For organizations considering an investment in cloud communications, there are generally a couple of factors driving that decision. Cloud solutions often provide sizable cost savings, with the ability to scale up or down in a subscription-based pay structure, in addition to a reduction in hardware and maintenance costs.

The other major consideration is disruption. If your enterprise is anticipating significant growth or looking for a strategic way to spark innovation through collaborative technology, cloud communications can offer great tools to fuel it. In some cases, this type of initiative dwarfs any cost discussions, because the expected return on investment should be a clear win.

As cloud technology evolves, enterprises are learning to ask more questions about the full range of options. Between retaining a legacy system and full migration, there are a lot of points along the way. When it comes to cloud communications, there is a wide variety of options for implementing new services:

Enhancing a legacy private branch exchange (PBX): In some cases, it makes sense to use cloud technology to improve the existing system. Adding features like speech recognition, artificial intelligence, or Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) can drive new efficiencies into business processes.

Moving workloads to the cloud: Some enterprises find value in shifting specific segments of their communications to the cloud, such as interactive voice response, call center functions, or texts with customers. It’s often a good idea to move conferencing services to the cloud, particularly if most of the participants in conferencing are outside the walls of the office, such as remote workers or vendors and contractors.

Moving specific users to the cloud: This works well in cases where a mobile phone is an employee’s primary communication access, or with teams whose work focuses on collaborative software or another cloud-based application.

Accessing specific services: Across all cloud communications, enterprises can consider implementing cloud options where the development of a tool in-house would be risky, costly, or too time-consuming.

With each of these considerations, the cost must still be weighed in the decision-making process, but in general, the possibility for innovation and collaboration benefits will quickly provide a positive return on investment. Organizations are likely to enjoy monthly billing reductions and lower maintenance and hardware costs as well.

Many organizations dismiss the possibility of capturing the benefits of cloud communications because of an existing contract with a legacy PBX system, but there are many options available for taking advantage of what the cloud has to offer and enhancing your current communications tools.

If you’re considering an investment in cloud communications, contact us at Enterprise Visions. We can help you leverage technology and telecom resources to equip your organization for future growth and innovation.