When adopting any new technology, it is natural to have concerns over security and moving to a hosted phone system is no different. If you are used to your traditional phone system, you might not be too sure how secure a phone system and storing information in the cloud is.

So, we’re here to answer the most frequently asked questions on hosted phone system security.

Is my data secure in the cloud?

You might be concerned about your communication data being hosted in the cloud. But the reality is that the data stored on traditional computer systems or within your phone system can be vulnerable to attack – or, should something happen to your business’ premises, your phone system could be destroyed and all your data lost.

With a hosted phone system, this will not happen as your it is saved securely in the cloud and data is therefore encrypted, helping to stop unsolicited access and protection from security threats.

Most reliable hosted phone service provider such as Acefone store your data in different geographical locations – adding an extra layer of protection for your business in the event of an attack.

Are hosted phone systems more vulnerable to security breaches?

Hosted phone systems and traditional phone systems carry the same risks associated with security breaches.

A hosted phone system is no more vulnerable than a traditional phone system and could actually be described as safer as the cloud technology means your data is securely held off-site and is encrypted making it harder for attackers to get their hands on.

Whether it is Denial Of Service attacks, interception of calls or malware attack, your data is protected with security safeguards such as continuous network monitoring, 2-factor authentication, encryption, firewalls, anti-virus and more.

Does the cloud provide any extra security?

Cloud-hosted phone providers invest in innovative new security measures, which can be passed on to their customers; so hosting your phone system in the cloud can give you an extra layer of security a traditional phone system cannot.

Additionally, you can be assured that your data will not be lost if it is saved securely in the cloud, should you need access or if something is lost on your site, you can quickly access it in the cloud.

To help ease your worries, reliable VoIP providers offer security from any threats so your client data is safe from any attacks, which also will help increase the level of trust between you and your clients.

How can I keep my phone system secure?

Hosted phone service providers give you plenty of ways to customise privacy on your phone system to ensure optimum security should you want to increase your system security.

You can maintain and customise privacy to match your business’ needs by controlling your caller ID. If you would like to make outgoing calls but do not want those receiving the calls to see where this is coming from (to stop nuisance calls, or scams coming into your business which might put your system at risk).

You can also put call screening in place, which can also help stop dangerous scam calls coming into your business, protecting your staff from potentially giving out details to attackers.

Acefone protects your business data by implementing robust security safeguards at every level – network, physical, host, application and data so that you are always protected from security threats.

Will my hosted phone system be compliant with security regulations?

Most reliable providers offer multi-level security measures to help secure incoming and outgoing calls giving you another level of protection against dangerous scam calls.

Cloud telephony lessens the burden of complying with regulations on your business, taking the stress away and making sure your phone system is fully compliant. Meeting the highest standards, providers store customer data in the cloud adhering to PIC, FCC, GDPR and CPNI to ensure the most secure business communication.

Conclusion

In the unlikely event that your business is subject to an attack, or something happens to your physical office premises; you can rest assured that your hosted PBX service provider have procedures and processes in place to ensure your data is safe in the cloud and that you are protected with important regulations.

Hosted phone systems are very secure and can actually provide extra security compared to traditional phone systems; if you’d like to discuss the security of a hosted phone system, call our expert team on 1888-859-0450 for a free, no obligation discussion.

Communication is a significant part of a business, and businesses dealing with clients are quite familiar with the benefits that a hosted phone provides. However, certain industries are unfamiliar with the capabilities of a cloud-hosted phone. One such sector is the healthcare industry.

The healthcare industry is a critical industry where each second matters, a communication system which is fast and reliable is what it needs. Let us take a look at the changes that a hosted phone brings to the healthcare industry.

1. Reduced Cost

Hosted phone systems are affordable and offer advanced features compared to a traditional phone. These cloud-based phones use Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) for communication.

They are hardware-free and do not require complex cabling. Cloud-hosted phones are highly scalable and grow with your organisation. Adding or removing phone lines is very easy as it is managed online. They are very easy to install and do not require a technician for its installation.

