
WHY IT’S TIME TO DITCH THOSE FIVE-YEAR CONTRACTS
When business owners find themselves negotiating leases and contracts with landlords and service providers, they often start on the back foot. Many are coerced into agreements that have hugely unfavourable terms, simply because they don’t know any better. Office telephony provides a classic example. When moving offices, or expanding into new and bigger premises, business owners are faced with questions around their existing PBX systems. What usually happens is that PBX providers convince business owners to purchase a new PBX system for the new space, and to sign a new, long-term contract.
Yet there are multiple drawbacks to simply signing a new contract and getting a new PBX system installed. First and most obviously is the fact that the business owner is now locked into an agreement which may not be suitable in a year’s time – thus forcing him/her to honour the contract or face hefty penalties. Either way, this often proves to be a costly route for business owners. Secondly, installing a new premises-based PBX is risky for a business that is likely to grow and expand in the coming years. Traditional PBX systems do not have the ability to scale up and down and adjust functionalities depending on the number of employees within a business at any given time. If a business expands quickly, and the existing PBX system is no longer suitable, business owners face the cost and headache of getting out of a long-term contract and/or being locked into a new one.
This is where the cloud-based PBX model can be massively beneficial for new and small businesses. Agreements with cloud-based PBX providers need not be fixed, long-term contracts. Indeed, these contracts usually have a built in ‘escape window’ and are dependent on the client’s satisfaction with the service provided. These agreements are also fluid, and cater for the changing requirements of new and small businesses – allowing them to scale up and down seamlessly, without penalising the business owner. For any business, remaining agile and adaptable is key, and agreements with cloud-based PBX providers are designed to fit this approach.
- Moving office? Make a smooth transition to scalable, future proof telecoms by porting your numbers and moving your telecoms to the cloud. Our latest campaign raises awareness of the pain-free relocation of cloud-based business telephone systems. The first 20 clients signed up to this campaign receive 20 portable handsets free.