Updated on September 13, 2018 by John Clarke
As technology has advanced, the way people buy phone systems has changed. Migration of many businesses to VoIP phone systems and the dominance of the internet has made businesses and people communicate in vastly different ways. Some changes include an increase in speed in communication, mobility, and flexibility, and degree of automation. Below, learn how the communication space has changed with VoIP in the last 15 years and also, how VOIP enables businesses to keep up with the competition through cost efficiencies and features that truly add value.
The Phone System of the Past
In the past, IT professionals would have to purchase routine communications equipment upgrades. Whether that was software upgrades, or new equipment, every 10 years or so, IT professionals were spending a considerable amount of capital to get the latest and greatest system and keep up with their organizations growing needs. These routine equipment upgrades were never simple. It was always a ‘major system upgrade’, meaning that a new training system and the operating system always needed to be upgraded no matter what. Or scrap the whole thing with a “forklift replacement” which was a total replacement of hardware, software, and desk phones
The Current Telecom Market
Cloud-based phone systems allow businesses to continually update and improve their phone systems. Unlike in the past, changes can be made remotely without requiring your phone provider to come in and change the backend or the phone on the desks of your employees. Now the phone system can continually change, update, improve, and increase capacity without changing hardware.
Creating a Phone System That Will Grow with Your Company
As companies grow, acquire or open new divisions, VOIP allows for incremental phone and service add-ons, rather than needing to buy a new phone system. Traditional phone systems have limitations when companies expand into multiple locations. With a traditional phone system, if your company were to add another location, you would be unable to add extensions from your new location to your main phone line. In comparison, with a VoIP phone system, you can send your engineers in Louisiana VoIP phones and just add their extensions to your existing VoIP system.
VoIP vs. Traditional Phone System Costs
Cloud-based VoIP services have cost advantages over traditional telephone services. VoIP allows your company to benefit from continuous technical enhancements and improvements, which technicians perform remotely. Features like call transfer, call queuing, group ringing, intercom, and phone directories that come standard with VoIP services would traditionally require costly PBX hardware and traditional landline service with expensive features and long-term contracts. Maintenance costs with landlines and premised based phone systems add up quickly, especially when you factor in the cost of having a technician install and maintain it, making VoIP a more economical solution. Instead of continually having to purchase new equipment for your phone system, you can invest that money into new manufacturing equipment or other improvements your company really needs.
According to Dartmouth Business school, the average useful life and depreciation of phone systems and telephone switches are 7 years. Often, upgrades, replacements and support fees go far beyond 7 years as it becomes important to extend the life of legacy phone systems. This show that you actually never recoup the sunk cost of the capital expenditure of a large phone system. It is a self-perpetuating cost structure that traditional phone system providers depend on. I recent years providers like Avaya and Toshiba have shown this is not a sustainable model.
The traditional phone system, have to buy a new phone system which will be 60-100 dollars plus phone system with monthly expenditure so you have the phone. The hardware you buy and nothing else but the service. 100,000 / people needed can get years upon years of service for something that would have been a sunk capital expenditure.
In conclusion, VoIP is the last phone system your company will ever need. VoIP allows businesses to easily add extensions to your main phone line anywhere in the world and fees are the same regardless of location! All upgrades are performed by experienced technicians at Ohio.Net and all hardware is under warranty for the first year. VoIP eliminates the need for high capital expenditures on phone system equipment, allowing your company to invest that money where it is needed most. So what are you waiting for? Contact Ohio.Net to discuss purchasing your company’s last phone system!
