When is the best time to migrate your on-premises PBX to the cloud?

Level: Beginner

Your company’s phone system should be the least of your worries. If you find yourself in one of these scenarios, it’s time to migrate your physical PBX to the cloud.

1. YOU CAN’T FIND SPARE PARTS FOR YOUR PBX

Some PBX systems from Panasonic or Alcatel have stopped manufacturing components and accessories, making repairs impossible when they break down.

To avoid investing in hardware that will soon be obsolete and waiting another five years to amortise a new PBX, you can choose a cloud-based telephony system.

For as little as €4 per user per month, you can have a virtual PBX connected to your office phones with zero maintenance costs. The PBX provider you choose will host it on their servers and handle software updates at no extra cost.

2. YOU MAKE CHANGES TO YOUR WORKFORCE

Businesses that are expanding or experiencing seasonal fluctuations are often constrained by a physical PBX. Let’s face it, expanding PBX capacity is a long and expensive process.

Cloud telephony systems allow you to add and remove users at the click of a button. From an online control panel, accessible anytime from any device with internet access, you can make as many changes as you need and only pay for the new users you add.

3. YOU CAN’T INTEGRATE YOUR PBX WITH YOUR CRM OR ERP

Physical PBX systems usually don’t integrate with third party systems like a CRM or ERP, meaning that updating contact lists and taking orders is often 100% manual.

With cloud telephony, you can automate these tasks, reducing human error and multiplying productivity. Without any technical knowledge, you can connect your communications system to a wide range of third-party software using an integration library.

4. YOU WANT TO AVOID INTERCONNECTION PROBLEMS BETWEEN OFFICES

Physical PBX systems are tied to a location, so if you have more than one office, interconnecting them can be a headache.

You don’t want to pay extra for internal calls between offices, or worry about synchronising software or hardware updates to avoid incompatibilities between offices.

Cloud telephony systems automatically connect all offices, maintain and update themselves, and allow free internal calls. They also ensure that all offices have access to the same information and that data is synchronised in real time.

5. YOU WANT TO ENSURE THE AVAILABILITY OF YOUR TELEPHONY SYSTEM

On-premises telephony is not easy to make redundant due to the increased technological complexity: more equipment, higher investment and the need for technical knowledge to configure backups.

If you choose a virtual PBX provider, they will take care of your backups and ensure a high level of availability.However, we recommend that you choose a provider that has multiple geographically dispersed servers and offers a redundant platform with at least 99.99% availability.

6. YOU NEED TO CONNECT OTHER DEVICES TO YOUR PBX

If you have remote workers, such as salespeople or employees who need to travel for work, the best way to keep them connected to the office without compromising brand image is to connect their mobile devices or laptops to the company’s telephony system.

This allows them to answer PBX calls without being physically present. Customers or suppliers calling them will hear the pre-programmed greeting menu, speak to the salesperson without being aware of their location, and the call will be recorded in the PBX.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Investing in hardware and cabling that deteriorates and becomes obsolete, hiring specialised technical services, paying for internal calls and forgoing advanced integrations are some of the worst disadvantages of a physical PBX.

As well as all the benefits mentioned above, the most advanced virtual PBX systems also offer automation and AI-powered routing.

If you don’t want to miss out on these benefits, contact our experts to learn how you can leverage your physical PBX before fully migrating to the cloud.

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