The adoption of cloud-based communication services is widespread among businesses in the U.S. because these solutions allow companies to innovate offerings while reducing costs. However, global cloud adoption is still in its infancy with experts finding many international enterprises are now just awakening to the benefits of cloud-based telecom offerings.
The U.S. and Netherlands currently lead cloud integration with 18 and 20 percent market penetration, respectively. This level of market penetration might be shocking to some, but it demonstrates that cloud adoption is still in the early stages worldwide. Smaller market penetration also illustrates an opportunity for communication service providers (CSPs) to promote and deliver innovative solutions, which will allow them to increase their share of the global market.
By offering international capabilities, CSPs can play an integral role in helping businesses innovate their existing product offerings seamlessly, regardless of their location.
Global business and IT leaders on the fence about adopting cloud-based solutions into their enterprise communication offerings should consider three benefits that lead enterprises to make the switch from traditional telecom solutions to cloud-based offerings.
1 - Reduced Costs
The cost of installing telecom infrastructure can be steep. Hardware can include transmission lines, satellites, radios, answering machines, towers, switches and routers. Choosing to host communications in the cloud means an organization can forgo capital investment in hardware, as well as the burden of where to securely store and maintain it. In addition, businesses can manage cloud-based telecom offerings without a dedicated IT team, which reduces costs associated with the deployment and upkeep of legacy solutions.
2 - Increased Scalability
Unlike on-premises infrastructure, cloud-based systems allow teams to quickly scale solutions to offer new services or modify existing offerings. As such, business leaders who are looking to grow their company need telecom offerings that can grow with them, as well as accurately estimate capacity requirements. The cloud’s broad network access, elasticity and measured services (i.e., where cloud systems monitor and control the provision of services to ensure effective use of resources) enable cloud customers to expand and scale infrastructure resources at will.
3 - Global Presence
As more enterprises conduct international business, they need telecom solutions that span across the globe to reach new customers and employees without disruption or added costs. This opportunity is driving businesses to evaluate CSPs that offer international numbers and capabilities that businesses can seamlessly integrate into their existing product suite, regardless of location. Using the cloud can also solve connection issues common with telephone services not built to reach remote employees, resulting in a more unified, collaborative and productive office culture.
Despite the benefits shared above, some global companies are still hesitant to embrace cloud-based solutions, contributing to the slow rate of cloud integration. Below, we debunk three common misconceptions enterprise leaders face when considering migration to cloud-based communications.
