A publication by:

www.fonality.com

Taking Business Communications into the Cloud

To hear some people tell it, computing “in the cloud” is the greatest innovation since the telegraph. Yet

many business people are not so sure, especially when it comes to the central nervous system of their

enterprise: their communications system.

Basing phone systems in the cloud has a number of advantages, but plenty of companies are satisfied

with their trusty old PBX systems. Perhaps they are leery of the Great-Thing-They-Must-Buy-Now,

considering that a new one seems to arrive every week. Whatever the reasons, only one in five

businesses currently uses a cloud-based phone system.

Why are companies resisting the call to leap into the cloud? Why should they make the switch? Is there

a way to get the advantages of a cloud-based system while holding on to the dependability of traditional

phone service? Fortunately, the answer to that question is yes.

80%NOT USING

CLOUD-BASEDPHONE SYSTEM

You can’t read three paragraphs of technology news these days without seeing somebody declaring “the cloud”

as the solution to pretty much everything.

There’s common sense behind the hype. Storing software, services, and data in a central location accessible

to any device is leaps and bounds more efficient than scattering all that computing power on remote PCs,

smartphones, and tablets.

But let’s be clear on one thing: The cloud is nothing new. It’s been around since 1878, when the first commercial

telephone exchange opened for business in New Haven, Connecticut. Little more than a switchboard, the

exchange centralized call-processing power for people connecting through a simple user interface — the

telephone.

Early mainframe computers amassed processing power in the cloud. People who learned to communicate with the

mainframe using punch-cards welcomed the arrival of innovative “dumb” terminals.

The rise of the personal computer and packet-switching routers dispersed computing

power across vast global networks. It made perfect sense until the arrival of the 21st

century mobile era, when a blizzard of new portable devices revived the demand for

centralized computing power.

So now we’re back in the cloud. But given that the cloud was with us 25 years before

the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk, it’s not like we ever really left.

The Cloud Isn’t New

WELCOME

BACK!

Cloud computing is serious business. Gartner Research expects public cloud computing services to grow by 18.5

percent to $131 billion in 2013 alone, and it projects the industry will expand at a compounded rate of 16.8 percent

through 2017.

The cloud can be free and easy like Google’s Drive, which allows users to stow

documents on Google’s servers and share them with friends and colleagues.

Cloud computing also can be complex and expensive, like the high-end

design tools Adobe sells through its Creative Cloud service.

The common denominator in the cloud is efficiency: Instead of having to

support software licenses across thousands of PCs or smartphones, IT

departments update everything once in the cloud and deliver the software

over high-speed Internet connections. Because cloud service providers have

a vested interest in preserving clients’ data, systems are built to be secure and

redundant, keeping hackers out and preserving backups of everything.

But a recent Gartner report revealed one of the challenges of the push to

move everything to the cloud: Only 8 percent of enterprise users are using

the cloud for office-services software (primarily email). Similarly, only a fifth of

businesses use cloud-based VoIP services for their communications despite

the prospects for saving money and improving efficiency by moving to these

systems.

The Cloud Today

PUBLIC CLOUD COMMUTING

SERVICES

$131 BILLION

Gartner Research expects public cloud computing services to grow by 18.5 percent to $131 billion in 2013 alone

Clearly, not all businesses are crazy about the cloud. Why the reluctance? In office systems, highly regulated

companies like banks and utilities have to make sure changing their office software passes muster with state

and federal regulators. Industries that require extreme security like defense and aerospace want to keep their

data under lock and key in-house.

In the VoIP sphere, small and midsize businesses want better choices. Most VoIP providers offer two solutions:

an on-premises system or one hosted in the cloud. Either way, businesses often have to give up their standard

telephone service to enjoy the cost savings and flexibility of VoIP. Some remain concerned about reliability.

Fonality is clearing the path for a third way: Hybrid systems that preserve the dependability of traditional phone

systems while taking advantage of the Internet-enabled possibilities of cloud-based VoIP.

The Cloud Today

0N-PREMISES

CLOUD BASEDFONALITY

A traditional phone system is simple and reliable. But it can’t do much beyond helping people talk to each other

over a dedicated line.

VoIP gives businesses voice, video, text, and contacts management in a single user interface. Standard Internet

technology takes much of the pain out of the setup and a suite of software tools creates an engaging user

experience. Here’s a quick look at some of the advantages of VoIP:

Collaboration toolsToday’s workforce is dispersed. Some are at home, some are in an airport,

some are in the C-Suite. Whether they are sales people, executives,

software coders, or production line supervisors, they all need to be

able to share documents, swap emails, discuss strategy, and make

sure they’re all moving in the same direction.

