Cloud and VoIP go Hand in Hand
Cloud computing is the perfect compliment for the VoIP industry. Being able to spin up services on demand is a good way for VoIP companies to save up on infrastructure costs while improving overall scalability. Cloud based VoIP has evolved over the years and major carriers such as Verizon have started offering products in this segment.
It’s All About Scalability
Cloud and VoIP work well together because of the rapid scalability needed in deploying a VoIP solution. Imagine if you were renting hardware by the server at your local data center and you needed to rapidly add in an additional 100 users onto your existing call platform. You might have to order server hardware, you may have to acquire licenses, you might be required to configure the servers if you don’t already have an image ready. Utilizing a cloud based VoIP service makes the telephone easy for organizations.
The Bottom Line: Costs
The cloud model gives you a pay- for- what- you- use model. This can be advantageous if you decided to utilize a service like DigitalOcean in order to build out an Asterick box. You could only pay for what server time you use and you could recreate droplets based on previous configurations that will allow you to deploy more servers as needed at a predictable cost.
If you decided to use a managed service that hosts their VoIP service in the cloud, your organization could stand to receive increased functionality and features if the solution is established. These costs could be condensed down into a per user, per month bill. Another note about hosted VoIP solutions in the cloud is that you typically aren’t responsible for any administration of the server, although an administration panel is available for the users which allows them to customize their VoIP experience.
Call Recording in the Cloud
Many enterprises require their agents to have their calls recorded. With a cloud solution, you only pay for the amount of space that you utilize. When you begin looking for cloud based VoIP platforms, call recording is often a hot button issue because many organizations are looking for a simple method of retaining calls versus utilizing the traditional VoIP recording methods such as capturing packets and storing the calls on a local server. Storing call recordings locally or in an onsite data center can require continuous maintenance while server and storage architecture may require future upgrades due to the accumulation of call recordings.
Your organization may require enhanced security on call recording items. You may even look for a solution that mines the data you have stored in the cloud for keywords in which could help streamline compliance efforts. VoIP solutions that offer call recording most often offer an encrypted means of storing your call data, which helps keep your organization’s data safe and secure from hackers.