The owner can easily install them by following the simple instructions. Since hosted phones are hosted by a third party, they take care of its maintenance, installation, and technological upgrades without charging. The monthly fee is inclusive of the maintenance and service charges.

2. Seamless Communication

Hosted phone delivers strong and continuous communication so that hospital employees can stay connected with the patients regardless of where they are.

Cloud phones offer advanced features like call conferencing, IVR, and voicemail to email for communication. These features are extremely beneficial like an IVR can be used to provide information related to appointments and report status without human intervention.

Hosted phones ensure that communication continues irrespective of the geographic location. Doctors and nurses are always on the move, but with a cloud phone, they can take calls from anywhere. All they have to do is transfer their calls from their hosted phone to their personal devices.

3. Enhanced Security

Data security is a concern for any industry; in the healthcare industry, hospitals are responsible for keeping the patient records and hospital’s database safe and secured from unauthorised people and hackers. VoIP technology includes various security measures like 2-step authentication, data encryption, and other security measures to keep the data safe.

Patient data is personal as it includes sensitive information such as medical history and laboratory tests; hence needs to be protected from the data breach. It is always recommended to take security measures beforehand; it can be done with regular monitoring.

Also, the security of your business communication is in the hands of your service provider; thus, it is crucial to select the right provider who uses updated technology and various security algorithms.

4. Improved Productivity

Healthcare industry is a busy industry with a huge customer base; thus, technologies that can save time and make tedious tasks easier to enhance the productivity of workers.  Hosted phone is one such solution that can save time and make agent’s work easier.

The Interactive Voice Response (IVR) feature can give information about appointment availability and laboratory results without the need for human interaction.  It saves the patient’s time as they get instant solution for their query.

An IVR is integrated with Automatic Call Distribution (ACD), which is responsible for connecting patients with the most appropriate agent. The IVR is capable of performing many tasks such as call prioritisation, creating personalised messages, and collecting patient’s information.

These advanced features perform multiple functions that help in improving the productivity of the organisation.

5. Share & Manage Records

Before the cloud, doctors had to email or fax the reports which consumed time.

With the introduction of cloud technology, multiple doctors can now share files online at the same time and can view patient reports in just a click.

Teams can collaborate and share data easily over a hosted phone, increasing team productivity, and saving costs.

The healthcare industry includes a huge amount of data, and the data is used for research to spot diseases and emerging bacteria. Thus, the humungous patient records are stored and managed for research purposes.

Another advantage of cloud communication is data storage. With hosted phone systems, you get the callers database of incoming, outgoing, and missed calls. With this data, you can follow-up on the missed calls ensuring that no query is left unattended.

6. Better Patient Experience

Patient Experience becomes smooth and seamless when healthcare services provide quality assistance and care. VoIP offers a high-quality voice for smooth communication because it is essential for healthcare services during emergencies.

Custom message service that reminds and inform patients about their appointments and reports help improve patient experience. Hospitals deal with a high volume of incoming calls daily. VoIP ensures that no call is left unanswered as it could be an emergency call.

Conclusion

The purpose of healthcare service is patient care; hence, a phone system that can handle a high volume of important calls efficiently is required. Healthcare industries can achieve that by moving to cloud technology and enjoy some of the benefits like high-quality voice experience and can manage or share patient data conveniently.

Remote areas can also take advantage of VoIP based phones by getting assistance from the doctors across the world over a video call. Thus, the healthcare industry cannot ignore the importance of having a streamlined communication, whether with the patients or within the hospital.

Switching to hosted phones from the current phone system will reduce not only the long-term operational costs but will help improve the patient experience.

When running a business, cost is always a factor in any decision you make. As a responsible business owner, you need to ensure that your business runs smoothly. Keeping down costs and managing overheads is an integral part of this, so when buying a cloud telephony system pricing is, of course, an important factor which should be considered carefully.

Setup Costs

When buying a cloud telephony system, you should first consider the initial output in set up costs and installation. Ask your provider how much you’ll realistically need to get your phone system installed and running in your business.

