6 min read
On-premise vs cloud
An on-premise PBX is hardware sitting in a cupboard in your building. You own it, you maintain it, and if the building loses power or connectivity your phones stop.
A cloud (hosted) system runs in a data centre. Handsets, desktop apps and mobile apps register to it over the internet. If your office goes offline, calls can automatically divert to mobiles — the system itself is unaffected.
Features that actually change how you work
- Auto attendant and menu routing so calls reach the right team first time
- Hunt groups and ring strategies to stop calls being missed
- Call recording for training, disputes and compliance
- Wallboards and reporting: answer rates, missed calls, average wait times
- Softphone and mobile apps so remote staff use the business number, not their own
- CRM integration with click-to-dial and screen pop
What it should cost
Cloud systems are usually priced per user per month, with handsets either bought outright or leased across the contract term. Watch for licence tiers — call recording and analytics are often on a higher tier than the entry-level user licence.
Beware quotes that look cheap but exclude number porting, provisioning, on-site installation or training. Ask for a total cost across the full term, not a monthly headline.
Questions to ask any provider
- Can we keep our existing numbers, and is porting included?
- What happens to calls if our internet goes down?
- Which features sit behind a licence upgrade?
- What's the contract term, and what are the mid-term change rules?
- Who provides support, and what are the response times?
Key takeaways
- Cloud is now the default; on-premise makes sense only in narrow cases
- Compare licence tiers, not just per-user headline prices
- Confirm number porting and failover behaviour in writing