81% of CIOs believe IT is entering a new era of customer-driven initiatives. Businesses are increasingly embracing cloud communications to craft better customer experiences. Some IT executives, failing to recognize the opportunities cloud solutions can bring to their businesses, are reluctant to adopt this new communications platform. Savvy CIOs view it as a key enabler of a more agile, connected employee and customer experience. They recognize that providing employees with a more aligned communications platform will empower them to deliver a superior experience for customers. As with any new technology, there are several misconceptions and questions to consider.

These 8 most-asked questions will shed some light on how transformative cloud communications can be for your business:

1. Is it cost-effective? Cloud is more agile and requires less infrastructure than its on-premises counterpart. You only pay for what you use, allowing most companies to reap the benefits of savings while gaining in highly desirable collaboration, mobility and customer engagement features for employees.

2. Is cloud right for my size business? Not all cloud solutions offer the robust capabilities and reliable platform to work as a successful communications model for companies. We have partnered with Cloud Communications and Contact Center platforms that support 50,000+ global businesses of all sizes, with a cloud solution that can grow with you, easily scaling up or down without compromising features.

3. How reliable is a cloud solution? Again, this depends on the solution you deploy, but cloud solutions are far more reliable than on-site hosted phone systems. Cloud Communications and Contact Center solutions can increase your uptime significantly. Their agreements include a money-backed guarantee of 99.99% uptime. Can your PBX provider offer the same? 

4. Will I get global call capabilities? With 15 redundant data centers distributed across the globe, Our Cloud Communications and Contact Center solution offers international local, toll-free and local number transfer services in over 80 countries. Plus, with patented geo-routing algorithm delivers the highest call quality regardless of where the caller is in the world.

5. How accessible is it? If it is a complete cloud communications solution, the solution delivers the full breadth of Unified Communications and contact center capabilities with the flexibility to add capabilities and users as needed. This includes contact centers and calling platforms. With our cloud communications solutions  everything is accessible anytime, anywhere from any device. 

6. Can it do what my phone does now? Nobody wants you to give up capabilities. Our cloud communications solution offers you the full breadth of capabilities you depend on today including voice, video, messaging, meetings and customer engagement tools to improve productivity and revenues for your company.

7. Is a cloud solution secure and compliant with government regulations? It should be! Our Cloud Communications and Contact Center solution is backed with industry-leading security and compliance standards and has passed third-party audits for compliance with HIPAA, PCI-DSS, FISMA and other U.S. regulations. 

8. How do you pay for cloud? Cloud solutions are often more accessible to businesses of any size because instead of a capital outlay, they can be paid for monthly as an operating expense. Our flexible mix of service packages provide more cost-effective solutions, while also reducing the amount of specialized IT skills and resources required to make the phones work. 

Not all cloud communications solutions are created equal. Our single Cloud Communications and Contact Center solution offers companies ONE platform that aligns and engages on all channels, creating a harmonized platform that empowers employees to deliver exceptional customer experiences. 

Everyone’s talking about cloud solutions. Get the facts first. Contact us to learn more. 

   Sometimes, we need to destroy the status quo to create a new model of engagement. Sometimes, the market does that for us and that can be even scarier. Change is always scary and overwhelming, especially when it comes to technology. But it is inevitable.

     If you want to play the game, the siloed, broken communications of yesterday aren’t going to cut it any longer.

      Regardless of what business you’re in, your customer’s experience is your top priority. Customers increasingly prefer human interaction over digital communications channels, positioning your communications systems as a key enabler for delivering superior customer experience. Cloud communications offers your company a unique opportunity to craft the ideal customer experience, creating a competitive advantage few companies have thought to seize upon. With shifting demands and perceptions, it comes down to the company that’s intrepid enough to pull the trigger first.

Here are a few mindsets that help your organization prioritize customer experience:

Every department is a service department

     In today’s highly competitive market, customer loyalty is no longer entrenched as part of our social culture. In fact, 90% of customers today feel that businesses are too slow and unresponsive. 59% of those customers will try your competitor for a better experience, without hesitation. Legacy, premises-based phone systems offer siloed, fractured and inconsistent communications that reinforce breakdowns in employee and customer interactions and slow your ability to provide service. In short, they simply can’t compete with the cloud’s ability to seamlessly integrate communications systems with business applications and processes. The implication is businesses that more quickly adapt to this modern approach to communications will be the clear winner among customers.

Every conversation is an opportunity

     Every conversation customers have with your employees provide an opportunity to deliver superior customer service. 20^th century PBX systems were never designed to support the remote, distributed workforce of the 21^st century. Employees increasingly demand the ability to work flexible schedules from the location of their choosing, across multiple devices. According to a 2015 Citrix and Forrester study in 2015, 85% of employees use a mobile device for work. And yet most traditional PBX systems, with their hardwired infrastructures, can’t easily accommodate needs of this increasingly wireless, mobile workforce.  When employees use tools like personal laptops, mobile devices, Google Hangouts, Skype and Facetime to accomplish this, information leaves company networks to unsecure devices, and collaboration becomes more difficult.   

Failure is not an option

     Current business communications options, like traditional PBX phone systems, have many shortcomings. One of the most significant is the cost and complexity of ensuring your phones are one of the first services restored after any adverse event. While it is possible to develop an effective disaster recovery solution with a premises-based solution, it is not as seamless and cost-effective as a cloud solution. Moving to cloud-based business communications is a painless way to ensure a disaster doesn’t leave your phones down for hours or – worse yet – days.

     New isn’t always better. However, when sweeping technology changes impact the expectations of customers, businesses must keep up. If the only thing holding you back is a fear of change, consider the risks and benefits. What would more accessible employees mean for your business? How could enhanced collaboration improve time to market? What would a 99.99% up-time mean for your profitability? The fact is you must leverage your communications effectively, if you want to remain competitive.

Don’t fear change. Embrace it. Contact Us Today  @ (623) 688-8324 to find out how we can help you leverage better communications for the 21^st century.