Pay as you Go – the Ideal Solution for the Start Up

The rise of cloud and mobile computing has had a profound impact on all aspects of our lives. As little as 10 years ago, no one dreamed of walking around with a powerful computer in our pockets. Our smartphones can stream games, movies and even let us get work done on the move, thanks to the ubiquitous cloud. Entire industries have re-organized processes to benefit from these innovations. Existing products have evolved beyond recognition and new ones have made an appearance.

The enterprise phone system is one such tool that has come a long way over the last few years. Gone are the huge pieces of equipment that needed a closet or even a room in your office. Clunky software interfaces have been replaced with easy to use online dashboards. Quite a few businesses have eliminated entire departments that used to maintain the phones system, re-assigning those people to more important roles.

Even the business model for PBX services has changed, albeit behind the scenes. Nowadays a company will purchase phone services from an ITSP (Internet Telephony Service Provider) instead of a carrier. The vendor will manage everything for you, saving time and money. The VoIP industry doesn’t even have contracts! Perhaps the only thing that hasn’t changed here is how you make phone calls and the instrument you use for it. Today’s systems are a far cry from their first generation ancestors indeed.

Hosted VoIP for Startups

For many years now, users have been asking who exactly hosted VoIP is for. First many people assumed only large companies could afford it. Then media outlets started saying small businesses would benefit from hosted VoIP. The truth of the matter is that today hosted VoIP is suitable for anyone – whether you’re an individual, a small business or a multinational corporation. That is because hosted VoIP is very adaptable to user needs.

No Maintenance Model

Different types of enterprises find hosted VoIP appeals to them for a variety of reasons. For instance startups love hosted VoIP for the hassle free maintenance. The provider offers PBX services over the cloud. The cost of maintenance for your startup is zero. That’s a huge advantage when just starting out. Most startups have 2 or 3 employees at the beginning. At that stage you just don’t have manpower to run your own PBX system. At the same time, using personal phones doesn’t project a professional image. Hosted VoIP serves the need without requiring extra effort.

Pay As You Go Model

Another benefit of hosted VoIP is the pay as you go business model. What does it mean? Instead of contracts that bind you to a carrier for 2 or more years, you pay on a month to month basis. There are numerous advantages to this model. First is that you’re not tied to one vendor in a rapidly changing industry. When providers are launching new features every so often, it’s good to have the ability to pack up and move to a competitor.

Another is that you don’t have to pay anything up front. There’s no advance payments or security guarantees needed. In fact most providers will give you free demos or trials which last for anywhere from 2 weeks to even 2 months! You can test out different services under actual real world conditions before you select a vendor.

Finally it means that you pay the same bill every month and you’re not hit with hidden fees or terms. Instead of paying X amount on the first day and then a hefty monthly bill thereafter, your business starts off with zero upfront and low bills each month. You can stop whenever you want, not be held hostage by contracts.

More Benefits from Pay As You Go

That’s not all. You get more than just lower bills from the pay as you go model. Traditional enterprise phone contracts meant that you couldn’t change what services you get without advance notice and paying hefty fees for the privilege. With the pay as you go model, you only pay for what you use in a month. Need more numbers for a 3 month campaign? Add them within hours and remove them when you don’t need it anymore.

You don’t have to accurately predict how fast your business will grow and attempt to negotiate the appropriate contracts. Suppose your startup grows from 3 people to 15 in less than 2 years. Then 5 years later, you expand to 5 office and 75 people. Hosted VoIP can keep up with that rapid growth and uncertainty. Sometimes you also have to downsize or cut costs for financial reasons. With the pay as you go model, you’re not wasting money on unused resources. The biggest advantage for a startup is being agile and nimble, shouldn’t your phone system reflect that as well?