Contact center featuresVoIP gives all businesses the capabilities of a

professional contact center that deals with huge volumes of telephone calls: organizing

and directing inbound calls, documenting call volume, and providing a host of

customer service, support, and telemarketing functions.

Why VoIP is Better

Improved visibility for managementThe best business VoIP systems tell managers where their workers are as long they’re at work. They also allow

employees to provide their preferred contact numbers so incoming calls always get routed to the right people.

Tracking systems, meanwhile, provide performance metrics for contact center activities.

Integration with mobile devicesVoIP systems bring mobile phones into the company phone network. Calls can be forwarded directly to cell phones

and tablet computers can be integrated into a company’s communication workflow.

Centralized user interface with one vendorA single company designs a uniform interface and keeps

everybody’s phones, apps, and devices talking to each other.

This saves a load of headaches for a company’s IT support

staff.

AffordabilityA dedicated phone line wastes a lot of bandwidth when

nobody’s talking on it. In contrast, VoIP lets phone calls share

bandwidth with other data traveling on the Internet, which is far more

efficient. That’s why VoIP customers typically can expect much lower

monthly fees and forget about long-distance charges.

Why VoIP is Better

Hosted in the cloud A hosted, cloud-based system packages all VoIP services in a centralized off-site location. In the cloud, phone

service costs can fall dramatically because the host takes care of all the software, equipment, training, and support.

This deployment leaves businesses dependent on their Internet connections, and for many that works well. Others

feel like they need a more robust solution.

On-PremiseAn on-premise VoIP system is backed up in the cloud, but it stations equipment at the customer’s site to enable

communications via the Internet. The best systems combine the reliability of a traditional phone line with the rich

array of VoIP features.

On-premise VoIP can be tailored to the exact needs of individual companies, and the best providers can set up

the system so it automatically switches voice communications over to the traditional phone line if the Internet goes

down.

What the future holdsIt’s a safe bet that in 15 years, all wired telephone systems will be hosted in the cloud. It’s simply getting too

complicated for businesses to maintain on-site communications systems. And given that wireless is getting stronger

every day, there will be less and less need for traditional phone lines.

Deployment Options

To many entrepreneurs, installing that first PBX system feels like tangible proof that their company’s going to make

it. They’re getting enough calls from enough customers to enough employees that those calls need to be managed.

Plenty of businesses never get that far.

So they wire up their PBX system and get back to work. They dial 9 for an outside line and it works. It’s not broke.

Why fix it?

Companies have a simple explanation for not putting their phones in the cloud: force of habit.

It’s a comfortable habit that isn’t causing problems, so they stick with it.

Trust is another issue for established business owners: Many are more inclined to

go with venerable, old companies. The cloud may have been around for more

than a century, but cloud-based VoIP is a relatively recent arrival, as are many

of the companies providing the services. In contrast, their phone company

may have been around for ages.

VoIP must be able to overcome one of the strongest forces in human nature:

the tendency for people to do what they’ve always done.

Reservations About Cloud-Based Phone Systems

There’s no doubt that some people’s impressions of business-quality VoIP have been colored by experiences with

low-cost providers of consumer services. Skype and Vonage, to name two examples, provide basic, economical

voice and video services. As the saying goes, people get what they pay for.

Skype uses peer-to-peer networking. A “call” starts out on one computer, travels to a nearby computer that’s also

on Skype, makes its way to an ISP, then travels through even more peer computers until the two users establish a

data stream. Nobody is “in charge” of maintaining the quality of the stream.

Building a video stream across a multitude of points around the Internet does allow incredibly economical video

communications from around the world. Likewise, discount VoIP providers like Vonage can optimize their networks

to hold down costs rather than hold up quality.

That means hit-or-miss user experiences. One call will sound fine, another will

have a low hiss and a third will cut off people’s voices off in mid-sentence. The

end result is that people who are familiar with low-cost VoIP have may not realize

the quality of business VoIP is much higher.

Confronting Misconceptions About VoIP

QU

AL

ITY

SKYPEVONAGE

BUSINESS VoIP

Free and discount services suit the needs of thrifty consumers, but the quality sets off alarms in the minds of brand-conscious business people. Picture the small-business owner trying to pitch her software services to a big potential client. Can she afford to make do with discount-quality voice or video?

Cloud-based VoIP providers face :

• Educating potential clients about the reality that business-class VoIP is nothing like some providers of consumer VoIP.

• Convincing potential consumers that their service is optimized for the best possible user experience, not the low-est possible cost.

