Premise-Based Phone Systems vs. Hosted Phone Systems
In a world dominated by emailing, tweeting and text messaging, one device has continued to remain an intricate component of communication in business, the telephone.
As easy as it may be to send a quick email instead of dialing the phone, there is no more effective method of communicating with another human being other than face-to-face than that of the phone. As far as technology has come, a telephone system is still a necessity in the workplace.
When evaluating what VoIP phone system to implement in your workplace, it boils down to hosted vs. premise-based phone systems. A premise-based phone system is one that is completely controlled and maintained within the business itself while a hosted phone system is one that is hosted in the cloud.
In a time where most technology is migrating to the cloud, a phone system in house is still the more appealing option.
Features
The most obvious starting point when choosing which system suits your business better is what features each has to offer. When researching various hosted phone systems, it’s obvious that they do not offer all of the features as the ones that are offered in premise-based.
In most cases this is true as queues (automatic call lineup and routing) and IVRs (interactive voice response) are missing or at the very least, cost extra. These additional features are more often than not already included with premise-based phone systems at no additional charge.
If your business needs its critical business communication features, a premise-based system could ultimately be the way to go.
Control
It’s only natural preferring to have control over your assets. By choosing a premise-based phone system over one that resides in the cloud, the user will have more control and more flexibility. As it is when owning any type of asset, the owner has complete control over its use and operation.
The premise-based phone system resides within your facility and is controlled and managed in-house as well making it much simpler to make necessary changes. Having to make any modification such as changing VoIP providers becomes much easier when you own your own PBX and it can be done much quicker as well.
Location
The provider’s location of a hosted phone system is more than likely hundreds or thousands of miles away. This large distance might cause certain latency for your phone system as well as the constant need for a powerful internet connection.
Just one of the advantages of a premise-based phone system is the signaling over your own Local Area Network opposed to over the internet. All signaling occurs mere feet away. It’s common knowledge that the speed of the internet is never a constant.
Having such a necessary tool as your telephone depending on the speed of your internet connection is an incredibly risky move.
Cost
One of, if not the largest factor that goes into a purchasing decision is the cost. Premise-based systems have up-front costs such as installation. In addition to purchasing the IP PBX, the customer will need to buy all handsets, gateways, routers as well as purchase the proper training for all employees.
These costs can initially appear as quite a burden to small to medium sized businesses. However, as mentioned above premise-based phone systems more often than not include all of the premium features businesses need at no additional cost. Hosted phone systems require the user to purchase those extra features.
In addition to paying for features, cloud providers also charge extra for service and maintenance costs and upgrades. Premise-based phone systems often include service and maintenance contracts when first purchasing the equipment.
Depending on future issues with the system, the maintenance fees that come with a cloud-based system can pile up substantially over time in addition to your yearly or monthly service costs.
The total cost of a premise-based phone system could appear large at first, but becomes quite appealing given the amount of years you plan on using it compared to the constant costs of a hosted phone system over that same time period.
As many services transition to the cloud, some services might actually be better off on the physical surface. However, any decision regarding the purchasing of an asset such as a phone system will always boil down to customer need.
Phone system providers work with the customer to ensure that they are getting the proper system to fit each of their needs to improve everyday function of their business.