In a recent survey conducted by Dimensional Research on behalf of RingCentral, 70% of businesses with traditional on-premises phone systems found their current systems lacking. The survey also the need to integrate mobile workers, devices and business apps was a key issue for 45% of companies with on-premises PBX.
In particular, these IT decision makers reported that their on-premises PBXs were not flexible enough to meet the needs of mobile and remote workers (22%) and integrate with business applications such as CRM (23%). They also found these systems difficult to manage and administer (23%) as well as too expensive (33%).
[ ANALYSIS: How dead is the PBX really? ]
The survey also indicated that 92% of respondents found the benefits of a cloud-based phone system compelling. Top benefits included:
- Mobile apps that allow smartphones to be used as business extensions (55%)
- Simple to use interface for administration (52%)
- Easy to expand phone system as the business grows (52%)
- Eliminates set-up and ongoing maintenance for in-house phone system (45%)
- Reduction in cost (60%)
When we followed up on the survey results with Curtis Peterson, VP of operations at RingCentral, he noted that the level of dissatisfaction with current systems included both legacy TDM and newer VoIP systems. Peterson said customers want more than just calls to a mobile device; they also want more integration between mobile devices and applications with "productivity tools like customer identity, sales force, and document management." He added that "the challenge is to give employees a consistent experience across all communications conduits including the desktop, tablet, mobile, or computer -- especially when using business communications tools."
Our thanks to RingCentral for sharing its survey results.