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The IP communications sector is one of the most exciting we have in the industry today.
We have Cloud communications, hosted Voip, hosted PBX, hosted Telephony, they're all
names given to an exciting new development. We're all used to using Voip from our desktop
phones at home. But Cloud communications or hosted Telephony brings the full impact of
the functionality of a PBX to the desktop from the Cloud.
Cloud communications services, incredibly sophisticated, for the uninitiated it can
actually seem very complex. But at Foehn, we believe in keeping things simple. If you're
looking for a hosted Telephony service, we think you need to think about a few things
before making your mind up. Probably the first thing you need to think about when choosing
your platform is the context in which you're going to operate. Will you be making and receiving
calls only when you're at the desk in the office?
Or do you need a service that goes with you, when you're at home or out on the move? Once
you decided how and where you need to operate, the next choice is really around the device
you're going to use. The two choices you have really, are hard phone, or a desk phone, sometimes
called an IP phone or soft phone, an application that will run on your computer which typically
you need a headset for to use properly. You then need to think fairly carefully about
the features you really need from the service. Cloud PBX is incredibly sophisticated but
you need all the services, if you need voice mail, if you need call forwarding, if you
need call conferencing for example.
You really ought to be looking for a provider that can provide you all the features you
need at no hidden cost. The only basic PBX features you should consider the things which
when personalized, can really transform your business. For example, a customized IVR, or
interactive voice response system, which can give you auto attendant, your calls can be
answered when you're not in the office.
Believe it or not if you go to the right provider you can run a full contact center in the Cloud
or skill-based routing to particular departments. You can have home grouping and group pick
up but these are services where you need to engage your providers so that they are able
to understand your business and give you a customized solution that really fits where
you think your company is going.
And as with all these things price is always [xx] important. There's some companies that
will price on an all inclusive basis which will give everything we've just talked about
for an inclusive single price per user, per month. Others, however, will provide a very
low starting fee, but charge per individual feature there after.
It's important need to understand what it is you're actually looking for, but don't
ever forget when you're using a hosting platform, the core costs are wrapped into the service
and therefore pay clear attention to the cost of national calls, international calls and
calls to mobiles for example. And finally, support.
Cloud communication services or hosted PBXs always run over an IP communications network.
So make sure you're dealing with a company that you trust, that has a heritage in IP
comms. At Foehn, we like to keep things simple. We believe hosted PBX services is sophisticated
and complex enough, the pricing shouldn't be.
So we provide a fully functional PBX service in the Cloud, for a single simple per user
price per month.