Cloud-based phone system versus on-premise PBX systems

Replace your outdated on-premise office phone system with a less expensive, more flexible, and feature-rich cloud communications platform.

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The rise of cloud-based business phone systems

The limitations of traditional on-premise PBX phone systems

Private branch exchange (PBX) is a type of telephone network companies use to route calls to departments or phone extensions. Traditionally, the system itself is housed on office premises. The system machines are cumbersome and require their own storage room as well as periodic repairs and maintenance. In the past, only large companies had the resources to install and manage this kind of setup for their office phones. This changed with the emergence of cloud technology.

What is a cloud phone system?

A cloud-based phone system is a business communications solution that is hosted and maintained in the provider’s data centers—not at your office—and is delivered through your internet connection. It features a hosted PBX capability, which has the same routing and call management features of a traditional PBX while using voice over IP (VoIP) to facilitate calls over the internet. It also has other capabilities that traditional office phone systems don’t or can’t offer at affordable prices, like long-distance calling. This cloud solution is often offered as a service, so smaller businesses are able to subscribe to it instead of investing heavily on an expensive on-premise system.

Cloud-based phone system vs on-premise office phone systems

The cloud phone system changed the way companies manage calls and even do business.

Thanks to the system being hosted remotely, companies are able to enjoy the myriad of benefits and advantages that a traditional on-premise PBX setup fails to offer.

Traditional on-premise phone systems

Expensive up-front costs for big and bulky on-site hardware
Expensive and complex implementation
Service and hardware upgrades requiring additional fees
New extensions needing new cabling and installation
Specially trained manpower required for maintenance
Drawn out implementation of service change requests

VS

Cloud-hosted phone systems

No expensive, bulky hardware that require a dedicated room
Quick installation and setup—it just takes minutes
Works with IP phones, desk computers, and mobile devices
No cables needed to install; uses virtual phone extensions
Updates and upgrades are automatically rolled out to all subscribers
Does not require maintenance from dedicated personnel
Changes to the account can be done instantly

Why move to the RingCentral cloud phone system

Made for business

Start with unlimited VoIP calling, conferencing, toll-free numbers, and customizable caller IDs. Access more functionality such as texting, online meetings, even faxing later without changing systems.

Mobile and flexible system

Call, text, and fax from your business number on any mobile device with RingCentral. Incoming calls automatically go through the same business call routing flows you set up for the office.

Easy and simple service setup

Have your whole office up and running in a day or less. Respond easily to business fluctuations or customize your phone system using your online account.

No hardware required

This virtual phone service is installed over the internet. Just sign up for an account and configure it to your own network. No need for physical cables, physical boxes, or expensive hardware. Add and delete extensions with a few clicks.

Top-quality customer support

RingCentral stands by you from day one, even doing the setup for you. Our award-winning customer support is available 24/7. Look to us for technical support, consultations, and best-practice recommendations.

All-inclusive phone service plans

RingCentral gives you the most advanced communications system in the industry for one affordable price. You get a single, all-inclusive itemized bill each month. And costs remain low since there are no maintenance upgrades to worry about.

A flexible and mobile cloud communications platform

For businesses with multiple locations and dispersed workforces

A cloud phone system serves all locations and your entire workforce by centralizing all your communication channels in one cloud platform, delivered via the internet. With this, all employees from every location—including home offices and workers on the go—share the same robust features from a single unified business phone system.

RingCentral also makes it easy to communicate however you want, including through:

Business phone numbers: Choose from toll-free, local, and even international phone numbers.
You can even add virtual phone extensions, which can be accessed from anywhere and on any device, not just on the assigned desk phone.
Online meetings: Host and join video conferences with screen sharing.
Team messaging: Message, assign tasks, and share files to your teammates on one platform.

What’s even better is that you can do all these from anywhere in the world through the RingCentral unified app for PCs and Mac® or for mobile Android™ or iOS® devices.

A scalable virtual phone system

Get a phone system that grows as your business grows. Through an online administration dashboard, you can easily purchase, activate, and assign business phone numbers and virtual extensions to new users or departments. No need to wait for the provider to install new cables and other hardware to have the changes implemented. All it takes is a couple of clicks on your computer or a few taps on your mobile device to get it done instantly.

