It’s been about a decade since smart phones matured and transformed the world.

Almost overnight, phones became a TV, games console, camera, and camera rolled into one. A previously incomprehensible variety of uses could fit in your hand. For many people, a traditional computer ceased to serve a purpose.

This was so exciting that people would queue for devices at launch to get the latest and greatest and society hit a point where it’s perceived as suspicious to not own a smartphone.

For some people, the idea of being separated from their phone isn’t even worth considering.

But has anyone, ever felt anything like that sort of a bond or interest towards an office phone system?

Aren’t office phones different?

Our cell phones and business phones actually have more in common than you might first consider.

Consumers tend to accept that the technology they have is the peak of what’s possible. The first generation of cell phone users were delighted that the rudimentary features and games on their Nokia handset offered a break from the boredom of their commute – whereas now, many of us expect to be able to stream live TV, control our smart appliances, track our heartrate, and much, much more.

Our ability to work with what we have has led many companies to a bit of a dead-end with their telephony systems. If you can hold, transfer, and have a few direct lines, then that’s ideal – right?

Well, perhaps so – but, in reality, there’s a world of smart features that, just like the dozens of apps on your smartphone – you didn’t know you needed – until they unlock incredible potential for your company.

Welcome to smart telephony

Just like a smartphone, telephony can be smart too. It can have a feature (app) that intelligently answer calls and deal with queries via voice detection, saving your staff’s valuable time.

Modern hosted services allow automatic transcriptions of customer service calls, logging on your system a conversation word-for-word, perfect for searching meta data for training or follow-ups instantaneously. Your team meetings can be revolutionised – have them using a Network Hosted Service and your system will record and transcribe the entire meeting, leaving everyone with the exact same meeting notes as soon as the meeting is over.

Background noise can be combatted intelligently, allowing any and all calls to take place with minimal interruption, no matter how busy your office is and audio quality is clear enough that it sounds like the other person is sat next to you.

A modern hosted service can intelligently follow your staff around – meaning it’ll know exactly where to get hold of your end users, and on what device, automatically. Add to this the ability of your staff to dial into the system with a suite of tools at hand and your telephony becomes both more responsive and more productive whilst being easier to use.

These are just a few examples of things a Network Hosted Service or modern VOIP (voice over IP) can do, but in reality they’re actually capable of much more. In fact, is capable of way more than you expected – just like your smartphone – and can be customised to your needs to just the same extent.

But does require a complete strip out of your existing infrastructure to make the jump?

Implementation

A huge positive of Network Hosted Services, is that, perhaps unsurprisingly, its software based. Software runs on computers, something your working infrastructure is likely already full of.

This is really where telephony makes that huge jump from dumb phone to smart phone.

Network Hosted Services do away with almost all aspects of a traditional office telephony setup. Out go phones and cabling – in favour of using the computers you already own, using the network you’re already using. If your network is well optimised, you probably already have all the hardware in place.

What’s more, you can also say goodbye to waiting for technicians to come in.  Steps such as adding more more people or adding entirely new features couldn’t be easier; most if not all aspects of the system are managed via an admin portal or by cloud technicians, ready to action on demand.

You’ll gain priceless pre-emptive security and a solid all-encompassing IT system that’s intuitive to use whilst being way more secure. This is supremely important, especially to smaller businesses.  Protecting you from being one of the 43% of businesses to suffer a crippling cyber-attack every year is a must, as contrary to what you think, smaller businesses are frequently targeted more due to an expectation that they’ll have lacklustre protection in place. Almost every aspect of your system, including all the features you weren’t aware of, benefit from a homogenised system

It’s not surprising that by this point, you’re hearing a lot of things you like, and expecting the usual kicker – these features are things you want, but can your business justify the inevitable price hike?

More for less

Although feature-laded Hosted Voice Systems may sound costly – they’re not – and that’s especially apparent when they’re lined up next to traditional telephony networks. Systems with the type of features we’ve already touched upon will often cost around 50% of a traditional system, both in setup and ongoing monthly running costs, but with the increased flexibility and potential benefits.

The software approach allows for a completely tailored solution – a well-supported, bespoke implementation without a bespoke premium. The process begins with an agreed SLA (Service Level Agreement) based on your discussed requirements with predictable monthly costs on terms both sides are happy with, and any unforeseen expansions are a reasonable, clear, predetermined cost. Keeping control of your budget is of high importance, and this approach allows you to figure out just what works for your business and what doesn’t.

Network Hosted Services bring a range of exciting new features, improve phone call quality, likely save a significant amount of money and make better use of your staff’s time whilst getting better results.

Telephony has progressed at almost as significant rate as your smart phone whilst you weren’t looking, so now could be a great time to find out just how it could help take your business forward.