Cloud Based Phone solutions for small business allow you and your team to work exponentially better and far smarter with intuitive team collaboration, and the ability to integrate with nearly every business application on the market.
The cloud based phones are mind blowingly simple to implement and manage through out the life and growth of your small, medium, or enterprise business.
Make sure that your team has the freedom to break out of their inboxes and build stronger relationships with effective real-time messaging, video calling, file sharing, tasks, and more.
Got apps that are mission critical?
Great! There’s 100+ that we seamlessly integrate with!
Positioned furthest in the Leaders Quadrant for completeness of vision and ability to execute
There seem to be plenty of choices for cloud phone solutions that improve business. But what do the experts really say about providers that are truly innovating and actually optimizing the capabilities of a cloud communications system?
Visit RingCentral’s report summary page to see the analysis you need to build a business case and create a vendor short list.
Review market data from the independent market research firm Synergy Research Group and vendor reports from three leading analysts—Gartner, IHS Markit, and Frost & Sullivan. Get objective insights into the top vendors of cloud phone solutions and see how they perform when compared to each other and against traditional on-premises systems.
Towner Communications is here when you’re ready to talk about taking that next oh-so-important step—moving to the cloud with the UCaaS market leader.
The biggest buzz words in business and in our government are CYBER SECURITY and CLOUD. The evolution of the “cloud” has gone from where we’ve stored pdf and pictures to hosting our telecommunications and basically storing our entire business. Critical and sensitive business and personal information is exchanged and stored making it a hacker’s personal heaven. One do non-tech people really understand what “The Cloud” is, and two if you don’t really understand what the cloud is how can you really have piece of mind that you’re safe and protected? Brace yourself, but the easy and unpleasant answer…You are never nor will you ever be 100% safe. Now, hold on to your pants because there are very basic and very key steps that you can take to ensure that your exposures are reduced almost down to nothing. The key is, hire experts and then listen to your experts! Here’s why Towner Communications the Cloud Telecommunications Experts in the Midwest…Yes we can claim that, are telling you to get in the cloud.
Here’s our top 3 reasons we propose Cloud Solutions to almost if not all of the small to medium size partners we consult for.
1. Physical Real estate in their office: Premise telecom solutions can be massive and take up more space in your office than you can give up. The entire concept the cloud is that everything is off site and tucked into a server in a far off land. Use that extra room for your ping pong table, or an extra office.
2. Cost Savings: Unlike on premise solutions, unless you purchase the equipment you’ll be using, there is little to no upfront major cash lay out. Flexible plans mean you can rent the equipment and ALL your telecom services and needs are wrapped into one nice tight little monthly payment.
3. Flexibility: As your business grows so can you’re solution. As you’re business becomes seasonal so can your solution.
These are all great selling points of the cloud and are the apex of what small and medium companies need to grow and stay competitive. HOWEVER please proceed with caution when you’re evaluating a provider!!! You have to ask the right questions and receive the responses that are clear and accurate and fit the culture of your business. Not all carriers are created equal and not all fire sale tactics (like tossing in phones for free) or promising the lowest prices in the industry mean you’re getting a great deal. Usually these companies deal in volume and aren’t concerned about your specific business needs. This is why you’ll experience more frequent outrages, less than desirable customer service, and more importantly cookie cutter cyber security measures that leave you exposed to costly attacks.
These are the exact questions you have to ask when looking for the perfect telecom partnership:
What solution offers the most cyber security VIOP or cloud?
Best Answer: It’s important to understand that VoIP is a universal term for Internet based telephony which also includes cloud. If they don’t tell you that VOIP and Cloud are virtually the same RUN. Both terms mean that the calls are delivered via the internet. Now here’s the key point…Any call that is made over public internet is going to have a high level of exposure.
Who has control of your data if you go cloud?
Best Answer: Here’s the deal…Cloud is a sexy word that everyone throws around to seem like their on the cutting edge and super with it. The magical cloud is simply a system (much like you would have on site) that resides in a data center somewhere in a location that doesn’t even have to be remotely close in proximity to your physical location. This means that any and all security concerns are no different to when there is a physical phone system. What’s really important is the promise of the security level that your partner is giving you. On site the it would equate to the level of security your IT guy is promising you.