For businesses of all types and sizes

A cloud telephony solution that works in any industry

Businesses across the globe are switching their phone systems to the cloud because of its ability to adapt to each industry’s communications requirements. And with its ability to serve and connect multiple locations via a single solution, it provides flexible options for companies that need to run their business in unique ways.

RingCentral has proven its worth in more than one industry, including:

Healthcare
Retail
High tech
Construction
Legal
Real estate

An enterprise-level communications solution within reach of small businesses

RingCentral has enterprise-level features that can match any modern corporate phone system in the market. Aside from top-notch automated call management capabilities, it also boasts HD voice and meetings, team collaboration tools, analytics, and advanced account administration. The best part is that with no expensive up-front costs, even small and medium-scale businesses can implement enterprise-level communications for their company, allowing them to compete against bigger organizations on a more even ground.

A hosted phone system that plays well with other business apps

Has integrations with the most popular and most widely used business apps

RingCentral lets you improve productivity and efficiency by bringing the functions of its industry-leading cloud phone system to the applications you use every day for your business. This eliminates the need to switch from a specific app to RingCentral when you need to send a message, make a call, or have a meeting.

RingCentral offers the largest ecosystem of integrations for apps in the communications and collaboration space, which includes:

Google G Suite integrations
Microsoft Office 365™ integrations
Salesforce® integration
Okta integration
Box integration
Amazon Alexa integration

Features open APIs for integration to your custom applications

RingCentral allows you to seamlessly integrate business communications features into your key business processes via open APIs. This can help your organization improve efficiency by automating workflows. Our Data API can give you valuable insights into how you use your cloud phone system and your business applications.

RingCentral open APIs include

Voice API
SMS API
Messaging API
Meetings API
Fax API
Data API

350,000+ businesses rely on RingCentral

Julie Theriot

| GooglePlay

Jul 28, 2016

Small Business Hero This is the best phone system for up and coming businesses.

Brian Unger

| Birdeye

Jul 29, 2016

Great support. Quick resolution. Very helpful on how they solved the problem. Very satisfied with the support chat. Thank you!

Mike M.

| Getvoip

Aug 04, 2016

RingCentral has been very good for us. We made an easy transition to IP phones thanks to the sales and support staff.

ESSENTIALS

Complete cloud phone system
for small businesses

from

$

19

99

mo per user

Free trial Free trial

Up to 10 users
Toll-free or local number
100 toll-free minutes/mo
4 people video conferencing

STANDARD

Complete cloud phone system
for small businesses

from

$

24

99

mo per user

Free trial Free trial

Unlimited users
Toll-free or local number
1,000 toll-free minutes/mo
4 people video conferencing
Unlimited internet fax

PREMIUM

Feature-rich cloud
communications

from

$

34

99

mo per user

Free trial Free trial

Unlimited users
Toll-free or local number
2,500 toll-free minutes/mo
50 people video conferencing
Unlimited internet fax
Automatic call recording

ULTIMATE

Advanced cloud phone system
with the industry’s leading
contact center. Plus an open
platform that enables easy
functionality into any system.

Learn more Learn more

Unlimited users
Toll-free or local number
10,000 toll-free minutes/mo
75 people video conferencing
Unlimited internet fax
Automatic call recording
Voicemail-to-text

How does a cloud-based phone system work?
Why RingCentral is the best cloud phone system provider (according to experts)

How does a cloud-based phone system work?

In the past, the ability to install a proper office phone system is exclusive to large enterprises and corporations. After all, you would need to pay a large capital upfront just for the hardware needed to make it work. That does not even count the complex cabling and special manpower needed for the actual installation.

Now, every business, big or small, has access to an automated online business phone system

But how does a cloud-based phone system work? How is it able to do what only expensive traditional on-premise systems are able to do?

To answer those questions, you need to have some understanding of the technology. The cloud phone system is actually a collection of different technological components working together to create this online telephony system.

