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What is the difference and what is best for your business?

Introduction

Businesses come in all shapes and sizes, they operate in various industries and sectors, and they all have their own unique set of systems and challenges. When approaching telecommunications these all add up to there not being a “one size fits all” solution and businesses should consider the options and decide what is best for them.

Voice over IP (VoIP) telephone systems essentially boil down to two choices, a Hosted Telephone Solution or an on-premises solution.

What is VoIP?

To gain an understanding of the differences between on-premises and hosted VoIP telephone systems, you will need to understand what VoIP is. VoIP stands for “voice over Internet protocol” and is a language that allows voice to travel over the internet.

Adopting VoIP technology allows businesses to put their voice communications in to “the cloud”, and in simple terms means that as long as a location or premises has an internet connection there is the potential for an individual or group of employees to connect to a “companywide” telephone system.

The on-premises VoIP telephone system

A “PBX” or “Private Branch Exchange” more commonly known as a “telephone system” will be located within your premises and typically in a “Comms Room” or somewhere similar, hence the term “on-premises”

An on-premises telephone system will link your handsets using the LAN and it will link to your other sites using the Internet or private data connections meaning that calls between offices are free of charge, and finally it will connect to your chosen telephone line provider.

SIP – “Session Initiation Protocol”

Simply put SIP Trunks are telephone lines delivered over the internet, in terms of end user functionality it offers the same working method as traditional PSTN Lines such as analogue and ISDN.

When we add the devices, PBX and SIP Trunks together, your business will have an on-premises VoIP Telephone System.

  • Low operational cost
  • Low long-term cost of ownership
  • Can accommodate a blend of technologies so you can migrate to full VoIP at your own pace as well as retaining use of existing handsets and infrastructure.
  • SIP Trunk Costs are lower than traditional telephones lines and include calls reducing costs even further.
  • Putting telephone lines into the cloud enable you to take advantage of extensive Disaster Recovery options.

The Hosted Telephone System

Your telephone system is hosted in the cloud within a secure networked group of and your hosting provider will manage its environment for you.

A licenced handset or device; provided it has access to the internet, will connect back to your “telephone system”, no matter where it is in the world.

  • There are little to no capital costs.
  • Fixed price recurring costs mean you know exactly what you are spending per month.
  • Only pay for the features you want.
  • Costs will cover software upgrades and support
  • You can adopt new technology and features as they become available without having to re-invest in new hardware.
  • Disaster recovery is built in.

Hosted vs On Premise Phone System- Which one is Better?

Are you still debating choosing a hosted vs on premise phone system? Or are you interested in a new hosted telephone system? ITS Limited are a business telephone systems provider operating throughout Kent and The South East. If you think we can help, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

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