What Is Hosted Telephony?
What is Hosted Telephony & How Does it Work?
Hosted telephony, also known as cloud telephony, is a phone service that allows businesses to make and receive calls and communicate using the internet. Instead of using traditional on premises phone line and hardware, hosted telephony relies on the internet to transmit phone calls. This can provide organisations with a range of benefits bringing cost savings, flexibility due to advanced features.
Hosted telephony is cloud-based, meaning the system is hosted in remote secure data centres. To use a hosted telephony system, organisations use an internet connection, as well as IP (Internet Protocol) phones or softphones, (software applications that can be installed on computers or mobile phones. Calls are made and received using the IP phones or softphones, which are connected to the internet picking up the features and benefits of the hosted telephony system.
What are the Benefits of Hosted Telephony?
Cost Savings
Traditional, on-premises phone systems can be expensive, with costly cap-ex hardware or lease-purchase monthly costs, annual maintenance charges and phone line rental fees. Hosted telephony, on the other hand, eliminates the need for hardware and uses the internet to transmit calls, resulting in lower costs for organisations.
Hosted telephony systems are typically provided on a subscription basis, which means that businesses only pay for the phone service they need. This makes it easier for businesses to budget for their phone service and avoid unexpected expenses. Additionally, since hosted telephony relies on the internet, businesses can avoid long-distance call charge fees and international calling charges, which can also contribute to significant cost savings.
Certainly, an attractive option for organisations looking to reduce expenses and improve their bottom line.
Flexibility
Hosted telephony systems are highly scalable and can easily adapt to the changing needs of an organisation needing to quickly add or remove phone lines, users and functionality as needed, making it an ideal solution for companies with fluctuating call volumes.
Mobility
Employees can make and receive calls from anywhere, as long as they have an internet connection. This means that employees can use their work phone number on their mobile device, providing a level of mobility that traditional, on premises phone systems cannot match. This feature is particularly useful for organisations with remote workers, employees who travel frequently, or those with a distributed workforce. Hosted telephony systems can also provide additional mobility features, such as call forwarding, voicemail-to-email, and mobile apps, which enable employees to stay connected and productive on the go. With the ability to take their work phone number wherever they go, employees can work from anywhere, improving overall efficiency and productivity.
Advanced Features
Hosted telephony offers advanced features that can benefit organisations in many ways.
These include call recording, intelligent call routing, voicemail-to-email, call forwarding and more. Call recording can help businesses monitor and evaluate calls for quality control, training, or legal purposes. Intelligent call routing can route calls to the appropriate department or employee, improving customer service and efficiency. Voicemail-to-email allows employees to access voicemail messages from their email, increasing accessibility and improving response time. Call forwarding allows employees to route calls to their mobile device, providing greater mobility and flexibility. The advanced features provided by hosted telephony can help businesses streamline their communication processes, improve customer service, and increase overall efficiency.
Integrations
Hosted telephony can integrate with other such as CRM systems enabling employees to quickly access customer information, call history, and notes allowing for a more personalised and efficient customer interaction.
By integrating with email systems like MS Outlook, employees can easily access voicemail messages, and make calls directly from their email, increasing accessibility and response time.
Integrating with other communication channels such as video conferencing and chat, further enhances collaboration and productivity.
Business Continuity
Hosted telephony enables connectivity with all foreseeable fibre and wireless links into the distant future, especially in relation to, ‘The Great British Switch Off.’
This is the government initiative aiming to phase out traditional on-premises analogue and copper phone lines, meaning organisations that rely on on-premise telephony systems must ensure they are upgraded and/or equipped to connect into the secure internet voice links now available across the UK.
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