Part of the expense can also come from downtime when switching your phone system over from a traditional phone system, although most providers will keep this to a minimum. It is important to be prepared to be down for a short time while your new system kicks in.

Once you’ve carefully considered the costs to get your new cloud telephony system up and running, you can move on to considering the pricing for your new hosted phone plan.

Choose A Plan For Your Business

Most cloud telephony system providers will have a range of plans and pricing to suit many different budgets, so it is important to choose a plan which suits your business and keeps in line with your budget.

At Acefone, we provide bespoke plans and can tailor these to your exact needs and finances, to ensure you are not paying for services which you will never use. While considering cost, it is important to ensure that your phone system is providing everything you need. Discuss at length with your provider everything your business needs and they should be more than happy to create a plan which suits you and also will not break the bank.

Pricing is, of course, important, but you shouldn’t be put off by the wide-ranging costs associated with cloud telephony systems. A good provider will take you through all your options and will put you in control of your hosted phone system, so you can make it your own.

Acefone gives you control by providing free access to an online portal, where you can manage the number of calls you are making, the costs you have incurred over the event and much more. You can add and remove features, so you never have to pay for anything you do not use again. Your call costs are greatly reduced with a cloud telephony system, as it operates over the internet, it does not matter where you are based or where you are calling, you will benefit from the same low costs compared to a traditional phone system.

A Plethora Of Features

Cloud telephony systems come with the option to add plenty of exciting features which can actually save your business time and therefore money – something which you should also consider when buying a new phone system.

A virtual assistant may stop you from missing leads out of hours, and an IVR system will direct customers to the right department saving your customer service team time and therefore saving you money.

Installing a virtual assistant individually can be costly, so to have something like this as a feature of your phone is just one of the ways a cloud telephony system could save you money. These features can be added and removed when you need to, so if you find you are not using a feature to the fullest you can simply remove it from your plan and continue enjoying the features you do use.

Scale Up or Down – As You Need

Another financial consideration comes when your business starts to grow, a growing business will need more phone lines to support the extra staff and support the increased number of incoming calls, and this can be costly with the wrong provider.

Most reliable providers allow you to add as many lines as you want to your cloud telephony system without a cost, meaning there is no limit on how much your business can grow and you will not be held back by financial limits. You are free to grow and make as much profit as you like without your phone system holding you back.

If you are considering buying a cloud telephony system, you should consider pricing as an important element which should not be taken lightly. A good provider will be happy to tailor a plan to your business and financial needs, to ensure you will get the best possible price and the biggest return on investment from your new cloud telephony system. I

If you’d like to find out more about the pricing of a new hosted phone system, get in touch today for a free consultation with one of our expert team on 1888-859-0450.

An Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is a technology that allows a computer to interact with callers through the use of voice input via telephone keypad. This technology allows you to filter customers through to the correct department, saving you time and money.

Save Your Agents Time

By allowing your customers to pre-select options based on their query, your agents will receive a call with a better idea of what the customer is wanting, saving them time on each call as they won’t need to go through the whole process with each and every customer.

This time saved can go into providing a better customer service, with an online portal, agents can add more detailed notes to a customer’s account so if they need to call again there is plenty of detail there ready for the next agent to pick up where they left off – saving even more time, and potentially saving you money.

Save Your Business Money

Financially, having an IVR number for your business can be very cost-effective. As detailed above, with the time saved on taking each customer through a time-consuming process, agents are free to take more calls and solve more customer queries.

This means more potential business for you and your business phone solution, plus better customer service means happy customers more likely to recommend you.

Better Customer Experience

Giving customers the option to choose which department they speak to also saves customer’s valuable time too. Customers don’t want to be on the phone for a long time waiting to get a query resolved and being passed from agent to agent, an IVR number takes away the need for this and gives customers the opportunity to get through to whoever they need to on their first call.

An IVR number shows you’ve invested in your customer service and will leave customers with a great impression of your business, leaving you looking professional and accommodating to your customers.

