From cost efficiency, to increased flexibility, we’re seeing premises-based telephony systems taken over by their hosted counterpart, cloud-based IP systems.

In the past, companies needed to have their IT departments on hand to manage their premises-based systems, but as cloud providers have taken over this role, decision makers are now seeing a reduction in IT costs as well as reduced costs in hardware maintenance.

Cloud-based IP telephony affords businesses added growth flexibility, with solutions for every sized business.  It also provides businesses with access to a slew of powerful communication applications. Market intelligence from Infonetics (News - Alert) Research noted that many organizations are adopting VoIP as a way to influence other forms of communication and predicts that the number of VoIP users will double between 2012 and 2016.

What hosted means is ditching the up-front costs that are associated with a premises-based system. There are no operating, maintenance or upgrade costs to worry about.  Cloud-based systems allow businesses added growth flexibility, regardless of size.

No matter what your business does, voice communication is a critical element of success. Your employees need a secure way to communicate with customers, contact prospective clients and conduct business. Moving towards a cloud-based system can provide a number of important competitive advantages for your firm, like easily connecting remote offices together. Callers can remember one number but be directed to employees around the world without any extra effort.

With all of these options, it makes sense for businesses to ditch the legacy telephony system and invest in a solid, stable and cost-effective cloud-based phone system that uses the most cutting edge technologies available.

Of course, to use these technologies properly, it behooves companies to invest in the right hardware, namely in the form of IP phones.

IP phones are moving in a big way to integrate all of the features that a cloud-based system has to offer. Users can use their Web cameras to see the other person over the computer monitor and talk to them over an IP phone simultaneously or use special purpose video phones to see and talk over the large screen available over the IP video phone itself.

Whether you need multiple line appearances, have a tight budget or are looking to please a cost-conscious manager, a cloud-based system with the right IP phones can benefit your business communication needs.