The hidden costs of premises-based PBX systems should be a key driver for your business to start exploring the cloud alternative.
Many PBX manufacturers claim that the five-year costs of their systems are lower than cloud solutions, however they don’t take into consideration the costs that arise as a result of the limitations of the hardware and software in their systems.
Is the system sized for peak demand?
With many PBX systems you have to buy capacity for the peak utilisation, which may only occur for a couple of weeks a year.
Have you factored in the cost of site redundancy?
Site redundancy will add at least an extra system to your costs. Look at how the PBX system handles calls if you lose the equipment room due to flood, fire or electrical failure.
When will the manufacturer stop developing features for this product?
The average lifespan of a premises-based system is approximately seven years mainly due to the hardware going obsolete in that time. You may discover features your business relies on that are no longer being upgraded; leaving you with a system that cannot meet your future business needs. Cloud is an evergreen platform that continually adds new features that regularly improve your employee productivity.
How is mobility supported on the system?
Mobile integration with the PBX is often cumbersome and ends up with additional call charges on the PBX.
What are the annual maintenance costs of the hardware and software in this system?
With PBX systems, you need to factor in the maintenance costs of on-premises hardware that is all the server hardware that may fail due to spikes in power supply or overheating. With cloud, all the system hardware is located in the telco data centre, so you have no direct maintenance costs.
Which third party systems have you integrated this PBX with?
It normally costs you extra to get a system integrator to perform what can be a complex task.
How many hours per week will it cost to manage the system?
System management can be costly and is often overlooked. Phone systems need to be maintained. That can cost a lot especially if integrated with other applications or IT services. Outsourced management to a third party will incur charges for a minimum number of service calls per year regardless of use. With cloud, all your management is performed simply via a web interface. All remote sites can be easily managed from a central location without a large number of field personnel.
Is your business ready to move to the Cloud? Speak to our team today!