Why Thinking Phone Networks Makes Business Sense
The following is a side-to-side comparison of Thinking Phone Networks’ cloud-based, hosted communications solution and traditional premise-based systems.
With an on-premise system, all the equipment — including servers, cables and routers — must be installed and maintained by the enterprise purchasing the system. All hardware associated with a traditional on-premise PBX system is deployed and maintained by a company’s IT staff.
In both the short- and long-term, Thinking Phone Networks’ ThinkingSuite communications and business application platform makes strategic sense for forward-thinking enterprises looking to consolidate communications applications to drive better business decisions, to enhance sales, to deliver better customer service, and to increase shareholder value.
Key considerations to take into account when comparing communications platforms include:
- An all-inclusive subscription fee vs. new and expensive on-premise equipment, licensing fees, and associated maintenance.
- Ability to reduce or completely eliminate capital intensive upfront and ongoing hardware costs.
- Ability to reduce or completely eliminate IT support and staffing.
- Ability to eliminate costly, disruptive, and time consuming upgrades.
- Ability to eliminate software maintenance.
- Ability to integrate the latest third-party business communications applications.
Hosted vs. On-Premise
A Business Case
Thinking Phone Networks
On-Premise PBX
Upfront Costs
No initial capital expenditures beyond IP phones and enabling network components.
Ability to eliminate or reduce costs associated with running on-premise systems including employee resources, hardware and software maintenance costs, maintenance.
High initial capital costs for onsite hardware and software.
Additional costs for maintenance agreement.
Additional costs for internal management staff.
Future scalability
Quick and easy extension adds, moves, and drops.
Quick and easy addition of new sites, locations and users.
Ability to scale subscription up or down to respond to current and future business needs.
Limited to maximum number of users allowed on the purchased system.
New equipment, maintenance agreement, and management staff required for each new location.
Upgrade Flexibility
Seamless, automatic and frequent updates included in subscription fee.
Enhanced user acceptance and reduced or eliminated training costs due to frequency, transparency and incremental nature of upgrades. Enhances user acceptance.
Features can sometimes be added beyond initial, purchased functionality.
Additional functionality may add to system complexity, and have integration or management issues.
Feature Set
Best-in-class IP PBX feature set today and in the future.
Ongoing development of new features and functionality of both core IP PBX service as well as integration of third-party applications.
New features/functionality limited to equipment capabilities and resource availability.
New features may be offered – but at additional cost.
Implementation/Deployment Speed
Rapid deployment – in a few days or weeks.
Eliminates need to acquire hardware, configure it, and test.
Easily and quickly add new users, new sites/locations, new features and functionality.
Ability to deploy incrementally and quickly as business dictates.
Costly, resource intensive and lengthy premise deployments – typically many months.
Additional equipment needed for remote offices.
User adoption
Thinking Phone Networks’ familiar user interfaces speed user adoption.
Actionable usage reports can readily highlight any user adoption gaps, allowing quick resolution.
On-premise applications have long-suffered from poor adoption rates despite end user training and enhancement to user interfaces.
Poor user adoption especially true of remote offices and sites.
Support
Included in Thinking Phone Networks subscription.
May allow reductions in overall support costs, including head counts and third-party support personnel.
Ability to pro-actively redeploy IT resources to other projects.
Ability to eliminate technical support costs.
Ability to greatly reduce help desk staff because of enhanced usability.
Additional costs for maintenance agreements.
Additional costs for internal staff, third-party support contracts, or consulting fees.
Security
Thinking Phone Networks fully monitors service delivery and provides QoS service guarantees.
On-premise system owner assumes all responsibilities and potential risk.