Is VOIP more vulnerable to hacks?
Best Answer: HECK YES! Analogue phones are by definition secure. Often times when companies think about cyber security and getting hacked, the last thing they realize is that their phone systems are one of the most vulnerable. Because of this, they don’t encourage their staff to update passwords as frequently as they do with their computers, they don’t educate their team members on the things to look for to identify possible security breaches. The key here is that any expert provider knows that they can give you that ISDN security with call encryption on VoIP.
Key take aways here are that you don’t buy on price or promise. That you buy on reputation. Cloud solutions are amazingly reliable and secure and can take most if not all of the headache of the telecom portion of your business off your plate. However it’s not the solution that you need to evaluate it’s your provider. Look at reviews, talk to your peers. Throw the lowest and highest prices out and by all means, pick a local vendor who can give you customized and speedy service and solutions!
The newest release of cloud software is live now for our current cloud customers.
The name of our mobile app has changed from ClickConnex to CoreNexa. If you already have and use the app it updated on its own. Any new users will need to search and download the CoreNexa App from their app store.
You may have noticed a new log in dashboard for all administrators and users when you log in from your computer to cloud.townerkc.com. It will take you through a mini tutorial the first time you access it, take a few minutes to see the new features.
We’re taking mobility to the next level with our new softphone. Available to users that log in at their PC, if you add a USB headset to your computer you can make and take calls from your PC or laptop!
From the new dashboard you also have access to the following:
Status of your corporate contacts from within the dashboard
Ability to live chat with those contacts
Personal audio video meeting access so you can quickly set up a meeting on the go
If you don’t already utilize the conference bridge please contact your sales representative so we can discuss this option. We want to make sure you have enough call paths to effectively use this feature and not interfere with your normal business calls.
In this video blog post, Terry McCabe, CTO of Mobile Enterprise, explains why public cloud makes sense for growing businesses. Be sure to check out our companion post for when hybrid cloud makes sense for businesses, The Case for Hybrid Cloud.
From the Video
We see lots of activity today, especially for small and medium businesses where public cloud is a very viable solution. It’s fast moving and dynamic and it uses the ubiquitous access to the internet to deliver connectivity and to enable cost-effective services.
Now, for them cloud is transformative for their business. They don’t necessarily have a premise, they certainly don’t have an IT department that’s going to maintain something. Cloud gives them the ability to get up and running quickly, to deploy new services quickly and easily, and as they expand their business to reach out to the employee base wherever they are using whatever internet connectivity is available or using mobile connectivity where that’s appropriate.
The other part about this, and we’ve seen this with our team collaboration offering, is you start solving a problem with unified communications but you can bring other aspects of cloud and layer those on top of it because when someone’s using unified communications today, what they’ll be doing in the future is collaborating and the tools for collaboration and the best tools for collaboration are cloud-based.
Wondering if public cloud is right for you? Take this quiz to find out if private, public or hybrid cloud are right for your business.
A Look at Emerging Cloud Communications Technologies
Communications is more than just connecting people. The right communications technology helps businesses connect the dots between where they are today and where they want to be tomorrow. In this chapter, you explore the future of emerging cloud communications technologies and how they can help your business today and into the future.
Tighter mobile integration
Predicting the need for tighter integration between business communications systems, core business applications, and users’ mobile devices doesn’t take a crystal ball. The mobile workforce of today and the future expects its mobile phones to work everywhere, so productivity can happen anywhere.
Emerging technologies for tighter mobile integration include the following:
Voice over long term evolution (VoLTE) networks: This is a specification that enables more efficient use of available bandwidth and tighter integration with apps over an LTE network.
All IP‐based communications: Carriers move voice services from 2G/3G circuit‐switched (CS) networks to LTE, enabling redeployment and reuse of limited spectrum, and develop apps that are natively voice‐enabled. Today, voice and data are separate, and not all voice is IP‐based — even on LTE networks. In the near future, all LTE connections, both voice and data, will be IP‐based.
