Could cloud-based IP voice be the ideal digital solution for enterprise and public sector organisations?

Our Senior Product Manager for Voice Services, Wynand Botes, explains why Cloud Voice will become an invaluable resource for organisations.

Only the foolhardy would dismiss the 2025 deadline for the switch from a legacy phone network to digital.

The change from ISDN might not be imminent, but organisations need to consider their future workspace journey and consider IP Voice as the alternative and start thinking about how they can start planning to use or deploy it. After all, it will create the foundation for the majority of an organisation’s communications projects over the coming years if they haven’t already adopted its use. Cloud Voice provides an ideal, feature-rich solution to the big switch – and here’s why…

“One of the beauties of Cloud Voice is the customer portal,” says Wynand. “Unlike older services, simple configuration changes can be made instantly without a need to contact us to request a change. This solution is feature and function-rich and tailored to customer requirements. Everything from the basics to advanced options are present and correct. For example, organisations can adopt flexible, remote and mobile working. It means workers can work from any location at any time and still have the same experience, access to information and contact details they would have if they were sat in the office.”

“Traditional telecoms infrastructure is fast coming to end of life,” says Wynand. “With the big analogue switch off coming in 2025, it means now is an opportune time for organisations to consider their workspace solutions, and switch to Cloud Voice and stay ahead of the competition. You can rest assured that even if you aren’t considering a change just yet, your competitors will be.”

It gets even better. Unlike traditional telecommunications services, Cloud Voice operates on a licence-based model, so you pay a fixed monthly fee based on your usage – there are no nasty surprises.

Moving telephony and call handling to a single, hosted, managed network makes it easier to predict budgets. And that’s the kind of freedom that allows you to grow, disrupt, surprise and thrive.

“There are several benefits to being in the cloud,” says Wynand. “One of them is that legacy switches and PBXs won’t have to be replaced. Rather than buy new ones, customers can transfer functionality to the cloud. Therefore IP Voice allows for the convergence of voice and data across an organisation’s data connectivity, negating the need to retain legacy voice services. It reduces or removes the cost of legacy voice services, plus telephone numbers are no longer tied to a local telephony exchange. As numbers reside within the cloud they can easily be re-routed should an organisation require it.”

“Cloud Voice will result in savings for organisations for several reasons,” says Wynand. “Our specialists will help customers choose the best option for their needs, as well as removing services they no longer need through detailed estate audits. Employees are exposed to consumer communication tools on a daily basis that are easy to use, and having access to similar technologies in the workplace increases collaboration and empowers them to do more, increasing productivity and employee satisfaction.”

Whether an organisation has 200 users or 2,000, the system can scale up or down according to need. Payment is on a licence-based system, so the fee reflects the specific number of users, which means there is no wasted outlay. Adding or removing users is very easy as everything has been developed with the customer in mind. All things considered, IP Voice creates the foundation for the adoption of next-generation technologies enabling organisations to outsmart tomorrow, today. It helps organisations leverage their investment in new communications technologies, which will drive the customer experience and help differentiate them from the competition in an increasingly competitive market place.”

Find out how Cloud Voice could help your organisation.