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Why should I choose a Hosted PBX Solution over Cisco Call Manager?
Best Answer
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- Leah Spitz
There are actually many benefits - including unified communications and presence management features, as well as managed services, built in redudundency and diaster recovery without any capital outlay --or very little. The question is really who is the best provider and doing it well these days and does it make financial sense for your company size. You have to do a side by side comparison on the ROI of hosted versus traditional voip. Remember with hosted, you are paying a monthy recurring fee. It could save you a lot of money depending on the size of your organization and the applications you are interested in using. I have a couple of great recommendations on who you should check out. Just contact me.
I always recommend to go with "Integrated" packages. Hosted services should be provided by the same company as your Internet access service. You will be surprised with intermittent voice quality issues when you use conventional Internet access. Just consider this scenario. You are on the call with a VIP customer. It turns out that you need to download a large document from the Internet, at the same time someone in the office is starting a bit-torrent client and it connects to 50 other peers using UDP which immediately congesting your Internet connection. And you feel like you start missing words or voice becomes too distorted, so it is really hard to understand the other party. You find an excuse to finish this call and sort thing out. What is your next step. With traditional phone carriers you dial a tech support number and within reasonable amount of time your line will be fixed. With hosted service you will find yourself in the middle of pointing fingers game. Hosted provider will blame your Internet provider, Internet provider will blame you, you will blame both. There is no resolution for it.
If you don't want or cannot afford a CPE system, then using both services from the same provider will ensure quality of the access link (virtual phone wires) and quality of the phone service itself. Plus customer service will be able to fix any problem or at least locate it if it is caused by your equipment in the office, such as network switch. Examples include broadcast storms, network loops, hardware issues and etc. Look for ISPs in your area, which offer VoIP services. Most likely they can offer hosted PBX or other kins of service which will work for you.
Hosted will cost you more in the long run if you are over 10 users. Under 5 users, hosted is a no-brainer. Just be careful who you host with and make sure they have an SLA worth beans. As internet bandwidth gets cheaper, so will the hosted solutions.
The real question is: "Does Cisco CallManager meet your business objectives?" There are tons of VOIP products out there that may fit well. The key is to pick one that meets your objectives technically and within the proper cost for your company to thrive. Then look at the short list and pick the companies that will be around for a long time. (use financial data) Then pick a reseller that is reputable as your first line of support.
I think that the notion of hosted costing more in the long run is highly debatable. If you consider prices as low as $5 per extension, then factor in cost of licensing of the on-premise pbx, system life cycle and maintenance cost - you may find the opposite.
Have you explored UCaaS where Cisco provides a Hosted solution using Cisco call manager
The answer is easy. You shouldn't!
Hosted VoIP has poor service. Ask if those vendors are willing to guarantee 99.999% up-time (the industry standard) in writing in the terms and conditions. I only know of one company that MAY be willing to do that - CallTower.
The best two VoIP systems on the market today are Cisco and ShoreTel. If you haven't reviewed ShoreTel yet, take a look at them.
For you your own benefit, understand more about VoIP at
http://www.mytelephonescout.com/
good luck in your review.
Everyone, thanks for all your help.
I think my business would be better suited to have a managed solution instead of managing it ourselves.
Kristina, which providers do you recommend?
I would google any hosted companies in your local area, but beware of the "two men and a truck" type hosted vendors. There are a lot of very small hosted companies who just don't have the network back bone support to really olffer you the quality of service you need.
Cypress Communications, corporate based in Atlanta is one of the leading nationwide providers for hosted pbx and managed services and have small to large companies on their service. jThey also don't ask you to pay for ANY of your equipment.....including routers and IP phones....there is very little to NO capital outlay at all. Also, as Peter mentions above, Call Tower is also a good option to check out. Stay away from Cisco Call Manager.....way too expensive and Shoretel has a great VOIP system for a competitive price........but find out how many applications you need....how many servers and rack space you will need with them......you won't need any of that with a hosted solution.
I am interested in understanding why someone would choose a Cisco hosted PBX, rather than going with a market leader like Avaya?
Upcoming Webinar: Cloud-based Communications: Do you know why?
Date & Time: Thursday, February 25, 2010, 2:00 p.m. Eastern
Description: Executives are mandating that their IT/Telecom departments must switch away from their premise-based communications solutions to a hosted, Communications-as-a-Service (CaaS) solution. Why? To……reduce or eliminate capital expenditures
…reduce IT educational and support costs
…reduce IT footprint
…increase deployment flexibility
…develop a disaster recovery plan
During this interactive webinar we will we explore these reasons, the value and importance of a CaaS solution for your business, as well as tackle the common questions associated with choosing a CaaS vendor.
Source(s): Interactive Intelligence
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See scheduled Webinar registration instructions at
http://freeknowledgenetwork.com/upcoming-webinars.html
My partner and I started a company together and we both work out of our home. We did not want to spend a lot of money on a phone system. We did some research and we signed up for a virtual pbx service online. We configured the system in less then a half hour including getting our greetings recorded. The virtual pbx system helps us sound more professional and streamlined our communications. We have been using http://www.iTeleCenter.com by COA Network, www.coanetwork.com, for a few years and we have been very happy with the service.
Hosted is certainly the way to go. Be careful of the total cost of the services and you can get nickeled and dimed by some of the plans. Look for a plan that provides a flat rate for incoming lines with unlimited extensions on the back side. This would be a true hosted PBX not just phone numbers pointed at an IP phone as most of the smaller providers are doing and even the cable companies. Be careful you have no contract to sign or any early termination fees. Keeping your internet access as a seperate company can be an advantage because if you get bad service from your hosted VoIP provider you can switch without having any effect on other portions of your business.
check out www.ringcarrier.com
Leah, If you haven't yet made a decision, I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. let me know and good luck.
Frank
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Think about the day-to-day operation of an on-site IP Phone system, in your case, Cisco CM. Is your support staff prepared to service the phone system with patches, daily backups, directory services, MACs, carrier contracts, etc.? Is training an option for you? Is contracted maintenance available? Cisco can help you understand their systems requirements, but I recommend you speak to other customers as well as search the web for customer experiences with the system.
If not, then a hosted solution may be beneficial for your organization. Your next challenge will be to identify the benefits and risks introduced by each of the competing hosting vendors. These include MACs, WAN links, power, environmental, etc. You will also need to make the business aware of all the risks and benefits, and how you intend to mitigate the risks.
Your financial folks will want to be involved as this decision becomes CAP-EX vs. OP-EX. Think about the decision and the cost of implementing it as well as the costs involved with reversing it some years down the line - if necessary.
Business area executives are required constituents and need to be involved - like it or not (re; Executive Sponsorship).
The answer is anything but clear cut, and it is very specific to your organization. Best wishes.