There are a lot of words in our field that aren’t well known outside of it. In any field, professionals have a tendency to throw around words and sometimes not realize that not everyone know what they’re talking about. Below are several frequently asked questions about the cloud. In the comments, let us know what questions you have.
What the heck is the cloud?
The cloud is simply a way of storing information outside of an onsite server. You connect to this information via the internet.
What? What does that have to do with phones?
Rather than having your phone system onsite, your phone system is housed in a secure facility . Through the internet, your phones connect to the cloud provider.
Isn’t that what a hosted phone system is?
Yes, it’s the same thing.
Why do you use both words?
I don’t know. I’m sorry. Someone else started it, it caught on and we just have to make sure people know they’re the same thing.
What benefit is the cloud to me?
There are two benefits.
The main one is price. The cloud solution offers you an opportunity to pay a monthly fee instead of buying equipment. It also tends to cost less than a typical phone bill.
The second one is less equipment for upkeep. Since you only have phones, you don’t have to worry about a system breaking down. ESI keeps it up.
What are the cons?
The main con is that the service goes over the internet. That means when your internet is down, so is your phone system. This is true for any cloud-based phone solution. With ESI, you have an option to have calls automatically forward to a cell phone or other number in that situation. The other number can also be a landline that you’ve kept as a back-up. You can also have individual numbers go to different phones so that people can have department or private line calls routed to the correct people.
Some people may also prefer to own all their equipment rather than pay a monthly service cost.
Are Cloud-based systems secure?
Hmm…how secure do you want it? Different companies have different levels of security. I can tell you that ESI takes security very seriously. Smaller companies tend to be less secure. But let’s be honest. We’ve all seen big stories about even bigger companies getting hacked. Putting any of your information or infrastructure over the internet is always going to be a calculated risk. The question is for your company, does the benefit outweigh it?
