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Should your VoIP deployment be on-site or hosted?

Should your VoIP deployment be on-site or hosted?

 

When it's time to move from a legacy phone system to a Voice over IP (VoIP) option, there are a few questions that you will have to ask yourself. For instance, should the new solution be hosted in the cloud, or should the technology be based on-premise? Alternately, you could select a managed option, wherein the provider handles everything from hardware to support. Each response is right for some businesses, and figuring out which one suits you is a matter of matching up the unique demands of your organization with the features of the different types of VoIP phone systems. You can check out a detailed summary of the matter, or a brief overview below:

 

On-premise VoIP details
Hosting VoIP hardware within your own data center carries a few distinct advantages. First of all, there is a financial angle over time. The longer you keep the solution operational, the less of a burden the cost of buying the equipment will become. Owning the technology also means that, if you have enough trained workers in your IT department, you can customize the technology heavily and make it suit the rest of your IT operations. Of course, the up front hardware investment may prove prohibitive for some, and the infrastructure is something that needs to be managed just like any other server or appliance on your network.

 

Hosted VoIP traits
The cloud has become a computing revolution, so it's not surprising to see this technology in the voice space. Hosted VoIP involves no physical servers residing within your walls. All of that is handled by the provider and delivered digitally. As the upfront cost of buying equipment with the exception of phones, doesn't exist in this model, it enables firms that would prefer not to make a cap-ex investment in new hardware to upgrade phone systems. By the same token, less hands-on involvement is needed from the IT department.

 

Managed VoIP stats
If you go with a managed service, everything is handled in a hands-off manner. This means getting a technically on-premise deployment, but without the need for constant IT oversight that comes with a non-managed offering. Of course, there may be a diminished ability to customize the technology, but this may not be a problem for a business with a small IT department. Constant support and help-desk service can keep problems to a minimum.

 

No matter which model you select, there are trustworthy partners out there that can handle the process. Each method will strike a chord with some particular businesses.


theProfessor

theProfessor

Rob is the CTO of Beringer Technology Group, and focuses his efforts on software development, cloud engineering, team mentoring and strategic technical direction. Rob has worked with Beringer since 2005, and has influenced every department from Development, Security, Implementation, Support and Sales. Rob graduated with his MBA from Rowan University in 2012, earned his Bachelors of Computer Science in 1997, and is current with several Microsoft technical certifications. Rob is very active, and loves to mountain bike, weight train, cook and hike with his dog pack.