Voice is voice is voice, right? Wrong. Getting cloud communications right is critical for your business, and the right provider makes all the difference.
Hot take: voice is still the backbone of business communications.
While messaging, chatbots and social media are gaining ground as preferred communication channels, the phone is still the second most popular channel for customers to engage with companies, coming in at 88 percent[1] (with email coming in first). And while consumers do love self-service options (if they work), the phone remains the most adopted channel for service organizations[2]. Rock-solid voice service is essential for all businesses – but perhaps even more so for small businesses (SMBs), which outspend large enterprise for wireless and wireline service while accounting for 44 percent of American GDP[3].
But for many SMBs, the voice service they get is just good enough. It may also be costing more than it should, while creating unnecessary headaches that keep them from working on what matters most to their business. But when is it worth it to make a change? If any of the three red flags below sound familiar, it may be time to evaluate your voice options.
Red Flag 1: Your SMB cloud communications solution is an enterprise solution thrown in the dryer.
The truth is, many of the cloud communications platforms available today are designed and architected for large, white-collar enterprises. The related SMB offers out there are simply shrunken-down versions of the enterprise suite – but with less support. Even McKinsey & Company noted that, “some providers take product bundles for enterprise customers or individual consumers and market them to SMBs with minimal changes.”[4]
Given the sheer number and diversity of businesses that make up the SMB segment of the market, this is perhaps not surprising. But this also means that SMBs end up either hobbling together their own communications tech stack to meet their precise needs or trying to make the oversized enterprise solution fit. In both cases, SMBs (and their owners) end up spending too much time playing IT administrator, rather than focusing on their business.
If this sounds like you, it might be time to make a change.
Red Flag 2: You’re not sure what half of the features actually do.
When you signed up for cloud voice service, you spent a long time scrolling to the bottom of the features included with your service. Integrations with every software on earth! Webinars! Video Calling! Rooms! You’ve got all the options available and at your fingertips.
But those features – whether they’re baked in or an add-on – come at a cost. And if you aren’t using them, you’re spending money you could be investing in your business on tools you’re not using.
If you often wonder, why do I have this and what does it do, it might be time to make a change.
Red Flag 3: Your communications are earthbound (i.e., you haven’t moved to the cloud yet).
There are still a lot of SMBs out there using legacy POTS lines (i.e., Plain Old Telephone Service from an incumbent provider) or mobile devices to run their businesses. But POTS lines are going away, and mobile devices get expensive and don’t provide a cohesive experience across your business.
Red Flag 3 is almost the opposite of Red Flag 2. If you’re not yet in the Cloud, your SMB is missing out on the flexibility this technology enables – and features that can help you grow your business, like work-from-anywhere softphones, find me/follow me, contacts with status, automated attendant and more.
If your phone service is stuck in the past, it might be time to make a change.
Need A Change? Here’s an Option.
At Cloudli, we go Above and Beyond.
Our cloud communications solutions are specifically designed to meet the needs of today’s SMBs. Our solutions combine the easy-to-use features that SMBs really need with user-friendly support so your cloud communications solution doesn’t take time away from your core business. This also means that you’re not throwing money away paying for features that simply won’t add value for your business – but you have access to those that will, like Microsoft Teams integrations, SMS, call recording and more. Finally, Cloudli’s geographically-redundant, enterprise-grade network delivers the consistency and reliability SMBs need to be always on. With Cloudli, SMBs get the best of all worlds.
If you think it might be time to make a change, Cloudli’s nationwide partner network is available to help. Find a Cloudli partner to connect with here.
[1] Source: Salesforce State of the Connected Customer Report 6th Edition
[2] Source: Salesforce State of Service 5th Edition
[3] Source: McKinsey & Company: Winning the SMB tech market in a challenging economy
[4] Source: McKinsey & Company: Winning the SMB tech market in a challenging economy
