How Cloud Telephony Will Benefit SMEs in 2019 Cloud telephony lets you scale your business according to market demand by allowing you to work remotely

Cloud telephony is the next big thing, it is growing exponentially. According to Gartner, the industry is estimated to be valued somewhere around $383 billion by 2020. By still holding on to the PBX (Private Branch Exchange) system you are missing out on an array of opportunities that can provide you with higher efficiency and faster growth. The emergence of new technologies has changed ways of communication significantly since the PBX system, and it's time that you change too. You can easily switch to cloud telephony services without the need for any technical expertise or additional infrastructure.

Increasing sales and improving efficiency are top priorities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Cloud telephony provides companies with all the opportunities to achieve this goal through easy scalability, faster growth and higher productivity. Many leaders today are switching to cloud telephony services in order to enter new markets, reach a larger customer base and increase profits. By switching to cloud telephony, you can easily leverage all its benefits as mentioned below:

Cost-effective

Eliminating the need to install and regularly update equipment saves a lot of money for the company. SMEs usually have smaller budgets and this constraint their ability to effectively communicate with their customers and run successful marketing campaigns, ultimately lowering their sales. Cloud adoption saves up to 70per cent as compared with the ancient PBX systems and also provides additional features for firms. With quick installation, low maintenance, negligible set-up costs and the most technologically advanced systems, SMEs get the highest ROI through cloud telephony.

Higher Productivity

Through a virtual call responsive service, you can ensure that not even a single call from a customer is missed at any time. According to studies, phone communications have a response rate of 8.21per cent while emails are at 0.03per cent. Cloud telephony helps you connect to your customer at any time, from anywhere. Whether you are travelling for business purposes or stuck in traffic, if you get a call you can receive and address it conveniently. This ensures that you are available for your customers whenever they want and thus, increases the firm's productivity.

Enhance Brand Image

Cloud telephony makes all your communications automated and allows customers to press different keys to get connected to different departments when they call. This makes them perceive you as a professional organization that is as skillfully managed and equipped as MNCs. In addition, having local area codes creates the perception of your firm having a local presence. As a result, you can connect to all clients globally, even if all your operations take place in just one office. By taking each call like it was the only one and providing customers with warm personalized greetings, call management support and so on, you can boost your company's image by ensuring customers high-quality service. In such a way you can increase customers trust in your company and benefit from positive word of mouth for potential customers.

Easy Integrations

Cloud telephony allows easy CRM integrations with Salesforce, Google Spreadsheets, Zendesk and many other applications. Therefore, you can reach your customers through a platform of your choice. It also means that your employees are familiar with the platform and do not require any additional training. Employees can also reach customers immediately from any device and ensure that each customer's need is addressed no matter where the employee is. This ability to work remotely helps employees provide the best service to customers post-purchase, in turn, increases the probability of repeat purchase from existing customers and also positive word of mouth for potential customers.

Call Analytics

Through cloud telephony, you can get access to detailed information on each call and SMS received/ sent by you. The system continuously generates information on call volumes, average call time, cost per call, missed calls and so on. This gives SMEs a chance to keep track of every customer and also record each agent's performance, without using any additional resources to do so. In such a way firms can easily identify areas of improvement and know exactly what objectives to set for the next quarters. It also helps provide specific feedback and training for employees to enhance their performance, thus, making the communications as convenient for the customer as possible.

Flexible Scalability

SMEs usually lack the funds and resources required to scale their operations. However, cloud telephony helps your business grow smoothly according to market needs. There is no need for any additional infrastructure or manual labour. All you have to do is route the incoming customer call to added business extensions. Since you can access these calls from any device, it ensures that all your communications are handled through one channel without any limitations. Therefore, SMEs now have the flexibility to scale up or down without worrying about being able to manage communications with a larger customer base.

SMEs face continuous challenges- limited access to technology, severe competition from MNCs, managing resources, getting capital and so on. It is difficult to find the right expertise and support needed to thrive in the industry. However, cloud telephony is a viable solution to all your problems and creates several opportunities for growth. According to Microsoft, cloud services have helped SMEs reduce IT workload by 42per cent. Cloud telephony lets you scale your business according to market demand by allowing you to work remotely. If you are a part of any SMEs, cloud telephony can provide you with all the right business communication tools to bring you closer to your customers and increase your presence in the industry.