Convergence of mobile and enterprise communications (no more “apps”): Today, most unified communications (UC) vendors provide an app for smartphones that enables enterprise communications. Users will soon be able to make and receive corporate calls on their smartphones—not from a separate app, but from a native dialer.
Intelligent reachability: Intelligent reachability allows users to be reached on any of their devices through a single phone number with intelligent call routing capabilities, using location data, Bluetooth, and Wi‐Fi, among others, to route the call to the most appropriate device (rather than simply ringing every device).
New use cases: These enable mobile apps to leverage real‐time communications. Today, an app can trigger the dialer to make a call, but the call happens outside the app. In the future, mobile apps will be natively communications‐enabled via seamless integration to network‐based communications capabilities.
Enterprise routing capabilities: These use location and contextual awareness through more intelligent and capable mobile networks as UC vendors and cellular carriers develop new technologies together.
Software‐defined networking over Internet
Today, cloud communications customers generally connect to their service providers over either a multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) wide-area network or an over the top (OTT) Internet connection. At least some OTT is typically used in almost all environments. For example, it’s common to find MPLS at office locations, while employees use OTT at home or on the road.
MPLS offers the best quality, but it’s more expensive than other options. Many service providers include MPLS services and guarantee the quality of service for their customers.
OTT is less expensive, but it’s basically just an Internet connection. There’s no quality of service guarantee, and voice quality can degrade and even become unacceptable at times. For example, if a neighbor on the same network streams a video during a call, the download could interfere with your call.
A new innovation, known as software‐defined wide area networking (SD‐WAN) is emerging, offering businesses the best of both the MPLS and OTT worlds— better quality at a lower cost. SD‐WAN delivers these benefits by using multiple network connections, including a mixture of OTT and/or OTT with MPLS services.
SD‐WAN provides enterprise‐grade performance, visibility, and control over Internet broadband and private links. WAN traffic is automatically steered across the best links and most‐optimal paths. Dynamic multipath packets are steered to the optimal link based on performance metrics, application requirements, business priority of the application, and link cost. This technology can create a virtual, high‐bandwidth pipe from multiple, inexpensive broadband links and leased lines, providing businesses with improved WAN economics and quality.
Workstream messaging / Team collaboration
Unified communications technology generally includes instant messaging (IM). However, IM generally only supports internal users and is designed primarily for one‐to‐one communications. But a new category of communications is emerging: workstream messaging, sometimes called team collaboration. These messaging services are specifically designed for business collaboration.
Workstream messaging provides the same familiar experience of consumer‐based messaging applications, but offers enterprise‐oriented capabilities, like:
Persistence
Directory integration
Search
Single sign‐on (SSO) support
Integration with other enterprise applications, such as customer relationship management (CRM)
Workstream messaging tools started with basic messaging services but has been expanding into real‐time communications. A cloud communications provider can offer workstream messaging software with extensive real-time capabilities, including support for desk phones and public switched telephone networks (PSTNs).
Because workstream messaging also organizes and shares content (like files and photos), it provides contacts, content, and communications—all in one place. Workstream messaging will combine the benefits of asynchronous communications (like messages and files) with real‐time communications (like voice and video), and become central to business workflows.
Workstream messaging isn’t just another feature of unified communications—it often becomes the preferred means for real‐time communications in an organization.
Workstream messaging is self-organizing, which offers many benefits for users compared to an unwieldy “catch‐all” email inbox. Also, messages are more collaborative because they tend to drive more frequent, less formal, and concise interactions between communicating parties.
Workstream messaging is also superior to IM because, like actual workgroups and teams, it extends beyond organizational boundaries. In the consumer world, messaging‐based apps now dominate communications, but those services do not suitably address enterprise requirements, like security and integration.
Workstream messaging has the potential to change the nature of communications applications, like email, in the future. Organizations using workstream messaging solutions today have benefitted from a significant reduction in internal email volume because these solutions offer many advantages over traditional email systems, like self-organizing message streams.
