5 signs your startup needs a Cloud PBX

Maybe you've just started a new business, or your startup has just started to grow in popularity or in workforce. Whatever the case, there are some surefire signs that your business sorely needs a hosted VoIP Cloud PBX. We've put together a few examples for you. If these situations sound familiar, it might just be time for you to move up to a professional phone system.

You're using a mobile phone number as your main contact number

While it might have been tempting to use your mobile number for the majority of incoming and outgoing business calls in the early days of your business startup, there comes a point when it just doesn't look as professional as a dedicated business phone number, especially on the company website!

Your customers or clients call you at all hours of the day

With your business growing in popularity, you may well find calls increasing in frequency, not just from customers, but from suppliers, clients and business partners. This can mean you will receive phone calls when your office is closed and letting your phone ring unanswered doesn't look great. While fixed line phone systems can prove expensive and limited in their feature set, a hosted VoIP Cloud PBX will provide your business with extra flexibility. Using Out of Hours diary rules you can create smart call handling according to day of the week and time. This way when the office is unattended you can either leave callers with a message, direct them to a voicemail mailbox or even direct them to your mobile phone.

Answering the phone is more than just a side-task

When you're a startup, multi-tasking is a bit of a must, so everyone generally has more than one role. Often this can mean that everyone has a hand in answering the phone. Where a Cloud PBX will help you is by acting like a switchboard which will divert calls to the relevant people in the office. This means that your web designer won't have to answer sales calls, and likewise, your head of sales can concentrate on selling without having to worry about customer support calls. If you do want phone calls to be distributed to other members of the team after a certain amount of time, that's easily set up in the Cloud PBX call routing.

Your IT manager has just left

They set up the phone system for your business, managed it and eventually got it running like a finely tuned engine, now they've left and no one really understands which phone cable does what and whether pulling that long red lead could be cataclysmic for office communication. An unfortunate turn of events, but one that's highly unlikely if your startup is equipped with a Cloud PBX. Typically a hosted VoIP Cloud PBX will have an online interface and offer complete cloud manageability which can be managed by anyone in the team, not just an IT manager. With simplicity at its heart, adding new extensions or changing call routes is as easy as pie. System updates and maintenance are managed by the VoIP provider too. So while you might not want to say goodbye to your IT manager just yet, you can at least lessen their load through the purchase of a hosted VoIP phone system.

You'd like to spend more budget on marketing

For any business, startup or established, budget can be very important. If you're spending hundreds on your office phone system then you need to look again, as a good Cloud PBX will actually drastically reduce your communication spend. From free calls between users on the same account, through to lower outbound call costs and maintenance needs, making calls through a hosted VoIP service will leave you with more of your budget to spend on other things. This means that you'll have more money to add to your app's marketing budget and make it the success it deserves to be!

These are just a few scenarios to illustrate moments when it might be a good idea to upgrade your current communication solution. Good communication is essential whatever stage you're at. For those businesses still using analogue phone systems on ageing copper lines, upgrading to a Cloud phone system is vital before the 2025 PSTN switch off.

Whether you're a startup, a small, medium or large enterprise, it's important to be confident in your phone system and invest in one that will grow with your organisation. A good Cloud PBX will be easily scalable so even if you do decide to use this solution early on in your business journey, you can be sure that it will scale upwards as you start to thrive. When you do decide that your business is outgrowing its current phone system, we're always on hand to help you migrate to a hosted VoIP service, transfer existing landline numbers, and boost your business comms, so get in touch today!