Improved Professionalism

Many large businesses have IVR systems, so if you’re trying to get ahead of the competition then you need to have all of the features your competitors do. You want any existing customers or new customers to see how professional your company is and you can do this in a cost-effective way with a beautifully designed IVR.

Designed correctly, these systems can help your business come across much more professionally to customers and could be the difference between someone choosing your business or that of a competitor.

Gives The Impression Your Company Is More Established

If you’re a small business just starting out, you need to inspire confidence in potential customers to win their business and telephone could be the first point of contact between your business and a lucrative potential client.

So, a professionally designed IVR system can help give the impression that your business is much more established and, possibly that you have a larger team of agents working for you.

The fact you’ve invested in a professional phone system will say a lot about how much you care and how you run your business and will give anyone calling a great impression of your company.

Solve More Queries In The First Call

Another fantastic benefit of an IVR number is that you will have more chance of solving queries in the first call. This means there will be less need to take agents off the phones to research information on queries and less passing of customers from agent to agent as customers can be directed to the person best placed to answer their questions.

Many customers are pressed for time and will be pleased to know they can reach the correct person in your business easily with no need for waiting around and explaining their query to multiple agents.

If you’d like to find out more about designing an IVR system to benefit you and your customers, call our team on 1888-859-0450.

Thinking of moving to a hosted business phone system? You’ll be surprised how many exciting features you’ll have access to when you make the switch!

We’ve put together some of the top features to show you what you’ll get when you switch.

Access To Online Portal

Easy to use and intuitive, web portal is designed for business owners who want to keep control of their phone systems and access a range of analytics to monitor the performance of their agents.

The online portal gives you information on call costs, agent waiting time, agent call time, and gives you the opportunity to make changes to your plan based on your business’ needs. This can be accessed from any device, anywhere, meaning you can manage your phone system from anywhere in the world.

Call Recording

A hosted phone system stores your call recordings in the cloud, so you can review calls at any time. You can use these recordings for training purposes to help new staff get to grips with what to expect from your customers using real-life examples.

This feature can also be used to solve any customer complaints or queries; calls can easily be reviewed to help clear up any questions, protecting both business and customer.

Voicemail To Email

If you’re a sole trader, you will probably be on the go most of the time and won’t be available to answer calls when you’re with a client. A hosted phone system records your voicemail messages and sends them to any device for you to access via email, so you can keep up to date with any incoming enquiries from wherever you are.

Add and Remove Lines As You Need

If your business gets busier in different seasons, you can add and remove phone lines in minutes as and when you need them. This gives you the freedom to easily hire temporary workers based anywhere in the world to help pick up the higher call volume and make sure you don’t miss an enquiry.

Hire Workers Anywhere In The World

A hosted phone system allows your business to become truly global. Workers can use any device to take calls, so they can be based anywhere in the world. Someone will always be online to take a customer call, and you can expand your business globally, at no extra cost from your telephony and no need for physical office premises.

Reliable Phone System

A hosted phone system is much more reliable than a traditional system. If disaster strikes and something happens to your office building, your business is cut off for a long period while repairs are carried out.

With a hosted phone system you don’t need to worry, if something happens to your office your staff can pick up where they left off immediately from another internet-enabled device; with no interruption to your customers.

Add a Virtual Receptionist

A virtual receptionist can be there to take calls when you can’t, allowing customers to record messages and forwarding them to your chosen email address ready for when you’re back at work.

This gives an excellent impression to your customers showing great professionalism and giving you peace of mind that nothing will be missed.

Customise Your Number

A hosted phone system lets you customise your number to enhance your brand and give your chosen impression to customers. A local number can help increase trust and enhance your community ties, a toll free number breaks down barriers and allows you to appear more professional and established while a memorable number can become an integral part of your marketing campaigns.

Each number can be tracked through your marketing campaigns and can help you see what’s working and what isn’t.

If you’d like to find out more about how a hosted phone system can add plenty of exciting features to your business, call our expert team on 1888-859-0450.