Some might argue that reduced email isn’t much of a business benefit because messages are effectively moved from one application to another. However, the storage footprint for workstream messaging is generally smaller than for email, and there are numerous other advantages, including:
Organization. Email tends to follow a last‐in‐first‐out model, but organizing content chronologically is not always ideal. Workstream messaging tools organize messages by logically defined containers that group people or topics together. A new message arrives in that space, and the space itself is promoted to the top.
Search. Rather than store conversation history in individual email folders, workstream messaging tools share a single copy of the history among the participants. Everything is in one tool, along with content such as documents or photos.
History. Group history can be easily shared with new members to quickly bring others “up to speed” on a conversation topic.
Shared knowledge. Some workstream messaging tools allow containers to be searched by non‐participants. If someone in the company is looking for someone with knowledge of widgets, for example, then conversations about widgets can be identified to reveal potential experts.
Many cloud communications providers are moving to continuous upgrades rather than scheduled upgrade cycles. Thus, another advantage of cloud communications software is that it’s not only the most current, but also that it’s more secure than premises‐based solutions, in which continuous upgrades aren’t practical.
1. How you can enable a mobile workforce with cloud communications
We’re all busy today. But we’re not always productive. For example, we spend several hours every week checking emails, schedules, text messages, and voicemails in multiple applications and on multiple devices just to make sure we’re not missing something. But ironically, managing multiple collaboration tools on multiple devices is a sure way to miss something.
Cloud communications opens up and unifies collaboration so businesses begin thinking outside their inboxes.
It brings employees, customers, and partners into the conversation from wherever they are, on whatever device they’re on. And it lets them pick up the conversation quickly, by organizing everything into a single cloud‐based application where voicemails, videos, chats, and more can be stored and easily accessed whenever they’re needed.
The key to better collaboration is through your mobile phone. If you’re like most of us, it’s the first thing you check in the morning, the last thing you see at night, and it goes wherever you go. That’s a far cry from where most legacy phone systems are today, which were designed well before the mobile era and handle mobile communications as an afterthought.
The rise of the mobile workforce has challenged modern perceptions of what a traditional office environment should be.
Gone are the large spaces filled with wall‐to‐wall cubicle farms. Instead, they’ve been replaced with functional work spaces where people collaborate and are more productive, and mobile working, once seen as a major hassle for organizations, is no longer considered a compromise for businesses trying to accommodate unique work situations like flexible working schedules and office closings due to severe weather. Today, everything is digital, and remote employees—equipped with the right communications tools—can be as productive outside the office as they are in the office.
Consider the following mobile workforce trends:
Nearly 70 percent of employees use their personal device for email
26 percent of employees are productive while outside the office or home
36 percent of employees use up to three mobile devices to do their work
Cloud communications also means no mobile app gets left behind. Your business apps are integrated into the communications fabric so you can share information, ideas, and images from a single screen without constantly opening and closing apps or worrying about interoperability.
Regardless of how your organization compares with other forward‐looking mobile organizations, your business is constantly moving. Work is done while eating breakfast at home, riding in a car, walking to lunch, sitting in a hotel lobby, or waiting in line at the airport. Your employees work remotely—blasting out emails and text messages, and answering calls from customers and clients (or prospective customers and clients) at all hours of the day and night, whenever and wherever they’re needed—regardless of whether they’re “at work.”
Life is mobile, and your communications system should be too. You should be able to be as productive on your mobile phone as you are at your desk.
2. Supporting multiple locations with cloud communications
In addition to supporting mobile workers from any location, modern business communications systems need to support remote workers from multiple locations. Unlike mobile workers, remote workers perform their work from a fixed location—it’s just not located at your main campus or headquarters. Perhaps it’s a branch office located in another city or country, or a temporary office setup to support a new project, or even a home office for a teleworker.
Regardless of the specific situation, remote workers all have unique communications requirements that are often similar to deskbound workers at your main office location, but without the same resources—equipment, connectivity, and support.
Legacy private branch exchange (PBX) systems are usually cost prohibitive for smaller remote locations consisting of fewer than ten users.
For this reason, remote workers at smaller locations are often equipped with Centrex phone systems, analog lines, or residential phone services that lack the features and functionality of a business communications system. They may also be required to connect to the main office over a virtual private network (VPN) connection, which can negatively impact voice quality.
