This post was sponsored by Bicom Systems, a leader in enterprise communication and collaboration solutions.
Traditional phone systems, Bicom says, entail multiple startup costs such as installation fees, equipment purchases, IT maintenance, and more. Most SMBs do not have a lot of room for error when choosing the services they need for their company. The advantage of hosted telephony is that you avoid all those extra charges.
Hosted solutions require little to no upfront costs. The business only has to purchase (or rent) the IP phones, unless they already have compatible ones, and may have some training fees to get them started. If the business chooses to use a premise solution they will have to purchase the hardware, purchase the server, pay for the installation of the equipment, buy or rent the space to hold all said equipment and the list goes on from there.
Not only does this come with a heftier upfront cost, it also means more ongoing maintenance costs.
- When a company has physical servers, they will have to maintain them.
- Human error can cause complications with the equipment not working or breaking.
- Depending on the size of the business, a large knowledgeable IT team may be needed to manage the hardware.
- This will increase employment expenses and additional fees that can be avoided with hosted.
By choosing a hosted solution, Bicom says, you remove all the risks mentioned above and the additional maintenance fees. The provider takes care of the IT side and it is often very simple to manage. So simple, that almost anyone can manage the solution.
Every day, technology is continuously being upgraded. Updates become available, new versions are released, and you must continue to stay innovative for your customers. So, when it is time to upgrade, if you are not using a hosted solution, you will have to purchase new equipment. Now that you have purchased the new equipment you must go back to the beginning with installation fees, set up costs, and all the other initial investments.
But, if you upgrade while on hosted, it is all done virtually. The only cost you will have to endure is the fee from your vendor for the upgrade. Your company does not have to shut down for a long period of time for these updates, which is a bonus for your ROI.
Not only are there economic advantages for you and your company, but there are also advantages for resellers. As resellers, you can pitch all those advantages to your clients and more.
Resellers can offer a variety of prices to meet different client budgets. You will have the opportunity to meet different customers with different sized wallets and give them the products they need at a price they can afford.
As a reseller, hosted is all about partnership and trust. The monthly hosted subscription is an ongoing “accrued” revenue for resellers. The revenue is accumulated over a period and you continue to grow with the company. The reseller’s customers also benefit from the stability of the provider. Building trust in a partnership that makes it easy to upgrade, stay innovative and decreases costs is what will help your company grow and prosper in the future.
Hosted telephony can be more expensive than a regular phone line, however, the economic advantages a company gains are astounding.
If you want to learn more about hosted telephony, download Bicom’s book “7 Reasons You and Your Customers Should Switch to Hosted.”
Also, check out this previous blog post on “The Top Features You Should Look for in Hosted Telephony.”
