What Is Cloud Communications?

Cloud communications technologies are no longer considered emerging, and they’ve evolved considerably. While technologies like voice over IP (VoIP), hosted PBX, and unified communications as a service (UCaaS) are what commonly come to mind when you hear the term cloud communications, it is much more than that.

Could communications encompass an entirely new way to build, deploy, and scale enterprise communications systems. Growth-minded businesses need the flexibility of the cloud to scale without also driving up costs or paying for services they’re not actively using. Premise-based systems simply don’t offer the cost-effective scalability of the cloud.

In today’s business environment where workers demand the flexibility of remote and hybrid arrangements, cloud communications technologies aren’t just nice to have – they’re essential for supporting productive work, no matter where employees are located. To do their jobs effectively, remote workers rely on having access to the same communication tools and functionality they would have had in the physical office. Cloud communications gives them that.

Cloud communications provides businesses with benefits that go beyond what you get from implementing a VoIP system in isolation. Businesses that invest in a full suite of cloud communications technologies ultimately see these benefits:

• Reduced equipment costs
• Higher-definition services with unmatched quality
• A comprehensive platform of advanced features that allow employees to work in ways – and places – they never imagined

A key benefit of implementing cloud communications is enhanced security. In the early days of cloud adoption, businesses were skeptical about its security. The idea of hosting anything off-site, including a phone system, was too novel for some companies to trust. The truth is that cloud providers have a vested interest in keeping their customers’ data secure – whether through encrypted voice calls or continuous monitoring of the communications system to ensure malicious actors aren’t attempting a breach. These providers often have more expertise and better security resources than enterprises have access to internally.

Modern cloud communications are built for today’s digitally-driven enterprises. Legacy systems are no longer adequate to meet business communication needs.