A phone is no longer just a phone — it’s a hub for everything from unified messaging to chat, conferencing and collaboration.

In years past, we’d wait a decade or so before upgrading our PBX system to the latest version. But those days are gone, and there are a growing number of reasons to upgrade — not just obsolescence.

With unified communications and team collaboration tools, along with emerging applications around artificial intelligence, a phone system has the potential to be much more than a traditional phone system.

An upgrade isn’t just about meeting your hardware needs, but also about boosting employee productivity, improving the customer experience and building a foundation for future technologies.

Here are six reasons to consider a new business phone system:

Future-proofing

If your phone system has been around longer than the existence of Gen Z, it may be in danger of being discontinued, meaning support is spotty or non-existent (and you can expect maintenance costs to skyrocket). More importantly, it may not be capable of supporting advanced capabilities that will move your organization forward.

Increased productivity

Many organizations have disparate systems across multiple locations that don’t communicate with each other. Unified messaging is a game-changer, bringing everything together into a single interface, from voicemail to email and text messages, accessed on a user’s mobile device, desk phone or computer.

Better collaboration

Most legacy phone systems offer audio conferencing. But team collaboration is the next evolution in conferencing, with voice, instant messaging, screen sharing, file sharing and audio/video conferencing accessible via a single cloud application that integrates with your business applications.

True mobility

If you have multiple offices, employees who travel regularly or staffers who work remotely, an advanced phone system can integrate with the mobile devices your employees are already using.

Connections with existing apps

An advanced phone system can seamlessly connect with third-party apps or customer relationship management (CRM) systems such as Salesforce.com. That means users will have faster, more effective communications with customers and partners.

Better customer experience

These days customers want to interact with businesses and brands in a number of ways — not just voice. And they expect an immediate response. An advanced phone system can help you meet (and maybe even exceed) those expectations.

If your organization is looking to support true mobility, as well as unified messaging, team collaboration and integration with existing applications, it may be time to consider the next evolution of your phone system.

Next, you’ll have to decide whether to stay with an on-premise system or move to the cloud (or take a hybrid approach) — check out our free eBook to guide you through the process.

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