At first glance, it may seem that the cloud and VoIP do not have much in common. After all, many organization use SIP trunking to enable VoIP within the company. All it needs is a fast and reliable connection to the Internet. But for a large number of businesses, the cloud is what makes VoIP accessible and financially viable.
SIP trunking - while efficient and cost effective at large volume over the long term - is not practical for every organization. It requires capital investment in hardware, software capabilities and IT staff to configure and maintain it. For this reason, hosted VoIP is the preferred alternative for small and medium businesses.
Hosted VoIP brings together the best and the latest in computing and communication technologies. Using the capabilities of cloud computing, service providers are able to offer VoIP to organizations remotely. Instead of every business investing in individual hardware, it is aggregated at the third party provider. Small companies who cannot afford expensive upgrades can benefit just like organizations that do not wish to maintain their own VoIP services.
The cloud allows providers to offer web-based dashboards where managers can turn on/turn off features for individuals or groups. Ease of use and control is greatly enhanced. Without cloud features, such interactions would have necessitated action from the provider every time some change is required.
The addition of cloud technology to VoIP allows businesses to scale faster than if they had to buy new equipment or upgrade IP-PBXs on their own. Hosted VoIP vendors are able to provision extra lines, numbers, and servers on demand so that a company does not have wait for another year or quarter to expand. Such on the fly scaling capabilities can be incredibly crucial to businesses in some sectors or startups ventures.
Cloud VoIP also brings reliability and enhanced security to IP phone systems. Not many companies have the resources or expertise to manage their own VoIP infrastructure, let alone be prepared for emergencies like hardware failure or data corruption. In the same vein, few companies have the knowledge required to ensure high quality audio/video through VoIP. Service providers are able to leverage the cloud in bringing their expertise to thousands of businesses who would much rather focus on running their company than manage phone systems.
Almost every tech-based industry has benefited from the cloud and VoIP is no exception. Because of the cloud, more companies are able to utilize this latest innovation than would have been possible otherwise.