What is Cloud Telephony?

Cloud telephony, also known as Cloud calling, is a type of Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) who provides voice communication via a third party host. UCaaS replaces the need for traditional enterprise telephone systems such as private branch exchanges (PBXs). Cloud Telephony services can be based on web and application.

Cloud communications providers build, operate and maintain a standardized Telephony platform offering on their servers as needed to subscribed customers via the Internet or Internet access. This model allows organizations to abandon their traditional, on-premises telephone systems such as PBXs. Which are really expensive and time consuming to provide and maintain.

Cloud telephony services enable users to make calls directly from any computer or mobile device with an Internet connection and do business free of the burden of purchasing and storing stand-alone hardware such as PBX boxes and handsets.

Benefits and risks of cloud calling

Compared to traditional, on-premises options, proponents of cloud telephony say it’s more:

• Cost efficient:-

Shifting hosting and management responsibilities to cloud communications providers with subscription and pay-per-use models that enable resource pooling and organizations reduce their infrastructure costs.

• Flexible:-

An employee with a cloud based telephone number can make and receive outbound and inbound calls even with an internet connection, thereby maximizing mobile work.

• Resilient:-

Whereas a natural disaster, fire and other emergency events can take down the PBX system at the down site. Cloud calling services provide more flexible service and more reliable business business continuity. Most cloud telephony services have built in spread over modes which ensure that backups are available in case of connection problems.

• Scalable:-

The organization can add and change the telephone numbers of the employees on demand through the Self Service Portal. and enabling skilled employee onboarding and offboarding for both on-site and remote workforce.

• Streamlined:-

With cloud calling, the organization does not have to bear the burden of updating, implementing, maintaining and troubleshooting systems on site. Instead, third-party providers handle infrastructure maintenance and upgrades.

• Transparent:-

Many UCaaS platforms provide rich data analysis, which provides insight into optimizing user behavior and employee efficiency.

How Does it Work Cloud Telephony?

Cloud based voice technologies have set the stage for the addition of UCaaS features. Such as voice and keyboard analysis, call center capabilities, interactive voice response (IVR) and artificial intelligence (AI) enabled customer support.

On the other hand, analysts at UCaas say that organizations have not yet optimized the cloud calling offering to the extent that is possible with on-premises systems, leading to delays in adoption by many large enterprises.

In terms of risks, experts say that multi-tenant cloud telephony platforms may not meet certain security requirements, but public cloud environments may fail to meet some stringent compliance rules.

For this reason, organizations dealing with highly sensitive data may opt for on-premises or hosted telephony, where they can ensure that resources remain physically isolated and secure.

Cloud Telephony vs VOIP

Virtually all cloud telephony platforms use Voice over Internet Protocol technology, but not all VOIP systems run in the cloud. The term VOIP is simply the term for how calling data travels over the Internet, via packet-switched connections over IP, not the Public Switched Traditional Telephone Network (PSTN).

An enterprise may choose to have its own VOIP system (PBX) on site or outsource it to a third party provider (cloud telephony). Some organizations create hybrid VoIP environments that use both cloud-based and on-premises calling technology, often as part of a long-term cloud migration strategy.

Cloud Telephony Providers

An array of providers currently offer cloud calling services, often with complementary UCAS features, such as web conferencing, screen sharing, team messaging, persistent workspaces and more.

UC analysts expect to see increasingly sophisticated integrations between the cloud telephony platform and other business applications such as Salesforce and Microsoft Office 365.

Today’s cloud telephony vendor offerings include:

• Cisco Webex Calling
• Fuze
• Google Voice
• Mitel network
• Nextiva
• RingCentral
• Vonage
• 8×8
• Dial pad

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