A buzz term these days is “hosted VoIP,” according to Polycom and Telesphere, as companies are beginning to realize that they can chuck their old phone systems in the trash and get more flexible phone solutions for a fraction of the cost.

Recently, Polycom, which offers solutions such as HD Voice IP phones and video conferencing systems, and Telesphere (News - Alert), a cloud communications leader who powers Polycom solutions with its platform, put out a case study called “Hosted VoIP: What does that mean to my business?”

According to the two companies, this means a lot for businesses from everything to cost savings, increased efficiencies and advanced features.

“With Hosted VoIP, you get the benefits of outsourcing the management of your phone system, which means you’ll need fewer resident experts to handle things,” states the report. “What’s more, Hosted VoIP expands communications and productivity by providing a range of advanced features and functionality. And it does so without straining your budget.”

Hosted VoIP is a “powerful and affordable solution” and, accordingly, VoIP is becoming one of the fastest growing technologies and changing the way companies do business, argue company officials.

Some of the benefits that companies can receive when switching to hosted VoIP include a lower total cost of ownership, business continuity, greater functionality, automatic upgrades, productivity anywhere and a heightened focus on what matters.

“No wonder more and more companies are adopting this powerful, yet affordable solution,” the report states. “In fact, according to industry research, VoIP is one of the fastest growing technologies, dramatically changing the way companies do business.”

One of the major benefits of hosted VoIP according to Polycom (News - Alert) and Telesphere is that it allows businesses to secure the most advanced technology possible without having to spend significant money upfront on hardware. From day one, businesses are saving on monthly communication service fees because they no longer have to manage both phone and data lines.

In the report one businessman argues, “I’d love to have the newest communication features for the company. It would help us get on equal footing with some of our larger competitors. But it’s always a budget buster bringing in the latest technologies.”

According to Polycom and the cloud communications company, hosted VoIP makes this hope a possibility since businesses no longer need to manage both phone and data lines.

Moreover, hosted VoIP requires minimal IT support and training of administers as users can quickly add users, delete users, enable additional features through a simple Web interface. Hosted VoIP allows for one management issue to be “taken off the shoulders of IT,” according to report.

In addition, in the event that a flood, earthquake or fire hits a company’s office, since the physical box doesn’t reside on premise – but instead in redundant and secure data centers – customers can still connect with their business because employees can work from anywhere. Hosted VoIP provides a Web-based portal that allows businesses to quickly forward calls to cell phones or other phones in unaffected locations.

Among the many benefits, hosted VoIP also offers businesses greater functionality as customers can enjoy HD Voice, make their voicemails automatically forward to email accounts and make a call from a cell phone or remote office and have it appear as a call from the main office.

“Basically there isn’t much you can’t do with Hosted VoIP,” the companies argue.