It’s widely accepted that the Covid pandemic made an unmatchable business case for cloud communications. Within the space of two fraught weeks in March 2020, the ability to communicate professionally and smoothly from anywhere, on any device, became a business-critical benefit.
But of course, there were plenty of organisations that muddled through Covid without switching to cloud-based communications. There were plenty that managed with the most basic IP telephony. With lockdown easing and the vaccine rollout continuing apace, many businesses may decide to kick the modernisation of their own communications into the long grass. Surely the urgent business case for hosted voice is over?
Benefits beyond the pandemic
Nothing could be further from the truth. Hosted voice proved its worth during the pandemic because it made businesses more flexible, and that need isn’t going away.
This pandemic may be nearing its end, though the unknown threat from new variants makes it impossible to say for sure. But the next disruption to your normal business operations may be just around the corner. Fire, flood, theft or cyber attack: they could all force your workers to swap the office for the back bedroom at home.
And then, of course, there’s the prospect of long-term remote or ‘hybrid’ work. You might be dead set against it, but if your best employees want the option, and your biggest competitor offers it, will you really be in a position to refuse?
The reality is that flexible working is an idea whose time has come. According to some estimates, three or four times as many people could be working at home after the pandemic than before it began. Google is just the latest company to offer hybrid work, and where the tech giants lead others usually follow.
A remote working solution…and much more
In other words, hosted voice is a brilliant solution for remote work, giving your teams the tools they need to communicate and collaborate professionally from anywhere.
But it’s also much more than that, because the need for agility is about far more than equipping home workers.
For a start, the ‘work anywhere’ philosophy might mean working on the train or in the airport lounge. Hosted voice helps on-the-go staff work more effectively at any time. That’s important, because flexibility will be key when the pandemic ends.
There’s much more. With a more dispersed and nomadic workforce, managers need comprehensive data to measure and improve productivity, and ensure customers are being effectively and efficiently served. They need to be able to scale their communications needs easily as demand rises or falls.
And wherever they are, in the office or out, staff need the kind of call management features that create better customer interactions, with fewer missed calls, more efficient call routing and more targeted conversations. They also need to be able to work together easily. Collaboration has always been crucial to business success. Making sure more dispersed teams can collaborate effectively is a post-pandemic priority.
Better communications – lower cost
You might be thinking that the Catch-22 here is price. Businesses need to be able to do all this without blowing the budget. There’s not a lot of money floating around after a crisis like Covid.
But cost is actually another tick in the hosted voice ‘pros’ column. With cloud communications, there’s no on-premise equipment so no CapEx outlay and no ongoing maintenance costs. And because hosted voice offers unified communications (generally combining voice, video, chat, presence and collaboration tools in one package), you don’t have to shell out for third-party apps to fill gaps.
Clear Voice from Vaioni is a hosted voice solution that will make your business more agile for the pandemic and beyond, and at a highly competitive cost. It’s a true cloud-based unified communications solution, offering rich data and analytics so that managers can more easily monitor efficiency and productivity at team or individual level. A range of call management features like unlimited IVR, Hunt Groups, call recording and Wallboards come as standard.
Clear Voice lets you scale easily, adding users in just a couple of clicks. It encourages collaboration thanks to seamless integrations with Microsoft Teams and Office 365.
On top of it all, our low-cost per-user-per-month charging model makes sure there are no surprises when it comes to billing. With Clear Voice, you only ever pay for the capacity you need, and never for any you don’t.
It’s obvious why hosted voice was a winner during the pandemic, but it’s also clear why the benefits that were so attractive a year ago will confer huge business advantage in the post-pandemic era. There’s no vaccine against the need for agility. Refined features, easy scaling, pay-as-you-grow pricing and ‘work anywhere’ functionality will be as important in 2022 as they were in 2020. Clear Voice from Vaioni offers them all.
