Cloud telephony: The sea of opportunities for entrepreneurs

What expectations do entrepreneurs have from their businesses? They want them to be up and running quickly, deliver value to customers, scale rapidly, and generate profits as soon as possible. To meet these expectations, they try to hire the most competent employees, partner with the most reliable vendors and customers and use the best technology.

Every entrepreneur knows that technology plays a vital part in a business’s success. They also know that of all the resources available to them, technology is the most manageable and reliable. Among the most prominent technologies in use today, cloud telephony is one.

The benefits of using cloud telephony are numerous; a few reasons cloud telephony presents so many advantages for entrepreneurs are mentioned below.

Quick and Easy Installation

Entrepreneurs want their businesses to be up and running as quickly as possible. In business, time is of the essence. Even a days' delay in having an enterprise operational can cost considerable business. Because a cloud telephony system can be installed and working in hours, it is popular among entrepreneurs.

Most entrepreneurs are restless, and when they believe they have a winning idea, they want to be able to put it in motion as quickly as possible. Cloud telephony is one tool that lets them do so.

Easily Scalable

Entrepreneurs need to grow their business quickly. A bootstrapped startup needs to attract funding to develop and realise its full potential. In today's competitive startup ecosystem, a startup has a window of approximately 3 to 6 months in which to demonstrate that its business is viable. Once investors see that a startup has a sustainable business model, they become eager to invest in it.

For entrepreneurs, this means they must scale their business quickly in as short a time as possible. Starting with five employees, entrepreneurs may need to grow ten folds or more in a month. Scaling this rapidly can be not very easy unless there is supporting infrastructure in place. To scale quickly ambitions and smart entrepreneurs decide to use cloud telephony. Unlike conventional PBX and EPBAX lines which take days to scale, a cloud telephony system can be scaled in a matter of hours or less.

Entrepreneurs like this feature of cloud telephony because they need not worry about handing additional call volumes or how they will accommodate more employees. A rapidly growing enterprises communication system can grow as quickly as the organisation.

Just as important as growing fast is scaling down to cut costs. A cloud telephony system can be scaled down just as quickly and efficiently as it can be scaled up. Entrepreneurs like such flexibility because when they anticipate lower call volumes, they can easily lessen the cost of their communication system.

Every Call is Monitored and Recorded

Everyone, including entrepreneurs, has been spoiled by free services that are as useful and well designed as paid ones. Consumers expect every service, whether free or paid to be as well developed as the worlds' leading social media or video streaming sites. These high standards have upped the ante for all websites and apps. Businesses that host shoddy websites and apps will find it hard to attract customers.

In addition to using well-made apps and websites, consumers also expect to be treated promptly and courteously by every customer service executive they speak to. Just like poorly made websites and apps will drive away consumers, untrained and uncouth customer support agents will drive away consumers. Furthermore, in a hyper-competitive market, delivering outstanding customer support experience is often a key differentiator.

Cloud telephony lets entrepreneurs monitor every call made. Being able to do so is crucial to a businesses' success. Every call made over a cloud telephony system is recorded and can be played back easily. Because every call is recorded, agents can be monitored, and their performance quickly evaluated.

In cloud telephony, entrepreneurs have a technology that lets them make sure the quality they deliver meets the exacting standards customers expect.

Data is Accessible from Anywhere

It is common for entrepreneurs to always be on the move and to use the services of freelancers. Also, it is increasingly acceptable and commonplace for people to work regularly from home. Managing a workforce that is disbursed across half a dozen or more locations can be challenging but is less so when cloud telephony is used. Using a cloud telephony system makes all communication between employees effortless regardless of whether they work from the office, home, or another city.

Over a cloud telephony system, calls can easily be routed to individual phones at a low cost. Regular hours’ long conversations over cloud telephony are inexpensive. Entrepreneurs who have a significant number of employees working from home need less office space and can manage their employees as easily as if they were next door.

Another advantage of cloud telephony is it saves all data, including recordings of calls, online. Once stored, data is accessible to those with permission anywhere in the world. Entrepreneurs who are often away from the office can make sure their company is functioning well because all relevant data, including recordings, are stored online.

The Cloud Uses AI

Artificial intelligence is transforming every industry, and successful entrepreneurs are using it or learning how they can use it to add value to their business. AI accompanies cloud telephony and helps deliver exceptional value to customers, something that is more necessary than ever before.

Through cloud telephony's predictive prowess, agents can be forewarned when receiving a call from a customer who is likely to be angry. Armed with this technology, entrepreneurs are ensuring their agents manage customers well.

In a world where delays cost money, and outstanding service wins business, cloud telephony is essential for entrepreneurs. An entrepreneur who has a bright idea and wants his company to take off as soon as possible must use cloud telephony to reach his goal. It is fast to set up, scalable, affordable, easy to monitor, globally accessible, and powered by AI- makes uncannily accurate predictions.

For entrepreneurs who have high expectations from their company, cloud telephony is a critical asset. Without cloud telephony, managing customers and internal communication become difficult. Cloud telephony is a secure and reliable technology for communicating with customers and employees. And because it is cloud-based, it is an unobtrusive technology.

Businesses that speak with hundreds or thousands of customers use cloud telephony because it automatically routes calls to agents. Without cloud telephony, the mechanism of answering such large call volumes would be complicated at best and unmanageable at worst. Entrepreneurs like to use cloud telephony because it allows them to deliver the kind of service customers expect. The seamless and continuous communication made possible by cloud telephony helps entrepreneurs put in place smooth processes.

By Yatish Mehrotra, CEO, Knowlarity Communications