Cloud Communications or On-Premise?

Unified communications (UC) offer businesses a cohesive platform for all their communication needs. From voice to video conferencing to email and more, businesses need a reliable UC solution to ensure their operations and customer interactions run smoothly. With options for cloud-based and on-premise platforms, companies must carefully consider which model will best meet their needs, and Corporate Technologies Group can help you meet your end goal.  

What is Cloud-Based UC?

As one of the fastest-growing sectors of the market, cloud-based unified communication (UC) provides communication and collaboration tools to businesses through the cloud, increasing employee productivity regardless of location. Rather than being hosted on-premises, these tools are provided as-a-service through a provider. Corporate Technologies Group can help bring value that providers won’t to ensure a high-quality experience. With tools such as video and web conferencing, call recording, and team collaboration, cloud-based UC offers a consistent user experience over multiple devices. By packaging the applications with high-performance network services, your consumers will get a more consistent and predictable application performance overall.

Cloud-based UC enables the use of a remote work environment, something that is critical today as we all adapt to new and different office requirements. Flexibility and cost savings are additional benefits that are becoming the significant drivers of hosted unified communications. As companies are looking for ways to save money now more than ever, they are looking at cloud providers as a more cost-efficient alternative. While these services are software-driven, the features provided will always be customizable to meet the growing and changing business needs. As a budget-friendly service, your company is only paying for the services that you need but also has the option to grow and expand.

Since the provider will host the cloud-based UC, the required up-front investment is minimal. Businesses don’t have to make substantial initial investments to build an infrastructure or hire a large IT team to manage it. This provides cost-saving opportunities that can be attractive, particularly for smaller businesses. It also means that companies can get their UC platforms up and running since they don’t need to build the infrastructure. Instead, the provider sets up the platform with staff able to access it as it becomes available. The provider takes care of all the setup, maintenance, and adjustments, making it an easy-to-use solution for businesses. CTG will help with the setup of the system on-site, implementation support, and post-implementation support and training for your staff. 

What is On-Premise PBX?

On-premise private branch exchange (PBX) provides services that offer businesses unified communications services in-house. Rather than being hosted in the cloud, on-premise PBX platforms are on a company’s premises. Compared to cloud-based UC, an on-premise PBX requires the company to have the appropriate budget for or infrastructure already in place, including servers, networks, and devices. This type of service is more suited to larger enterprises with the resources to run and manage the phone system in the house.

While the upfront investment relies heavily on the company, you will still benefit from working closely with a provider to build a communication system and IT infrastructure that explicitly meets their business operations needs. With technicians and project coordinators who have worked diligently with on-premise phone systems for over 30 years, CTG can help to bring incredible value to your PBX services.

An on-premise PBX approach allows businesses to better control their UC systems by enabling the platform to be maintained by an in-house IT team. With on-premise PBX, corporations control all aspects of their platform. They can implement enhanced security measures as they deem necessary and have options in place that they can fully control in the event of a disaster or other disruption to reroute communication options. 

Choosing the Right Solution.

Different businesses will require other solutions to meet their needs. Factors such as business size, costs, team needs are all considerations for determining which UC platform is suitable for a particular business: 

• Size: Larger companies may find an on-premise solution to be more practical and cost-effective than a cloud-based solution, given subscription fees based on the number of users in a cloud-based model. 
• Costs: With an on-premise solution, there are high initial investments in building the infrastructure but lower ongoing costs. In a cloud-based solution, businesses save on hardware investments but will have recurring monthly fees for the services they use. As a business grows, these costs often increase to meet growing user demands. 
• Team Needs: Businesses with many remote workers may find cloud-based UC solutions a better option, as users can access the platform wherever they are while having integration benefits such as CRM, websites, and collaboration suites. Such flexibility and mobility are more complex in on-premise solutions. 

There are various other factors businesses may also consider as they choose their UC platform. Fortunately, with cloud-based and on-premise, CTG can work with your team to best fit your company’s wants and needs.