The demand for hosted telephony is real. According to Gamma’s Connected Business Report, almost three quarters of UK organisations agree they need a better communication network in order to deliver higher service levels. This means there’s a huge opportunity for resellers to stake their claim in a lucrative market.
Hosted only requires a light touch
Hosted telephony means there are no provisioning headaches to worry about. Its very nature means installation can be done remotely via the cloud. Customers can get started straight away, and resellers can start seeing revenue streams appearing instantly.
Of course, change is never easy – especially for customers who are set in their ways. Here, resellers have the chance to raise the bar for customer satisfaction, while also boosting their profit margin. Offering to have a technician on-site on the first day can help ease any potential transitioning pains. Providing a training service for key members of staff to act as hosted telephony champions can boost internal uptake. And, by including these costs as part of your fee, all parties are set to benefit.
Hosted can enhance your brand reputation
There’s an opportunity to position yourself as the reseller of choice by providing products with the best benefits. As well as creating cost savings, hosted telephony can also improve your customer’s business efficiency. The technology allows for calls to be re-routed to mobiles, meaning opportunities are never lost. On top of that, hosted allows your customers to be flexible in their working methods. Seasonal peaks and troughs in demand can easily be catered for, with no need to purchase or install any additional hardware or lines (as numbers can be added with a simple software configuration). And while from the outset it might seem like the lack of hardware can be detrimental to profit margins, resellers have the opportunity to create a constant revenue stream by providing technical assistance as an ongoing service.
Hosted future-proofs your business and your customers’
By 2025, BT plans to switch off their ISDN lines. Many businesses are already making the switch to cloud-hosted telephony. Doing so today means your customers have one less thing to worry about in the future and get a head start on all of the benefits hosted offers. With hosted, customers no longer need to deal with redundant hardware as upgrades are all achieved in the cloud. The result is time, space and money saved. Not to mention the increased likelihood of continued loyalty from your customers as a thank you for being so proactive.
Hosted can also make you money
As a reseller, you’re likely to already be well-versed in selling a variety of products and services. By creating packages, you can bundle hosted telephony alongside hardware, internet lines and other peripherals you currently offer. By opting to charge your customers monthly fees instead of upfront fees, you have the opportunity to create a reliable and predicated revenue stream. It’s a simple way to safeguard your balance sheet while keeping your customer rota consistent.
So you can see that it certainly pays to move your customers onto a cloud-based telephony solution. The switch will not only save them money, but also allow them to be more scalable and flexible in their business operations. And we all know that happy customers mean repeat customers, with even greater upsell opportunity.