These components include:

VoIP for transmission of voice calls

While cloud phone systems can work with regular telecom carriers, most modern business phone systems use voice over internet protocol (VoIP) as its voice call component.

It is actually a set of protocols (SIP, RTP, etc.) working together to transmit voice data across networks, including the internet, in real time. This allows it to work in a way that’s similar to how the public switched telephone network (PSTN) works.

But because it uses computer networks, it is more flexible and more mobile than PSTN.

Virtual PBX for managing calls

This is the core of a cloud phone system. The virtual PBX feature is responsible for the proper routing of incoming calls to the right department or extension. In the past, your on-premise systems had large PBX boxes that have to be maintained by specially trained professionals.

But as was said before, it changed with the arrival of the cloud, where it became possible for the service to be hosted remotely. This brings us to the next component.

Cloud phone system provider’s data center

The main difference between on-premise and cloud-based phone systems is how they are hosted. And believe it or not, it makes a ton of difference.

As mentioned previously, on-premise systems are hosted internally and exclusively serve the specific office of the organization where their hardware are set up. This means each individual location could need its own set of expensive equipment—and that is why only large corporations were able to use it.

With a cloud hosted phone system, everything is scaled up. Instead of being housed in a single server in a small room, the service is hosted in multiple servers in multiple data centers to ensure redundancy and reliability.

Also, instead of being delivered via a private network, it is delivered via the internet, which can be accessed by everyone within the secured network.

The SaaS vs SaaP model

Another main factor that separates cloud phone systems from on-premise systems is the software as a product (SaaP) vs software as a service (SaaS) concept.

Instead of selling the product exclusively to businesses under the SaaP model, cloud communications providers opted to develop and maintain their product in house and provide it to businesses for lease or on a subscription basis through the SaaS model.

Aside from removing the need for upfront capital costs, it also removed the need for professional maintenance. In addition, all upgrades and updates are rolled out to all users instead of being offered separately (often for a fee).

These are the components that make cloud phone systems what they are. More than the technological advancements, it is the hosting and delivery methods that really pave the way for this revolutionary change in how businesses communicate.

Why RingCentral is the best cloud phone system provider (according to experts)

RingCentral is the leading provider of global cloud communications solutions. Its cloud phone system has paved the way for over 350,000 companies across many industries to successfully make the switch to the cloud.

With RingCentral’s flexible offerings, organizations seeking cloud-based options to replace their old phone systems can find a solution that can be built and scaled according to their business requirements.

Aside from granting subscribers unparalleled freedom from the limitations and expenses of on-premise setups, features such as powerful collaboration tools, easy call management, integrations with business apps, and contact center capabilities are what attract more and more customers to RingCentral.

Still not convinced? Read on to find out what other reputable organizations are saying about RingCentral:

A Leader in the 2018 Gartner Magic Quadrant for UCaaS, Worldwide

RingCentral is recognized as one of the leaders in the Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), Worldwide report. Moreover, RingCentral is also positioned furthest in the Leaders Quadrant for completeness of vision and ability to execute.

IHS Markit ranks RingCentral #1 in the 2018 North American UCaaS Scorecard

RingCentral is also ranked #1 in IHS Markit’s 2018 North American Unified Communications as a Service Scorecard. This recognition was achieved due to RingCentral’s market share position, business growth, product capabilities, and continued traction among mid-market and large enterprise businesses.

TMC 2018 Unified Communications Product of the Year Award

The RingCentral app (previously known as RingCentral Glip™) was also named winner of the 2018 Unified Communications Product of the Year Award presented by Internet Telephony Magazine. The award honors the most innovative unified communications solutions in the industry, and the RingCentral app was selected for its mobile-first, intuitive user interface and robust capabilities.

2018 API World Award for Communications APIs

RingCentral was also awarded the 2018 API Award in the Communications APIs category by API World. RingCentral was chosen based on three criteria, which are:

Has attracted attention and awareness
Is generally well-regarded by the developer and engineering community
And is a leader in its sector for innovation

These recognitions show that RingCentral is not only loved by its subscribers, but is also respected by its peers in the industry.

If you want to know more about RingCentral, you can call (877-323-8684).