Cloud communications effectively creates a virtual communications system across all remote locations for an organization, extending the solutions available for both mobile and remote workers, to include:
Mobile phones
Desk (hard) phones
PC (soft) phones
Contact center agents
Both on‐premises and cloud communications systems support mobile and remote workers. However, on‐premises systems treat these workers as the exception: Mobile/remote access has to be approved and set up, a VPN or other similar security measures need to be configured, and additional network bandwidth may need to be provisioned (for remote access).
Cloud communications treats office, mobile, and remote workers all the same.
It completely eliminates location from the equation and provides users with the same set of features that they have in the office, regardless of their location.
Learn how 62 local chapters and 27,000 Make-A-Wish volunteers rely on hybrid cloud communications from Mitel to make wishes come true >
3. Reducing costs with cloud communications
Not all dollars cost the same. A dollar invested in a technology project that has a low return on investment (ROI) has opportunity costs that may amount to far more than the initial investment itself. Similarly, many technology projects require ongoing commitments—sunk costs—that further erode profitability for a business: the proverbial “throwing good money after bad.”
Large investments involve risk.
Not only is there a heavy financial stake, but also the organization is essentially placing a series of bets on the investment:
Is this the right technology for our business? How will the technology change over the next three, five, and 10 years?
Is this the right vendor to partner with for our business? Will they be around in three, five, or 10 years?
How quickly will our business grow over the next three, five, and 10 years? Will this investment scale to support that growth?
Capital budgeting is always a very subjective process. A capital expenditure (CapEx) is usually defined by a minimum investment threshold, for example one thousand dollars, and the investment must have a valuable life of more than one year.
CapEx may, in some cases, include bundled equipment, installation and project management costs, implementation services, freight expenses, and initial training costs, among others. Businesses can depreciate a capital investment, typically over a five‐ or seven‐year period, but they must also pay property taxes and maintain fixed asset records on all capital investments throughout the useful life of the investments.
And of course, most technology today is obsolete well before its five‐ or seven‐year depreciation period.
It all gets extremely complicated, extremely quickly.
For these and many other reasons, most businesses prefer operating expenses (OpEx) instead of CapEx. OpEx costs—like utilities, rent, perpetual licensing fees, and software maintenance—are typically lower (in the short term) than CapEx costs. This is particularly true in terms of upfront costs required, which frees up cash for other projects that drive revenue and growth for the business.
OpEx costs are typically more stable and predictable than CapEx costs and provide more flexibility for a business should requirements change.
For example, a service provider will usually charge a known recurring rate for a given level of usage, a per‐user (or per‐seat) fee, or a monthly subscriber fee.
The original thought behind premises‐based communications systems was to keep costs down by owning the solution. But as those systems have aged, businesses find themselves owning the problem of maintaining, upgrading, and expanding those systems.
The cloud offers a better path for growth.
It not only saves you money through economy of scale, but also it scales cost-effectively as you grow. You never have to worry about adding more servers and switches as you add more employees. You simply add another seat in the cloud at a fixed monthly cost and have the assurance that new employees are connected into all of your business communications from day one.
If you’re looking to reduce communications costs, cloud communications can save you money:
No costly, upfront investments in servers, switches, and PBXs
No budget “surprises” with consistent or predictable calling plans
No costly, across‐the‐board software upgrades as new features and versions are released — you get the latest versions immediately, automatically
No wasted money on overprovisioned trunks or underutilized hardware
No high energy and cooling costs to run a roomful of equipment, and rent to store it all
As part of your ROI analysis, you should compare the total cost of ownership (TCO) of cloud‐based and premises‐based communications solutions.
Remember, a cloud‐based solution consists almost entirely of OpEx costs, whereas a premises-based solution requires both CapEx and OpEx (in the form of ongoing software assurance and upgrades).
Learn more about saving money with cloud communications >
4. Focusing on business, not infrastructure
Technology has the ability to transform your business and drive innovation. But it can also drive you crazy if all you’re doing is putting out fires to maintain the status quo. Think of it this way: Would you rather have your engineers fixing the phones or finding new ways to delight your customers?
