Cloud-hosted or On-premises: Which Phone System is Perfect for Your Practice?

What’s the difference between on-premises and cloud-hosted phone systems?

On-premises Phone System

As the name suggests, on-premise phone systems are those that have all the hardware needed to run things physically located within the office.

They can be on-premise traditional phone systems, which convert sound waves to electrical signals that travel via the telephone network. And they can also come in the more modern form of on-premise Internet Protocol (IP) phone systems, which convert the sound waves into digital data that travels via the Internet.

Cloud-hosted Phone System

A cloud-hosted phone system, on the other hand, means that a third-party service provider is responsible for housing the phone system as well as handling all updates and maintenance. As opposed to its server being housed within the office, a cloud-hosted phone system is hosted in one or several offsite secure data centers.

All of the system’s information is stored in the cloud, which means maintenance and updates are done via the cloud as well. This type of phone system can be used with a variety of devices such as desk phones, mobile applications, desktop applications, and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phones.

So which one suits my practice best?

If you’re reevaluating your practice’s communication technology and you’re asking yourself which type of phone system best fits your needs, the answer is: It depends.

Both phone system types may appear to be great options and you may assume that either one of them will be a perfect fit for your practice, but unfortunately that’s not always the case.

When it comes to investing into technology for one’s business or practice, one needs to take several factors into consideration. Here are four of them:

Cost

Are you looking for a phone system that’s going to save you money in the long term?

Are you willing to take on heavy upfront costs?

If you answered yes to both, then an on-premise phone system may be what you’re looking for. You will need to pay significant upfront costs for all the equipment and hardware you purchase or lease but won’t have to pay monthly service fees, which gives it the potential to be more cost-effective in the long run.

A cloud-based phone system, however, can still be a good option if you don’t have a lot of funds to start with and would prefer to pay a flat monthly rate instead. This is because you only need to purchase desk phones since the rest of the equipment will be housed elsewhere.

EHR Integration

Are you looking to seamlessly integrate your practice’s communication technology with the EHR software that you’re using?

If so, then you may want to go with a cloud-hosted phone system that can be integrated into most popular EHR software brands.

If your practice uses IMS, for example, ER Tech offers a robust phone system that can be seamlessly integrated into your EHR and your entire practice workflow. Thanks to its call integration features, your practice can now make, receive, track, document, and manage every single patient call and voicemail directly from IMS.

With on-premise Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone systems, EHR integration may be possible albeit tricky. With traditional on-premise phone systems, it’s not.

Reliability

Are you looking to avoid any downtime in your clinic communications?

As an IT company that specializes in meeting the IT needs of healthcare facilities, we at ER Tech Pros believe reliability is vital in any service.

We understand just how crucial it is for your clinic to have business continuity and access to communications at all times. Downtime invites a host of problems to your practice—from inconvenienced patients, a halt in operations, to even loss of profit. And we definitely don’t want that.

So when a cloud-hosted phone system proves to have an uptime reliability of 99.99%, we strongly recommend you go with that one.

Unlike on-premise phone systems, cloud-hosted phone systems are connected to high-end data centers with various geographic locations, which means that there is no single point of failure. In the unlikely event that a data center outage occurs, your phone service and clinic operations will go on as usual.

Convenience

Are you looking to perform a variety of business communication activities without having to be in your office? 

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, various organizations have decided to shift a portion (if not all) of their operations to remote setup. 

If your clinic is one of them, then a cloud-hosted phone system would suit your needs best. With your phone system housed off-site, you and your staff can share the same features of a robust business phone system no matter where they’re working. 

On-site phone systems are powerful communication tools but if pandemic restrictions keep employees away from the office, then updates, maintenance, and repairs can take hours (or days!). With cloud telephony, these processes can be done remotely by your provider so you won’t have to worry about downtime or waiting for your IT staff to get to the office and fix things.

Choose the best phone system for your practice

When it comes to choosing the perfect phone system for your practice, there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

Both cloud-based and on-premise phone systems have their pros and cons, and the right choice boils down to which one can best meet your practice’s expectations, needs, and financial capacity.

Know more about tools that your practice can use to improve connectivity and productivity.