As more clients consider migrating towards a Cloud strategy for VoIP and Contact Center solutions, it is critical that they have a strategy and understand the risk factors:
- Pricing is more competitive, but the Cloud still has a higher Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
- The manufacturers and VARs are merging, acquiring or going out of business. There is no clear vision of which firms will be successful for the next 5 to 10 years
- There are hidden costs with Cloud models that must be included (full implementation, taxes, fees, usage, training)
- There is an inherent lower overall reliability in Cloud connectivity, solutions and deployment models
- Implementation is more self-provisioning than many clients are prepared to support in-house
- Managed services and support often not up to level of legacy premise solutions
- Minimum acceptable feature set from new entrants, versus 100’s of features from traditional players
- Many offered features and functions are not fully tested
- Remote locations that require survivability will need on-site equipment
- Costs for data storage to meet compliance requirements may increase
