even inventory management. What is interesting to see are the various segments that technology is invading, boosting novelties such as cloud telephony to a ‘most valuable player’ status. What must be dispelled is the unprecedented tag of complexity that is attached to cloud telephony- it is simply a channel of communication, albeit on a flexible, cloud-centric platform. In fact, by 2018, International Data Corporation (IDC) forecasts that public cloud spending will be more than double to $127.5 billion, making it a platform the world can bank on.
Cloud telephony is technology that uses virtual or cloud hosted number to connect all locations / departments of your business on multiple extensions without the need of any infrastructure set-up like PBX/EPABX systems. Whether you are a tech-enthusiastic business maverick or a startup greenhorn, here are some advantages of cloud telephony to augment your business:
No infrastructure or maintenance cost
The key challenge that many organizations, well established and startups, face with regular phone systems is the lack of control. Heavy reliance on the traditional phone supplier for technical support on premises or during office relocation can cost valuable time. The extensive waiting periods for engineers to update the physical equipment often leads to a greater lag in the timely functioning. With cloud telephony, maintenance or trouble-shooting issues can be resolved in a jiffy, preventing lengthy unresolved blockages to operations.
Increased control and monitoring
Cloud telephony platforms help companies grow by minimising missed revenue opportunities and allowing control of the communication channels. It ensures that businesses don’t miss a single customer call by providing unified notification systems in case of any calls missed during or even after office hours. Additionally, it also provides access to detailed call logs and voice logs and generates automated caller database that can be easily integrated with any CRM software.
Superior client communication
Customer interactions are integral to an organization’s growth; unfortunately the redundancy of an out-dated telephony system can create hindrances. Client communications take place at multiple touch points, including the business website, social media pages, and strategic systems like CRMs and chatbots. Opting for a cloud telephony service allows for a unified communications strategy. Cloud telephony platforms help businesses seamlessly connect across the globe, thus providing a superior level of communication.
Scalability
The beauty of a cloud telephony system is that it can easily adapt to the turns and tussles of the company. The platform can be scaled to specific needs and requirements, with respect to budget. Cloud is adaptable to set parameters. It can easily add on extensions and features, if the business demands it.
Multi-location connectivity with Single Virtual Number
Cloud telephony helps streamline businesses by enabling single virtual number to connect multiple office locations overcoming any geographical barriers. The virtual number thus becomes synonymous to the brand identity of the business, making it easy for customers to easily remember and connect with the brand across any location.
Gauging marketing channels
Marketing expenses make up for a considerable percentage of the company’s revenues. Many a times, there is no concrete justification of these expenses, except for some third party general statistics. Cloud telephony makes it possible to gauge the performance of different marketing channels with easy and automated quantification of ROI on different advertisements based on calls received for each campaign.
Cloud telephony is simple to implement, easy to use, highly scalable and affordable.
(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)
