Blog Post: Modernising Your Business Phone System

As technology continues to advance, how we do business will also change, but the need to have a reliable communication system remains a key factor for every successful business.

Businesses, big or small, need to have a dependable communication system to allow their customers, and partners to contact them. In today’s modern world, telephone call handling requirements have vastly matured.

The traditional PBX is no longer a match for modern businesses; having an outdated phone system can create problems that can restrict your business productivity and damage your profitability. Modernising your phone system will improve your business’s overall performance and help significantly boost your bottom line.

In the past, mainly larger organisations would be using a modern phone system due to the complicated hardware and expensive maintenance services and the fact they can invest more into their telephone system. However, smart tech options are now available to organisations of all sizes and the technology involved has advanced to create faster, and more efficient means of communications through all routes, such as phone calling and emails.

Cloud Communications solutions offer significant advantages over traditional on-premise phone systems, however, it’s important to get the right cloud system to meet your business needs.

Transitioning to Cloud Communications will help you unleash the potential of your business:

• Work smarter, anywhere – By enabling access to all the information and tools your employees need – anywhere and anytime.
• Expand your opportunities – Freeing you from the constraints of a physical location and a fixed workforce.
• Ensure seamless experiences for employees and customers by integrating multiple communications and collaboration services into a single solution.
• Stay competitive – By ensuring you’re always upgraded to the latest technology.
• Reduce your risks – By delivering built-in resilience and security.
• Free up time – By freeing them up from routine admin and maintenance tasks.

Traditional phone systems are becoming obsolete

There are many benefits to using a cloud-based phone system for your business, however, they aren’t the only reason why you should make the switch.

It is common knowledge amongst telecommunications experts that ISDN is a dying technology, BT has stated, that by 2025, they are going to conduct major changes to their services, including switching off important communication networks (ISDN and PSTN services). This will change how some businesses communicate entirely if the organisation hasn’t switched to a modern phone system.

ISDN is a communications network that relies heavily on physical infrastructure, specifically copper wiring. It came to prominence because it provided the opportunity to transmit voice and data over the same lines. However, because of its reliance on physical infrastructure to manage calls and additional functionality via a PBX (or multiple), this takes up space within business premises and requires resource to administer and maintain. Similarly, it is hard to add and remove new lines to an ISDN network because it requires physical addition and removal.

It’s estimated that 2 million UK businesses will be affected by the switch off, mainly small companies or those that frequently rely on landline telephones or faxes.

So what’s the alternative?

There are two solutions leading the market right now. SIP trunking and hosted telephony. SIP connects a business’s PBX to the provider’s national network via broadband, Ethernet or a private circuit. Hosted telephony is a complete business phone system, delivered over the internet and provided by a host and/or telephony company.

Which solution is best for you?

SIP is a ready-made replacement for ISDN. It was born from a growing need for reliable, flexible and scalable communications technology. SIP Trunks enables growing businesses to manage communications effectively in line with demand. Here are some of the main benefits:

• Cost – One SIP channel can cost approximately 50% of the ISDN equivalent, plus you can benefit from free internal calls.
• Scalability – Additional SIP trunks can be added in less than a minute meaning you can scale up and down as you need to easily.
• Disaster recovery – SIP has built-in business continuity letting you reroute calls to an alternative location quickly and easily.
• Compatible with Skype for Business – Our SIP trunks are integration tested and approved to interoperate with Microsoft® Skype for Business/Teams, allowing you to directly connect to the platform to make external calls.

Horizon (Hosted Telephony)

Horizon is a complete communications service that provides a range of fixed and mobile telephony capabilities via an easy-to-use web portal. It allows you to manage your calls whilst enabling your employees to maximise their productivity.

The key benefits are:

• Cost – Minimal capital outlay due to no onsite hardware and extremely competitive on-net rates over a business-grade network.
• Greater control – Take complete control of your phone system with an extensive range of call handling and management features, all operated through an easy-to-use web interface. Ideal for home workers or multiple sites.
• Improving customer service – Enhance the service you can provide to your customers at all times with dynamic call handling, pre-recorded messages and seamless transfers at the touch of a button.
• Reliable and secure – We provide full support including training, number porting, provisioning and 24/7 UK-based assistance giving you complete peace of mind.

How can Krome help you with your phone systems?

Krome Technologies work with small, medium and enterprise companies; assessing business objectives and implementing technology and communications solutions that will help achieve them; by designing and implementing innovative solutions and providing the highest quality technology-based services Krome Technologies will help meet our client’s technology and overall business goals.

Working with our telephony specialists, we can help you to define these requirements and design a modernised cloud-based phone system that meets your specific business demands.

For more information on modern business phone systems, please contact us today or read the full data sheets below.

• Modernising Your Business Phone System

Businesses that need to upgrade their existing phone system will find a huge array of new solutions available compared to seven or eight years ago, but which is right for your business? This whitepaper looks at all of the key considerations you need to make before embarking on a telephone system upgrade.

• Horizon Hosted Phone System Brochure

For more information on how you can make your workplace more productive with a Horizon cloud-based hosted phone system from Krome Technologies, or how we can help you to achieve your communication goals please download the full Horzion Hosted Phone System brochure here.