Jan 2025
Business telephone systems – the good, the bad and the ugly
So, you’ve decided to move to a cloud-based phone system. Maybe this is because you want to realise the benefits of a flexible phone system that moves with your staff, or because your old phone system is on its last legs. Maybe it’s because you’ve realised you could save a decent chunk of your monthly phone bill my moving to SIP, and you want to modernise your phones at the same time. Whatever the reason, you’re heading for the cloud…mostly.
Lead Solutions Architect: Unified Comms
Cloud systems
Cloud phone systems do some things very well; in particular bringing usability and efficiency boosts to desk/PC based staff (you may see these team members referred to as ’knowledge workers’). If this describes your entire business – congratulations! Stop reading now and go and realise those benefits, maybe with a new SIP contract to offset some of the inevitable subscription costs that a cloud system will be based around.
On the other hand, if you have any staff or phones that don’t fit into this box – maybe you have some telephones in a factory space, or an intercom, gate or tannoy that connects to your current phone system, or you’ve only just invested in a bunch of hardware that you don’t want to waste – then you’d better keep reading.
Hybrids
It’s very possible to create a hybrid phone system comprising cloud phone for some staff and on-prem for others, or for devices that don’t ‘do modern’ (site-wide DECT systems that would be expensive to replace, or old analogue phone cables run a quarter of a mile underground to the far gate, I’m looking at you…). The question is “how?”.
Option 1:
Keep cloud and on-prem separate. Different phone number ranges, no connectivity between the two without dialling a full national number.
Pros: Minimal change to on-prem system. The reliability of the on-prem system is in your hands, and you don’t need to pay cloud subscriptions for the on-prem devices.
Cons: Poor/no connectivity between the two halves of the system, some staff may need phones in each ‘half’. May break workflows, such as tannoys/gates/door releases. With the ISDN switch-off well underway, you may need an SBC anyway.
Option 2:
Go full cloud and use physical handsets or compatible ATAs to connect up old devices
Pros: Everything managed in one place, on one system. New kit all round!
Cons: A lot of hardware replacement. Putting a £200+ touchscreen handset into the middle of a dirty industrial environment gives it a life expectancy measured in minutes (compared to that 20-year-old analogue phone that ‘just works’). Likely to be a monthly licence per device
Option 3:
Hybrid using an SBC to connect the different parts of your system together, and/or acting as a simple controller for the on-prem devices
Pros: Old and new phones can work seamlessly together (including e.g. simultaneous ring between Teams and existing DECT phones). Much greater range of hardware available (e.g. rugged phones) and more likely to be able to re-use existing hardware.
Cons: Careful planning/setup of the SBC is needed to route calls between cloud, on-prem and the outside world.
Which is good, which is bad, which is ugly?
As ever – it depends! In general, we find that full cloud systems (Option 2) don’t work all that well if you have any kind of ‘interesting’ on-prem requirements, so I’ll call that ‘the bad’.
For our clients we sometimes go with Option 1, often with Option 3 (and sometimes a mix!) depending on the exact requirements. The key is to really get a handle on who needs to call who, and how – ideally you want to make the system as seamless to use as possible for the staff (i.e. you dial in the same way regardless of what kind of phone you’re trying to reach). With proper set up, this definitely becomes ‘the good’.
‘The ugly’? That accolade doesn’t go to a particular approach, but to a bad implementation of any of the above.
If you’ve got cloud systems that don’t actually use the ‘real’ or ‘full’ numbers – that’s not pretty, and is often difficult to manage/troubleshoot). Staff that have to press 9 for an outside line, 8 for an on-prem number and have different phones that ring depending on who is calling – is not exactly pleasant, and can be confusing for the staff. Paying the best part of £200 in hardware and then £80/year for a cloud licence to replace a perfectly good phone that already meets your requirements – not a good look.
How to make the right choice
As with so many things – don’t just believe the shiny sales pitch. If you have any on-prem requirements then we’d strongly recommend speaking to someone who is willing to visit your site to properly understand your on-prem requirements before they try to sell you their cloud-only solution!
For more information on how we can help you with your business telephone systems contact richard.hall@waterstons.com.
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