Cloud‐based communications solutions are exactly that: solutions. Fixing bugs and repairing hardware are the cloud provider’s problems, and most of them make sure it never becomes a problem for their customers—even going so far as to guarantee systems uptime and availability in their service level agreements (SLAs).
While you never have to worry about losing dial tone, your IT department can focus on making sure you don’t lose your competitive edge in the market.
Innovation is the key to continued growth in today’s business environment. Cloud‐based communications ensure your business is on the leading edge and in tune with the millennial workforce that will drive your business into the future.
5. Staying current with evergreen cloud-based software
Keeping your communications systems current is important—not only to ensure your business leverages the full functionality and latest capabilities available in your communications system, but also to ensure security and stability.
However, software and firmware upgrades can be risky and challenging, particularly for an IT team that only occasionally performs system upgrades.
They require a lot of planning and coordination. Maintenance windows must be planned around business cycles and downtime is never acceptable—even when it’s planned!
Most premises‐based communications solutions offer software maintenance for an added cost. But the risk and hassle of actually performing the upgrade belongs to the customer—and there are costs associated with performing those upgrades. The current state of the system must be documented, the upgrade must be downloaded and tested, the maintenance window has to be scheduled and communicated, contingency and back out plans prepared, and extended support provided for “the morning after.”
A cloud communications solution also requires regular upgrades, but the risk belongs squarely with the service provider.
Of course, if the upgrade goes awry, your business may suffer, but your service provider should have the resources in place to minimize the likelihood, as well as service‐level agreements (SLAs) to mitigate the impact.
Unified Communications (UC) isn’t just about connecting calls—it’s about revolutionizing the way your business communicates. In fact, 75% of businesses have moved to cloud-based UC platforms in the past three years, signaling a major shift in how companies operate.
Ask around, and you’ll find countless definitions of UC. Gartner emphasizes integration across communication methods, while Webopedia talks about single-platform solutions. But no matter the definition, the goal is the same: making communication easier, more seamless, and ultimately, more effective for everyone involved.
Perspectives from the Experts on Unified Communications
Gartner: “UC products integrate communication channels (media), networks, and systems, as well as IT business applications and, in some cases, consumer applications and devices.”
Webopedia: “A single communications platform integrating data, video, and voice in one supported product.”
Local Expertise, Tailored Solutions
At Towner Communications, we understand the unique challenges that businesses in Mid-Missouri face. Whether you’re in Jefferson City, Lake Ozark, Columbia, or Kansas City, our UC solutions are designed to fit your specific needs, from cloud-based systems to integrated contact centers. Unified Communications isn’t one-size-fits-all, and we tailor our approach to ensure you get the most out of every feature.
Real-World Impact:
Take, for example, a local healthcare provider in Columbia that switched to our cloud-based UC platform. Not only did they streamline communication across departments, but they also reduced response times to patient inquiries by 30%. That’s the power of a unified solution.
Why It Matters in 2024:
In today’s business landscape, UC is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity. With the rise of remote work and the increasing demand for seamless communication, having a reliable UC system in place is crucial. Our cloud-based solutions offer the flexibility, scalability, and security that modern businesses need to stay competitive.
A: UC enhances productivity by reducing the need to switch between different communication apps. It enables seamless collaboration, quicker response times, and better resource management, which ultimately leads to improved customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.
A: Absolutely! UC solutions are scalable and can be tailored to fit the needs of small businesses. They offer the same benefits as they do for larger enterprises, such as improved communication and collaboration, but are adaptable to the specific requirements and budget constraints of smaller organizations.
A: Cloud-based UC solutions host communication tools on remote servers, accessible via the internet. This allows for greater flexibility, as users can access the system from any device, anywhere, without needing to maintain on-site hardware.
A: Towner Communications offers customized UC solutions designed to meet the unique needs of your business. Whether you’re in Jefferson City or Columbia, we provide consultation, setup, and ongoing support to ensure your communication systems are seamless and effective.
Ready to elevate your business communications?
Contact us today to learn how Towner can tailor a UC solution that fits your needs. Whether you’re looking to improve team collaboration or streamline customer interactions, we’re here to help.
