Deciding on Hosted vs. Premise-Based Communication?

February 4th, 2021 by Pulsar360

Consider these 8 factors first

A man in a pinstripe suit talking on the phone.

Deciding on a Business Communication platform is not only a wise choice - it has become mission-critical as you plan for 2021 and beyond.

Our new WFH (Work from Home) reality has demanded remote connectivity in unprecedented numbers. According to a recent CEO Panel Survey by PwC, "A majority of CEOs surveyed (78%) say the shift towards remote collaboration is enduring…"

Once you have decided to take the necessary leap towards a Unified Communications solution, your next step is choosing what is best for your enterprise - a Hosted or a Premised-based solution. We will examine the pros and cons of both options, to help you make the right choice.

Here are 8 factors you should consider before deciding whether a Hosted or a Premise-based VoIP & Business Communication solution is right for your organization.

  1. Start-up costs

    When you choose a Premised-based solution, you have opted for the technology to reside in your building or data center. The benefit of a Premised-based solution is that it offers you full control. However the downside is that this includes purchasing all network equipment, servers, software and power. This means that you will incur higher start-up costs.

    On the other hand, with a Hosted Communication system, you have a fully managed service that is provided with a recurring monthly fee. If you are looking for monthly fees that are set and predicable, your best bet is to select a Hosted solution. The biggest benefit of a Hosted solution is its low start-up costs, which is ideal for small and medium-sized companies who don’t have the space, resources or the technical expertise for a Premise-based solution.

  2. Long-term costs

    Money in a pile

    Hosted providers offer many services included in your monthly cost, such as managing your server hardware as well as software upgrades and configuration. With a Premise-based solution, maintenance contracts can add a significant amount of cost over the long-term. If you select a Premise-based solution, these are costs you need to consider in the long run over and above the initial start-up costs and other monthly costs.

  3. Ease and Convenience

    Small to medium-sized companies find a Hosted solution to be easy and convenient. Customers don’t need to worry about installation or configuration. A Hosted solution also provides customers with the convenience of one point of contact for service and maintenance. However large companies are also turning to Hosted solutions as their preferred choice.

  4. Future-proof Scalability

    Your organization is constantly changing. The solution you choose needs to be flexible enough to allow you to easily add users as your company grows. Hosted solutions provide the flexibility to add and remove users on the fly. If you are considering a Premise-based vs a Hosted solution, it is best to talk to a Pulsar360 solutions expert about your company’s plans for growth to help determine what solution and investment type is best for you.

  5. Flexibility

    Needs change over time. The solution that works for you today may not meet your needs tomorrow. Find out if your provider offers the flexibility to easily convert your Premise-based system to a Hosted one or vice-versa. You will want to find a solution that provides seamless transfer with minimal downtime.

  6. Redundancy and disaster recovery

    At the end of the day you want peace-of-mind when it comes to planning for unexpected events. The downside of a Premise-based solution is that you will need to purchase additional fail-over equipment to ensure redundancy in case of outages.

    With a Hosted solution, your Business Communication platform will always have the capacity to remain online even if your main site is down. Multiple redundant servers like those offered by Pulsar360 offer peace-of-mind of 99.999% uptime. Now you can sleep at night.

  7. Security

    The upside of a Premised-based system is that you can have full control of your organization's security.

    When it comes to small or medium-sized companies, a Hosted solution may be more cost effective as they include this expertise in their service offering. Ensuring the utmost security against threats and vulnerabilities is crucial to a provider’s reputation – so you can rest assured you will be covered.

  8. Feature set

    A Premise-based system may offer more features than a Hosted solution. It is important to compare both offerings in order to evaluate your full costs. Find out if the Hosted and Premise-based solutions offer the same full feature set or if there are variations.

Pulsar360 does this work for you. With a side-by-side feature comparison of each feature, you can quickly see how Pulsar360's Hosted vs Premise-based VoIP features stack up in the following comparison chart.

At-a-glance comparison - Hosted vs Premise-based

A chart showing comparison between Hosted and Premise Based

Talk to us for expert advice - Still not sure? We are here to help you find the solution that is right for you. We offer Hosted, Premise-based as well as Premise-as-a-Service (PaaS) Communication solutions.

After 20 years, Pulsar360 has become renowned for its unparalleled quality of service where you can always talk to a real person. Our North-American based team is available 24x7x365 to answer all your questions. There is a reason why we have the highest customer retention rate in the industry. It's all about our people. Contact us today - we are happy to help.

References

  1. PwC CEO Panel Survey 2020 – How businesses can emerge stronger
    https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/ceo-agenda/ceo-panel-survey-emerge-stronger.pdf

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