Cloud Telephony

Cloud Telephony is the technology that moves your business phone system to the cloud. It is a voice and messaging service that replaces the need for the conventional business telephone system, say, – PBX, EPBAX, etc.

Using Cloud telephony for your business allows you to make and receive multiple calls & SMSes simultaneously, without having to invest in any additional infrastructure. Services like IVR, Call Recording, Bulk SMS, event based calling, etc. are only some among the many features cloud telephony has to offer.

Quite simply put, cloud telephony is the smartest way for you to manage business calls without compromising on quality and cost.

Cloud telephony has been around for over half a decade in India. During the early days of Exotel, we spent a lot of time in customer education. Cloud telephony, as a concept was alien. People understood things like call routeing, IVR, call recording, analytics but not cloud telephony.

Cloud telephony was thought of primarily as a “Cloud PBX” system — something that would replace an EPABX box in the office. Since the business requirements were simple, there was no reason to think beyond the simple call centre use case.

But since then, as business models have evolved, the full potential of cloud telephony has been unleashed.

As the market moved towards “Uberisation” of businesses, the number of businesses whose monetization depended on successfully connecting a buyer and a seller has pushed cloud telephony to new limits.

Today, cloud telephony is being used to power a lot of unique use cases:

Supporting field workforce like delivery agents, salespersons, servicemen, etc.

Safeguarding customer privacy (what is colloquially called Number Masking)

In marketplaces to connect a buyer and a seller

Automated calling using APIs

Improving operational efficiency and agent productivity in all of the above-mentioned cases

How is cloud telephony changing the way businesses communicate today?

In today’s world, the way businesses communicate with customers has changed dramatically. Communication doesn’t happen just within the 4 walls of the office. It happens between people in different regions, on different scales and through different channels.

Cloud telephony, in particular, helps break the barriers that the traditional phone systems have. Here are some ways in which this happens:

1. It supports communication that has moved outside the walls of the office:

A call center is no novelty. However, for a relatively smaller company, even today, running a call center can be a huge investment. Setting up a call centre with zero CAPEX can help ease the burden. This is something cloud telephony can do with ease. As more companies are venturing outside the 4 walls of their office, customer conversations are also moving outside these walls. Powering this communication through mobile phones is the only solution. Cloud telephony enables this communication in a more streamlined, controlled and systematic manner.

2. It supports innovation:

Innumerable companies are now coming up with cutting edge solutions to real world problems. In catering to these issues, cloud telephony plays an important role. Companies of different sizes have used cloud telephony in some of the most innovative ways, beyond imagination.