What are the differences between Business VoIP and Cloud phone system?

Sectors   |   
Published February 5, 2015   |   
Sunny Popali

Often people think that Business VoIP (Virtual PBX) and Cloud Phone Systems (Hosted PBX in the cloud) are one and the same. Despite the fact that both the business phone systems help lowering your TCO (total cost of ownership) than an on-premises phone system, they are not equal.
The differences are significant between business VoIP and a cloud phone system, most probably in terms of functionality. The major difference is that the virtual PBX is an automated answering system, which only directs the call, whereas the hosted business VoIP phone system is a complete professional phone system.
Deciding the right cloud phone system is crucial for a successful business. Several factors plays important role when determining the best cloud phone solutions. Each cloud phone system providers has their own strength and weaknesses. However, before you come to a decision, you need to find out exactly what output do you expect from the hosted business VoIP phone system or cloud phone system provider’s solution.
What We Needed for our Business?
1. Phone solution especially designed for small & medium sized businesses;
2. Parallel features & collaboration tools available for every user;
3. Freedom from desk phone;
4. Time and resources savings on phone hardware management;
5. To eliminate hardware costs;
6. High scalability, a system that grows with us;
7. Should support all kinds of UC users;
8. Finally, a business phone system that empowers your business.
Why Move Your Phone System into the Cloud?
There are several reasons why businesses should transform their existing phone systems to the cloud phone systems or hosted business VoIP phone system. Some of them are:
1. The cloud phone solutions are specially designed keeping all sized businesses in mind. It provides all the powerful UC features at a very affordable cost.
2. No need to sacrifice on features and flexibility. A cloud-based phone system offers parallel business-class features for every user such as call forwarding, unified messaging (transcribe voicemail & sent to email inbox), call hold, contact list synchronized with office phone system, follow me, three-way conference, auto attendant and many more.
3. Softphone is one of the wonderful UC applications that enable the mobility features for users. It detaches you from your office desk phone allowing you to make and receive calls along with extension dialing right from your Android & iOS mobile & desktop devices.
4. It saves your company’s valuable time and resources by taking off the hardware configuration and management burden from your shoulders. Additionally, lower your total cost of ownership (TCO) & minimizes OPEX.
5. Get running your business phone system in the cloud with zero upfront hardware costs (major CAPEX savings).
6. Cloud phone systems are designed to offer high scalability as new users can be added easily without need to buy additional hardware.
7. The cloud-based VoIP systems are fully compatible and support all kinds of users such as System Administrator, Office Manager, Receptionist and Mobile Worker.
A hosted business VoIP phone system empowers your business with its unique on-number reach that makes you available at all the time on multiple devices.
Quality of Service
A bad service can hammer the VoIP calls. Often, the voice quality and clarity depends on the Internet speed used to connect the systems in the cloud. It’s always recommended by cloud business phone system providers to avail high speed internet connectivity when choosing a cloud-based VoIP solution for a business.
Failover
The failover systems in the cloud are monitored 24×7 to ensure the redirection of PSTN traffic within seconds in the event of disastrous hardware or software failure, providing you consistency and reliable service.