3CX Phone Systems

Cloud hosted phone systems are flexible, powerful, and reliable. With the ability to host locally on a server or in the cloud and support systems from one to hundreds of phones, 3CX allows us to be flexible with our pricing while offering a robust solution to our clients.

Cloud hosted phone systems have the added benefit of near perfect uptime, regardless of local or regional issues such as power outages, downed lines, or faulty hardware. A cloud-hosted PBX, combined with 3CX’s full-featured mobile app, allows users to always stay connected.

As long as a device with the 3CX app has a connection to the internet—even over mobile/4G—calls can still go through.

Hosted phone systems are a great solution for many companies, but there are some things a business should understand about the platform before diving in.

1. What is a hosted phone system?

A hosted phone system is simply a phone system where the “brain” (software, config files, etc.) is hosted remotely or “in the cloud.” That said, the “where” isn’t nearly as important as the “why.”

2. Why hosted over on-prem?

Reliability. When a business phone system is hosted in the cloud as opposed to a local facility, we effectively eliminate virtually all the most common vulnerabilities that could impact that phone system:

• Power outages
• Natural disasters
• Down/damaged phone or internet lines
• System failure (server crashes, software conflicts, hard drive/equipment failure, etc.)

Cloud hosting providers offer redundancy options that just aren’t feasible for most businesses. Cloud hosting providers often have datacenters all around the globe. The idea is, if a datacenter in one region does go down, there are redundancies and fallbacks in place in other regions to mitigate the risks posed by even widespread natural disasters to pick up the slack until it can be restored. This kind of uptime is rarely possible for a typical business.

Cost. While offloading liability is important, money talks. And for a fraction of the cost of a powerful new server, even with our great financing options, CDS provides more horsepower with more reliable uptime thanks to cloud hosting.

Mobility. With 3CX specifically, one of the biggest benefits of escaping the local network (and even the local ISP) is the powerful mobile application—available for both Apple and Android devices—web browser portal, and desktop application. These apps work equally well over WiFi and mobile/carrier data, as long as speeds and signal are reliable and sufficient. With cloud hosting, even if a business’s ISP is completely incapacitated with no timetable for return, users with the app installed will still be able to make, receive, and even transfer calls through the same phone number as long as they have a stable 4G connection. (Note: these features are also available with locally hosted systems but will cease to function if the mobile app can’t communicate with the host server.)

Innovative Features. 3CX offers loads of useful features to improve communication in a business environment. 3CX integrates with many other platforms, such as Office 365 and a host of CRM solutions. Voicemail to email is in high demand for its accessibility. The 3CX chat system can even be integrated directly into your website to provide a simple chat solution that integrates directly with your 3CX phone system. Users in a chat can easily elevate that chat to a phone call directly with the representative with whom they’ve been chatting without having to enter a queue.

3. Who needs a hosted phone system?

Really, any business should at least consider the prospect of cloud hosting their phone system. There will always be those that prefer the tangible nature of on-prem servers hosting their systems, but really, there are seldom cases where an on-premise phone server is an objectively better solution than a cloud-hosted phone system. There are some factors to consider, however.

Cloud hosted phone systems require a reliable high-speed internet connection in order to function. Obviously, a user can’t communicate with the cloud without internet! That said, broadband internet is becoming more accessible every day and hopefully soon, internet speed will no longer be a determining factor!

Another great aspect of a cloud hosted 3CX system is scalability. With a hardware solution, it’s possible that adding just a few more phones could burden the system to the point of needing expensive upgrades. These upgrades can be executed with just a few clicks of the mouse with a cloud server. Additionally, deploying a new extension to a mobile app can be done without even needing to run new cabling or purchase new hardware.

If your business is looking for an upgraded phone system, you owe it to yourself and your employees to consider a cloud-hosted 3CX phone system!

Contact CDS today to talk about cloud hosted business phone systems through 3CX.

For even more information on 3CX phone systems, visit 3cx.com!