If you’ve recently made the decision to switch from a premise-based phone system to a cloud-based one, congratulations! You’re about to save lots of money and make your team very happy.

The benefits of voice over IP (VoIP) phones are considerable. Not only do they cost less up front, they offer more features than premise-based phones, and you can conduct world-wide calling without incurring any extra fees. But you probably already know this.

Making the decision to switch was probably the toughest part, but there are still plenty of questions. After all, there are dozens of providers to choose from, and each has its own valuable set of features and tools. While there are plenty of large-scale providers dominating the market, they’re not always the best choice for small to mid-sized businesses. In many cases, local cloud-based phone providers can actually provide better service and more reliable calling than the industry giants.

While many major cloud-based phone providers boast about their low costs, network reliability, and easy setup, they’re all really about the same. Local VoIP providers can typically beat the big providers’ prices and provide a higher level of service at the beginning and throughout your agreement.

Here are four advantages of going with a local VoIP provider, instead of a regional or national one.

Professional Installation

When going with a regional or national provider, you’ll often be asked to perform a “remote” installation. For those who have little experience with computer networks, this can be a frustrating endeavor, especially when it impacts business productivity. A local VoIP provider can take the hassle out of the installation and setup. Having the company that services your cloud-based phone system install it makes a lot of sense. Not only can they provide on-site consultation and answer any questions you may have, they can also personally train you or your IT team on how to use and maintain the service on site.

Customer service

Professional installation and on-site training and consultation aren’t the only perks of going with a local VoIP provider. You also get personalized customer service that is far superior to what you get from regional and national providers. Large providers often outsource their customer service to cut costs and maximize profits. This leads to long wait times, sub-par solutions, or confusing directions. Very often, you’ll have to repeat your problem several times to different personnel as the representatives escalate the urgency of your service call. This can be frustrating and time consuming.  Local providers like Heritage Communications will ensure that your company data network is sound and ready for voice over IP service. Without vetting your data network first, you will be very susceptible to having tons of voice quality issues.  And the big guys are not going to focus on your network, they’re just focused on providing your service.  Furthermore, the owners of Heritage Communications are available after hours and on weekends to talk through an issue or even come out to your site to help solve a problem. Best of all, you can expect a resolution quickly.

Ongoing Maintenance

If your equipment malfunctions or stops working, national and regional providers are limited in how quickly they can get you back up and running. This means you could be down for a day or even two before new equipment or a service technician arrives. Local VoIP providers like Heritage Communications can get you back online within hours (or even minutes) of an outage. One of the reasons is our equipment rarely fails is because we provide ongoing maintenance and upgrade services as part of your monthly investment. You or your IT person also don’t have to worry about manually updating the equipment or software, since cloud-based phone systems are regularly updated remotely. If there’s an equipment recall or a known problem, we’ll replace the devices with no additional cost to you.

Prices

As VoIP cloud technology has grown more ubiquitous, costs for providers have come down considerably. With regional and national providers, however, the struggle to extend these cost savings to the consumer has become more difficult, since those pricing reductions eat into the vendor’s bottom line. Local providers don’t have the massive overhead that big companies do, and therefore we can give you a better deal with more services. When it comes to VoIP services, lower costs do not equate to lower value.

If you’ve made the decision to upgrade from your premise-based phone system and are ready to move to the cloud, don’t look any further than Heritage Voice. In addition to providing a clear, reliable, and affordable VoIP calling service, we can also make sure the right infrastructure is in place to support it.

If you’re ready to transform your business communications, give us a call at 717-431-6266 or email us at info@heritagecomm.us. You can also fill out this form with any questions or comments you may have. We promise to get back to you promptly.