• Demonstrating that they can deliver telephone-quality voice and sharp streaming video in a package that costs substantially less than standard telephone service.

Providers that can do all this — and of course provide a stellar suite of features — are the ones that understand the communications needs of small and midsize businesses.

Confronting Misconceptions About VoIP

NOTHING LIKE SOME PROVIDERS OFCONSUMER VoIP

OFFERS THE BESTPOSSIBLEUSER EXPERIENCE

CAN DELIVER TELEPHONE-QUALITYVOICE & SHARPSTREAMING VIDEO

CLIENTS MUST BE CONVINCED OF3 MAJOR POINTS BUSINESS

It’s not only about shaving the cost of every phone in an office. That’s more like the appetizer. The entrée is the

savings in technology costs across a rich suite of VoIP services.

Functionally, VoIP gives any office virtually the same suite of services used by large contact centers. A dedicated

user interface makes sure contacts, email, incoming calls, videoconferencing, and more are always within a few

easy clicks. And it’s always the VoIP provider’s job to keep all that software up to date, secure, and backed up.

All of these features fall under the umbrella of Unified Communications, which will continue to grow

as innovations in bandwidth and processing power allow providers to pack ever more

communication services onto desktop computers and mobile devices.

Furthermore, knowledge workers who bring their devices with them everywhere

will gravitate toward companies that bake Unified Communications into their

corporate structure. The best talent expects access to the best tools.

Another consideration: the complex interactions of all these tools makes it

increasingly untenable for companies to support on-site telephone systems,

especially in light of the money they’ll save when outsourcing. It makes sense to

leave phones to the phone experts.

The Business Case for Switching

UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS

No matter how strong the case for cloud-based VoIP may be, the

industry is crowded with younger providers that need to earn the trust

of business owners, many of whom would just as soon go with more

established brands.

The best VoIP providers understand why people are reluctant to dive

headlong into every new high-tech trend: infinite choices collide with

finite resources. One option is to entice businesspeople with a small

sampling that will make them want more in the years ahead.

A midsize business might want to try out VoIP features in single

department. Another might want to turn its sales staff loose

with a suite of customer-collaboration tools but isn’t ready

yet for a complete conversion.

And here’s a way youthful providers can set themselves

apart from long-of-tooth telcos: Offering plain-language

contracts that are succinct, easy to understand, and free of

surprises buried in the small print.

Getting Businesses to Trust

Breaking Through with a Hybrid Solution

Most VoIP providers force a company to go all-in on the cloud and abandon their traditional phone sys-tem. The skeptical are left locked into their PBX-based systems.

Fonality bridges this gap with a hybrid system that allows companies to install their own equipment and software on-site, back everything up in the cloud, and maintain always-on voice service by automatically switching to traditional phone service in case of an interruption in Internet service.

It’s Not About the NinesInternet outages present a nagging argument against cloud-based VoIP. Outages are rare, but they do happen.

Some providers are fond of the number 9 in a decimal place in their uptime promises. They make prom-ises like 99.9999 percent uptime. Some take the nine to five or six decimal places, as if a hundred-thou-sandth or a millionth of a percent is a meaningful statistic.

There are not enough decimals in the universe to change the reality that VoIP providers have outages. What matters is how companies plan for outages, and how they respond to them, and how transparent they are about them with customers.

Nines aren’t part of the problem or the solution.

Feeling better about our old friend the cloud? Ready to reap the benefits of unified communications while saving money? Ready to leave the responsibility of managing a phone system to someone else and getting back to what you do best?

Here are four things to look for in a provider of VoIP telephone systems:

1. A company you can trustYour VoIP provider must be willing to earn your trust by understanding your needs and providing VoIP services that are specific to the needs of your customers.

2. One focused on SMBsYour provider should have a track record of helping small business add high-end communication features that make it easier for everybody in your sphere of business — customers, employees, vendors — to stay in touch.

3. One that’s moved beyond phone callsVoIP is about using voice, video, text, and high-end software to keep people connected. As long as people talk on telephones, calls will be a key component of VoIP, but the best providers understand calls are only a part of the equation.

4. A company that gives you optionsA hybrid offering combines the efficiencies of VoIP and the dependability of traditional phone service.

What to Look for in a Provider

Fonality can take your company’s communications to a whole new level, improving customer service, productivity, mobility, and reducing costs. Fonality helps you work smarter not harder. If you’re interested in increasing customer retention and referrals and saving time and money, Fonality has the tools to help. Learn more visiting www.fonality.com or calling 1-888-768-3770.