Cloud telephony is changing the way businesses interact with customers, partners and employees indeed.
Looking forward, IMARC Group expecting that the cloud telephony market will achieve US$45.4 billion by 2032 with a CAGR of 8.33% for years ranging between 2024-2032.
Cloud telephony makes it possible for organizations to provide amazing customer interactions, simplify processes and promote growth; this applies to various types of industries such as banking, small and medium enterprises (SMBs), start-ups as well as food and beverages. During the remote work phase, businesses turned to cloud telephony providers to carry out the tasks that are mentioned below, irrespective of the location, and device used:
- Handle all their communications
- Track client feedback
- Automate voice messages, etc.
Since these applications minimized the stress on organizational budgets and improved the communication process.
In this blog, we’ll explore how cloud telephony comes up with a solution for every challenge that industries are facing to take customer experience to a greater level.
What is Cloud Telephony?
Cloud telephony refers to a cloud-based phone system that enables businesses to manage and route voice communications over the internet. It replaces traditional on-premise phone systems, allowing companies to access advanced telephony features without the need for hardware or maintenance. Cloud telephony uses Voice over Internet Protocol technology to transmit voice calls, providing greater flexibility, scalability, and cost savings.
What businesses can do with cloud telephony?
With cloud telephony businesses can:
- Make and receive calls from any location around the world, on a device that has an internet connection.
- You can use advanced features such as call routing, analytics and AI-based automation.
- Businesses can integrate cloud telephony with existing CRM and other business applications.
- It is flexible to meet the changing needs of business.
- Affordable at pricing and increased reliability.
A cloud-based telephony system helps to increase customer interaction, improve teamwork, and promote expansion.
Transformative Cloud Telephony Solutions for Industries-Specific Needs:
Cloud telephony is transforming the way of business communication with its advanced technology. Some of the ways this technology is transforming the business such as;
1. Banking and Finance Industry:
Cloud Telephony Services have radically transformed banking and finance. These services enable secure and convenient customer support, thereby providing two-factor authentication, account balance inquiries and transaction alerts. This increases security as well as accessibility for customers.
Challenge 1:
The expenditure for banking and finance is usually high because of the need for costly on-premise infrastructure; hardware, software, and maintenance. This makes it complicated for small finance sectors to scale their operations and allocate resources in an efficient manner.
Solution 1:
By eliminating the need for costly infrastructure, cloud telephony reduces capital expenditures. Therefore it is the best solution for all organizations, regardless of size in terms of costs.
Example 1:
The small financial institutions had excessive expenses because they had to maintain their telephony systems within the company, which included hardware upgrades and continuous support services. They moved to a cloud-based phone system that got rid of expensive infrastructures while they could also pay for what they used only. Their capital spending significantly reduced as a result of this change and it enabled them to use their resources more efficiently and concentrate on increasing their service offering.
Challenge 2:
The financial sector is known for its competitive environment that makes it tough to generate leads and capture the interest of prospective customers. Using old-fashioned techniques for generating leads might not be enough, which calls for more creative means of engaging customers. Nonetheless, many financial institutions find it hard to adopt and manage this kind of technology efficiently.
Solution 2:
New technologies have been developed by the Cloud telephony solution that simplify lead generation. This includes WhatsApp integration, Click-to-Call and IVR, among other features.
Example 2:
A local bank sought to enhance its lead generation practices but realized that such traditional methods were not only inefficient but also used up many resources. Implementing cloud telephony solutions simplified their lead generation process by making it easier for them to reach potential customers and increase their lead conversion rate.
2. Startups and SMBs
In India cloud telephony solutions has given rise to a new wave of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that include start-ups. These solutions allow SMEs to look professional by providing virtual phone numbers and automated greetings among others; thus enabling them to act more like big companies with deep pockets yet they are smaller in terms of size, revenue or customer numbers.
Challenge 1:
Maintaining the traditional phone systems can be costly as you have to set and maintain all the infrastructure on your premises. One of the major factor that the use of traditional phone system has been decreasing is due to this financial issue.
Solution 1:
Cloud telephony offers a cost-effective alternative to traditional phone systems by eliminating the need for on-premise infrastructure. Startups and SMBs can leverage cloud-based services, which require minimal initial investment and offer scalable options. This allows businesses to pay only for the services they use, reducing operational costs and freeing up capital for other critical areas.
Example 1:
XYZ, a start-up business by switching to a cloud telephony solution, they eliminated these infrastructure costs and adopted a flexible, scalable communication system. This allowed the startup to allocate resources more effectively, reduce operational expenses, and focus on growth and innovation.
Challenge 2:
Traditional phone systems often provide limited employee mobility as they are required to work at the desk of their office. It limits the ability to communicate with the clients and their colleagues outside their offices.
Solution 2:
Cloud telephony enables employees to make and receive calls from anywhere using internet-enabled devices, such as smartphones and laptops. This flexibility helps employees to stay connected with clients and colleagues regardless of their location, enhancing mobility and productivity.
Example 2:
By transitioning to a cloud telephony solution, their team could work remotely and stay connected with clients and colleagues using mobile devices and laptops. This shift improved communication flexibility and employee satisfaction.
3. Food and Beverages:
The arrival of technology has made restaurants increasingly more accessible with time. Orders are just a click on away, and growing adoption has added customer support to the forefront of such corporations.
Challenge 1:
Restaurants typically possess multiple branches. Each branch has its own contact number and promotes separately but that is quite expensive and difficult to manage. Besides, callers may sometimes fail to identify the right number of a nearby branch for instance concessions due to some factors.
Solution 1:
With the help of cloud telephony restaurants can be able to maintain a single phone number. Customer calls automatically be routed to their preferred branch’s phone number with the contact-based IVR. This will ensure a worthy marketing expenditure and bring automation in call management.
Example 1:
A popular restaurant chain with multiple branches faced high costs and customer confusion due to advertising separate contact numbers for each location. By implementing a cloud telephony solution, they advertised a single phone number, using contact-based IVR to route calls to the appropriate branch. This not only reduced marketing expenses but also streamlined call management, improving the customer experience and operational efficiency.
Challenge 2:
Now-a-days restaurant ordering methods include online as well as phone calls. Nonetheless, some restaurants or hotels lose potential customers because they do not keep track of them as a result of a high number of such calls, thus leading to loss of orders.
Solution 2:
By subscribing and referring to call reports, agents may perform timely follow-ups on missed calls and save customers who were about to leave. Additionally, restaurants can use the accessed customer database for remarketing purposes with analytical reports.
Example 2:
A restaurant experienced lost orders due to missed calls during peak hours. By using call tracking and reporting via a cloud telephony solution, they could track missed calls and follow up quickly. The call data also enabled targeted remarketing campaigns, helping to recover lost customers and increase orders.
Conclusion:
Due to its advanced communication functionality, cloud telephony has become quite popular amongst businesses of all sizes. Any type of communication challenges that businesses are facing can be solved by cloud telephony.
This blog gave you a clear picture of how cloud telephony is revolutionizing in many sectors. As businesses continue to stick on to these solutions, we can expect a future where cloud telephony becomes integral to every business communication infrastructure.